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 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
So I could have waited 35 years and gotten double what I got in insurance :) (looks like a lot of people kept those around)
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. 😅