Home is where the hardware is

Black Enterprise, March, 1996 by Tariq K. Muhammad

HAVE YOU CONSIDERED PURCHASING A HOME computer but haven't yet made the commitment? Consider this: Home computers are no longer the sole province of game players and the wealthy. Computer prices are constantly falling as technological advancements increase, making a home computer as affordable as many other large home appliances. They are powerful, useful tools that can make many home management tasks, such as filing income taxes, managing your budget and providing supplemental education for your children, as easy as point and click. Imagine being able to instantly input data from the previous year's tax return into this year's filing, or planning the exact route--from door to door--of a cross-country road trip without having to ask for directions. Better yet, think of the head start you'll give your children by preparing them with the technology that will soon be requisite knowledge for all students--and think of the consequences if you don't.

Anita and Daniel Johnson of Silver Spring, Md., are in the fast lane of the techno revolution. Anita, 37, a member of the senior technical staff at Adsystech--an African American-owned systems engineering consulting services firm based in Silver Spring--has led the way for the Johnson family's entry into the information age.

The Johnsons' well-equipped home system, an IBM-compatible 486 DX2 66 MHz computer with a quadruple speed CD-ROM drive and an internal 14.4 kbps data/fax modem, was purchased in 1995 for around $2,300 to replace an older machine that didn't have multimedia capabilities. Peripherals include a laser printer, copier and fax machine.

"All of the programs I wanted were coming out on CD-ROM, and I felt like we were in the Stone Ages without multimedia capabilities," says Anita. The capacity for interactive educational software for the Johnsons' three daughters was also a factor in their choice to purchase a second home computer.

Daniel Johnson, 36, is a manager of advanced technology development at defense contractor Lockheed Martin and, surprisingly, given his occupation, a reluctant home computer user. The older computer has since been banished to the basement where Daniel makes his private home office. A self-proclaimed "Lotus man," he uses the home system primarily to stay in touch with the office and work from home with Lotus Notes and related software. He does make an occasional foray onto the Internet for in-depth sports and news stories. Anita plans to network their home systems so that files and printers, faxes, etc., can be shared by both computers.

Although the Johnsons work in technology-related fields, they insist that they've embraced computers and other technological advancements not so much because of what they do for a living, but for the value technology adds to their lives. "I do everything on the computer," Anita says, "from finding recipes in NetNoir to using Turbo Tax to do our taxes." The "techie" of the family, she has two America Online accounts, one at work and one at home. A member of an African American women's book club, she keeps a database of her fellow members and the books they've read. She also produces a newsletter for the club to keep new and old members updated.

The Johnsons have achieved a tremendous return on their investment, some of which can be measured in actual dollars. For example, by using Turbo Tax they've saved between $200 and $450 a year in tax preparation fees.

The home computer has also helped to lower the Johnsons' long-distance telephone expenses. Anita now keeps in touch with far-away friends and relatives almost exclusively through e-mail, thereby eliminating many of their monthly long-distance charges.

The Johnsons' computer is unmatched as a home productivity tool. "I'll go through the trouble of composing something on the computer for two hours that I may have been able to write manually in less time, but with the computer I've facilitated that task for the next 200 times I have to do it," explains Anita. Last year she produced 75 personalized Christmas greeting cards in one night--including mailing labels, signatures and return addresses--a task that would have taken a few days' worth of spare time to produce manually.

The computer also lets Daniel spend more time of home because he can access his files from work via modem. It also came in handy during many snowbound winter days by allowing him to transact business from the comfort and safety of home.

The boundless array of specialize software now available offers something for everyone. The Johnsons have a home legal advice program called Lawyer for Windows that lets them produce legal documents from their PC. It covers issues ranging from guardianship of their children to their last will and testament. "These are things that we would traditionally have had to pay a lawyer to produce. Now we need only to have the documents reviewed [by a lawyer], thus diminishing our costs dramatically, Anita says. They are eagerly awaiting the day their bank offers online banking, so that they can take full advantage of the financial management capabilities of their system. (For more on online banking, see "The ABCs of Banking Online," Moneywise, this issue.)