[lit-ideas] The 25 Greatest PCs of All Time
- From: JimKandJulieB@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 13 Aug 2006 06:10:34 EDT
_Click here: The 25 Greatest PCs of All Time - Yahoo! News_
(http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/20060811/tc_pcworld/126692;_ylt=AvgC14fDt5e1MXHg.pUZkeIDW7oF;_
ylu=X3oDMTBhZDhxNDFzBHNlYwNtZW5ld3M-)
I find this amusing and somewhat nostalgic reading. When I was a kid, my
Dad worked as a programmer for Eniac; I remember his bringing home punch cards
that we played with, coloured on, etc.
I didn't meet an actual desktop computer until I was 20, employed as a
secretary in the English Dept of the local University. There was an IBM
computer
which the dept had owned for 7 months but had never been plugged in because
no one knew what to do with it. I think it had a whopping 256 KB of RAM.
I was curious. I plugged it in and lo and behold there was a blinking green
greater-than sign (I can't find that particular character right now) on a
black screen and that was it. I stared back at it wondering what it wanted me
to do.
DOS, DBase, Wordstar.....I learned how to use them, how to do Basic
programming from manuals and experimenting. The dept. thought I was nuts
until I
showed them how they could automatically add a textbook to a database and
alphabetize the list.
Three years ago my Mother purchased her first computer. I set it up for
her, showed her the basics of Microsoft Word, Internet Access, etc. Two days
later she called on the phone: "Julie, I want to write a letter, but I forget
what button to push."
To this day, if she has a choice, she uses her selectric typewriter over her
computer. The Windows pop-up updates terrify her. She's afraid if she
touches the wrong key she'll break the computer.
It's a funny world.
Julie Krueger
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