I had to be 8 or 9. It is so far back in my memory reel. The icons was something like green ball with an arc over it on school macs. Maybe splash page? Idk. It all chamged so quickly.
Edit to add: we didnt have a computer at home. Time is a trip.
I was one of the first to try the "internet" when it was just a connection between a few government and university sites, via a modem (I forget the baud rate) that involved calling a number, and then putting the phone on a thing that would do that high screeching noise before the connection was made (the same thing later fax machines used; maybe they still do?). I was a Federal employee at the time (mid to late '80s). It wasn't until I was back in graduate school in the early 90's that I experienced the "real" internet, and Netscape was used. Word Perfect used to be the standard word processing software back then, along with a spread sheet program that I forget the name of, that later got obliterated by Excel. I'm keeping some of the old computer technology and software so if I ever have grandchildren, they might have fun checking it out.
We had a Commodore 64 back in the day. People today probably think "Oh, 64 gigabytes, or maybe 64 megabytes?" Nooooo...64 kilobytes :) It was stolen in a house break-in in the late 80's, and at the time, I thought, "Well, I got a $100 for it from the insurance company (or something less, I can't remember exactly), so that's more than it was worth". I wish I had that now so I could show my kids, and eventually grandkids, what the early publicly available computers were like. I remember in grad school in the early 80's using computers that used cassette tapes for memory :)
I remember that one, but I think Quatro was what I was referring to. When Excel started to be the main one, you could import the Quatro files to it. I don't know how many versions came and went before they stopped that capability.
I had to be 8 or 9. It is so far back in my memory reel. The icons was something like green ball with an arc over it on school macs. Maybe splash page? Idk. It all chamged so quickly.
Edit to add: we didnt have a computer at home. Time is a trip.
I was one of the first to try the "internet" when it was just a connection between a few government and university sites, via a modem (I forget the baud rate) that involved calling a number, and then putting the phone on a thing that would do that high screeching noise before the connection was made (the same thing later fax machines used; maybe they still do?). I was a Federal employee at the time (mid to late '80s). It wasn't until I was back in graduate school in the early 90's that I experienced the "real" internet, and Netscape was used. Word Perfect used to be the standard word processing software back then, along with a spread sheet program that I forget the name of, that later got obliterated by Excel. I'm keeping some of the old computer technology and software so if I ever have grandchildren, they might have fun checking it out.
It’s funny to be an early adopter of a new technology. Kids don’t know how things “work” as they just understand touchscreens and things happen.
I had to load my OS (MSDos) on a 3 1/2” floppy upon startup (of my new “laptop” computer. 6 pounds or so. 3 inches thick.
We remember EarthLink, Netscape, Iomega externals for “huge“ vector files (early Adobe illustrator and photoshop)
And 8-tracks and reel to reel music. And when CDs first came out and how expensive they were!
We had a Commodore 64 back in the day. People today probably think "Oh, 64 gigabytes, or maybe 64 megabytes?" Nooooo...64 kilobytes :) It was stolen in a house break-in in the late 80's, and at the time, I thought, "Well, I got a $100 for it from the insurance company (or something less, I can't remember exactly), so that's more than it was worth". I wish I had that now so I could show my kids, and eventually grandkids, what the early publicly available computers were like. I remember in grad school in the early 80's using computers that used cassette tapes for memory :)
There is always eBay!
Commodore 64
Lotus 123: https://www.techopedia.com/definition/4420/lotus-1-2-3#:~:text=Lotus%201%2D2%2D3%20was,throughout%20the%201980s%20and%20'90s.
I remember that one, but I think Quatro was what I was referring to. When Excel started to be the main one, you could import the Quatro files to it. I don't know how many versions came and went before they stopped that capability.
That's awesome, fren! I was still waiting on my ticket for life in the late 80s. 😅