When I hear that progress is slow for semiconductors, because like children we can't wait for xmas, you know, the "are we there yet" syndrome, I remind myself to view things from the perspective of my moderate 72 years.
My grandmother saw horses and carts in the streets, the first cars, the first planes. In 70 years, one short lifetime, we went to watching live, men walking on the moon.
38 years ago I was working on the second stage of the Burrup gas facility in WA, with others from all around Australia, and overseas. Nobody even had mobile phones then. There were phone boxes all round the site for people to make calls.
I got my first laptop 24 years ago. My current old Omen laptop is now 10 years old. Some phones now outright leave it for dust. Except for the ruddy great screen.
Things happen and it's like a dam bursting and a new development spreads far and wide seemingly overnight, leaving huge sections of society struggling to keep step.
We've adapted, and now routinely drop into quick learning mode when a new device or technical methodology shifts some parameter of our lives without question, because complaining will make no difference, everyone else is too busy keeping up themselves.
Although it can seem overwhelming at times, I just look at the ease and convenience of living that these technologies have brought over the years. Any real negatives invariably stem from humans' propensity to find ways to abuse gifts.
So, the few years I've spent watching wbt develop are really minimal for the end result it is building to. The work they are doing, and the progress they are achieving, is monumental in scope.
I expect in at least my foreseeable future to actually look back to the time they really stepped into the limelight on the world stage.
May it yet be a Very Merry Xmas, and certainly a fantastic New Year to all.
(20min delay)