And, of course, why do something on time when you can put it off until a holiday weekend? So, sandwiched between the five parties I'm expected to attend this weekend and the overwhelming desire to sleep in, I write this profound essay for your edification and enjoyment.

As we publish our third issue of PalmPower's Enterprise Edition and enter into our fourth year of PalmPower, I've been thinking more and more about the use of Palm devices in the business world.

Last month, I interviewed Jon Prial of IBM's Pervasive Computing Division, and we started our look at the idea of "pervasive computing." Between PalmPower and PalmPower's Enterprise Edition, we are looking at all aspects of anywhere, anytime computing. But here, in the Enterprise Edition, I'd like to limit my thoughts to the changes that handheld devices will bring to the business world.

These devices may be diminutive, but I'm forecasting a pretty measurable impact on the business world. To gain some perspective on this, though, I'd like to take you on a short trip through the "wayback" machine.

The time was 1983. Ronald Reagan was perhaps the last truly cool Republican president. Flashdance and Thriller were the songs of the day. Ghandi won Best Picture. France tested its neutron bomb, a South Korean airliner was shot down entering the USSR (which Reagan, that year, called the "evil empire"), and the Washington Redskins beat the Miami Dolphins 27-21 in the Super Bowl.

Today, with PCs everywhere, it may be hard to believe that in 1983, PCs were just beginning to find their way into the enterprise. Up through the late 70s and even into the mid 80s, corporate computing power was concentrated in MIS (Management Information Systems) departments, in large mainframes, minicomputers, and supermini computers. Back then, IS departments were often referred to as MIS departments. Apparently, all pretense of management left the IS departments after the 80s (you know, of course, that I'm kidding). The idea of the rank-and-file having access to computing power--uncontrolled access to computing power--was an anathema to MIS. Yet PCs were cheap (all's relative; at that time a PC XT with 256K and a 10MB hard drive was about $6,000), so individuals and small departments brought them in, completely outside of the MIS budget (and control).