The Tech Files.

Typically, what follows is just the sort of tale we would take care not to share with anyone--much less our entire readership--given the potentially less-than-stellar reflection on us. But, inasmuch as we beseech you, our readers, on a fairly consistent basis, to share your most painful business and technology-related horror stories with us. we thought it only fair to return the favor--although we do ask that you please not laugh and point should you spot us at the next CE gathering.

Our fateful tale of woe began on a mild, Autumn day in late November. The deadline for our January 2000 issue was still a comfortable three weeks away, and we were rolling along, blissfully unaware of the seemingly unrelated chain of events to come that would trigger a catastrophe of epic proportions--at least for CE, where our last big crisis was running out of ink toner.

The news came on Day Two of CE's E-Commerce conference at the World Trade Center. Our offices had been burgled, the rogues making off with half a dozen laptops--and a good deal of the work already completed on this issue. "Surely," we hear you say, "you had backed up your files in some central location...right?"

Well, normally we would have. But a recent server malfunction had caused a three-week interruption in our nightly backup regimen, proving Murphy's Law as it applies to a technologically dependent civilization: anything that can possibly malfunction will--and at the worst possible time. Sure, we had replacement next-generation laptops within 24 hours, but getting back up to speed proved nearly as frustrating as having lost our work in the first place. Encumbered by old software, our new computers protested with hourly crashes, USB ports were incompatible with old peripherals, and network access mysteriously came and went--periodically taking with it our ability to print, receive and send e-mail, and, yes, backup our files.

Of course, we muddled through, thanks in part to patient freelance writers, who resubmitted stories along with their condolences (one kind soul even sent an electronic sympathy card from Blue Mountain) and the support of other CE staffers. But the experience of the last few weeks has left us with a new appreciation for how far technology has come and how ingrained it is in our day-to-day lives. Equipment and software that we had never heard of a scant decade ago had become so essential that we took its smooth operation for granted--until the day it all disappeared.

That's not to say that we want to go back to the days of paste-up boards, let alone manual typewriters--complete with carbon copies and white-out (remember those?). In fact, quite the opposite, our loss only underscored how far our own industry, publishing, has come technologically--and what we have gained as a result. And somehow, as we wrap up this issue, which is all about technology's impact across industries worldwide, that seems only too appropriate.