[OFB Cafe] Introductions?

[saki]

Fred A. Miller wrote:

> I certainly won't argue with that! ;)
> 

Pleased to hear it!

Actually, on the "old geezer" theme, I was talking to my (adult) 
children a few weeks ago, trying to explain why I felt that they had 
missed out.

I started (as many of us, no doubt) with an 8 bit ZX81 "home" computer, 
and a cassette tape recorder for storage, went to colour with a 
Spectrum, and then an Acorn "BBC Model B".

Then in into the big time, with the long defunct Ferranti's PC clone. 
What excitement- a 5 1/4 inch drive, and the ability to save data once 
the operating system was loaded.

Then a second floppy drive- oh, the power!

The break through: a Western Digital "Hard Card" drive of 20 mb. This 
had to be formatted as two partitions as M$-DOS wouldn't read over 10 mb...

My first (PC) GUI, and shortly after my first mouse. I still remember my 
excitement at seeing the cursor move around the screen.

The first (dot matrix) printer, and the first -crap output- letters and 
staff papers print-outs.

Ami (then Ami Pro) giving me WYSIWYG (You can see it's Times Roman!), 
Lotus Symphony, and Corel Draw. Getting pirated software c/w handbooks 
in the Golden Arcade in Shansuipo in Hong Kong.

Then the first CD-ROM and the Britannica for my children (so I said).

My first home modem (I'd played with acoustic couplers when doing my 
Master's at London Uni), and communicating around the world. The start 
of the Web.

Using a HP 8000 main-frame for research data analysis, running a small 
Unix network....

Writeable CDs then DVDs.

Laptops, usb sticks- well, it doesn't stop, and for me the wonder goes 
on (three states now possible - a trit?), roaming access, powerful 
computers as mobile 'phones......

But for my children there doesn't seem to be any wonder in all this. 
They have grown up with it, and seem not to regard it as wondrous.

I know that this may sound as if I'm yearning for an imagined romance of 
the past, I'm not. As Kipling put it "And all unseen, Romance was 
bringing up the 9:15"

I'm just sorry my children will not experience the same excitement that 
I've enjoyed. They will have their own, though, that's certain.

Terence