As someone who wrote his first program more than 35 years ago, I find it very easy to sound like one of Monty Python’s four Yorkshiremen when I recount how basic computers were in my day. I used to have to load the operating system of my PDP8 using binary dip switches on the front panel. Aye, but we were ’appy!

While the downside of being an old IT war horse is a growing reputation for sending people to sleep, there is an upside: a sense of perspective. A sense of perspective is absolutely essential in IT ­ a business with more fads, trends and ruthless disdain for heretics than any cutting-edge fashion magazine.