Gotta Love Technology!

So I was thinking (that's where Sue usually jumps in and says "uh oh") about something yesterday evening.  It occurred to me how much technology has changed.  Maybe it's also partly, "Damn, I must be old, 'cause things didn't work that well back in my day."

See, I was talking with Sarah last night on my computer.  We were literally talking (via mics and speakers of course) as well as keyboard chatting.  That in itself is nothing amazing at all.  However, when you consider the fact that Sarah is currently half way around the world in Chennai, India, that throws a whole different sort of slant on things.

We had Skype running at first.  She saw me online and "called" me.  I get an instant pop-up that says I have an incoming call.

Again, not amazing.

We had sound going both ways, and video going as well.  At one point her video crapped out (nothing wrong with the connection but her new video camera was acting up).  Still, there was no connection problem.  For whatever reason, we found ourselves in Gmail and chatted in Gmail chat--again with no problems.  Oh I remember--we were trying to see if her video would work any different in Gmail than Skype (which it didn't).

That's when it occurred to me:  There was NO time lag of any kind.  Zero.  Zilch.  Nada.  She might as well have been sitting here right next to me in Sue's chair!  When she talked I could see her, and her speech was perfectly in sync the whole time.  It was clear with excellent tone and volume too.  We also had the text messages flying.  Now that is technology!  It's not what we're using or how we're using it, but the fact that it works so well.

There have been many times in my past when I have called people on the telephone over great distances.  When I was in the Air Force I called from all over the place.  Sometimes the lag was so bad we literally had to agree to say "over" or "go" or whatever so the other person knew it was their turn to talk.  If you both talked at the same time it would cancel each other out and you would end up with skips and blanks.  Sue and I both talked about it last night, and she agreed: She has suffered the same connection problems as I have in the past.  It was just the way things were if you wanted to converse over long distances.  It wasn't really all that long ago either.

It just goes to show you how much technology has progressed.  Everything now just works.  It's cool!