  This paper is a very brief and gentle introduction to non-commutative
geometry geared primarily towards physicists and geometers. It starts with a
brief historical description of the motivation for non-commutative geometry and
then goes on to motivate the subject from the point of view of the the
understanding of local symmetries affordee by the theory of groupoids. The
paper ends with a very rapid survey of recent developments and applications
such as non-commutative toric geometry, the standard model for particle physics
and the study of the Riemann Hypothesis.
