For our purposes, the first age of computing was the 1970s when the focus was on big infrastructure. Green-screen terminals, in vogue back then, eventually evolved into personal computers. Networks went from a centralized, hierarchical design to a decentralized design. Decentralization moved the processing closer to the user meaning applications moved from thin client (processing on the server) to thick client (processing on the user/client side). Green screens were tightly coupled interfaces to the data-laden backend. Decentralization enabled developers to track process steps and state information on the server side while allowing client-side computers to do much more of the processing. The period was the birth of client-server architectures, which are central to today's modern technology-driven business.
With much of the processing moving closer...