Retro Tech Week It may seem that progress in technology proceeds in a linear fashion, with new developments replacing older ones. From this viewpoint, newer technology will always be better, since it is presumed to have built upon what came before it and improved on it. Grow older, and you start to realize that this isn't always the case. Progress doesn't always go in a straight line. Just look at how personal computers largely replaced the hulking mainframes and minicomputers that came before t...