For an interesting history of the tech sector or the digital revolution – the book the Innovators by Walter Isaacson published by Simon&Schuster, NY, 2014 is a wonderful read. The ideas which are society is using and developing had its start with Lord Byron. If you read poetry to your partner or lover you may have read some Byron. He had a daughter named Ada who has one of Britain’s few noted mathematicians and scientists. Ada worked with Charles Babbage on the Difference Machine – the machine the size of a room was designed to tabulate logarithms, sines, cosines and tangents. Ada was the world’s first computer programmer.

From microchips to personal computing – first through hobbyist and then through games and into the business world. In the digital age, the hobbyists came first because they were very curious, but they all had needs. It was great to have a computer, but what do you use it for? Now days the answer is almost everything, but the abilities of the first computer were not that great. Companies formed to meet the needs of the users and to reach the masses so they could go everywhere. Each of these directions are chapters in the book and it leads to the wonderful companies we have and continue to create.

People wanted something and would buy it – the first programs were developed and sold, people saw one could make a living and do very well which lead to more being done and needing to be done. This is the important element in the story, the people creating the companies were getting wealthy and it felt like they were doing very important things. The greater the wealth the creation the more people became involved to fill many new and important needs. In the marketplace, the public determines if it is a need, a want or a nice thing to have. If it is a need, the payoff can be very high.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, the growth of the industry has transformed the way we all do things in our lives which is great. From an investors point of view many companies were created but few became standard to the industry to have a long and profitable corporate life. It takes skill and understanding to determine which companies will become standard. You can do the research or you can watch and wait until the use becomes the standard, then invest in it. For example Microsoft has the operating system which many companies use. As long as they keep it current, the revenues will continue to flow, but do not buy it as growth company use the multiples of a mature company.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.