Question for the old farts around here ;)

[OS]

Does it amaze you how much technology has come since you were young? Please give a favorite example if you can.

 

[Russ]

<< Please give a favorite example if you can. >>



The fact that I no longer have to get off the couch to dodge commercials about feminine hygiene products.

Russ, NCNE

 

[Zach]

Must be overwhelming if you really think of it. I'm only 20, I remember our first 4x CDROM drive, the evolution of modems from 2400bps, TV's with cordless remotes.

 

[OS]

<< The fact that I no longer have to get off the couch to dodge commercials about feminine hygiene products. >>



That seems to be a favorite with alot of people





<< Must be overwhelming if you really think of it. I'm only 20, I remember our first 4x CDROM drive, the evolution of modems from 2400bps, TV's with cordless remotes. >>



Yeah that's exactly what I was thinking, I just ordered a PPC ipaq that's more powerful than my first 3 computers combined. And more powerful than the laptop I got at the start of college. It's only been 4 years too.

 

[Linflas]

No if anything I am stunned by the fact that we have not gone as far in space as I pictured in my youth. It is sad that we could land a man on the moon when I was 13 but could not get there now if we wanted to without a major effort. As for the computer and networking technology I am not surprised at all since I have been working in it all along.

 

[jcuadrado]

Atari 2600 Pong -vs- Unreal Tournament for PC..

its just too much..

 

[Dan]

If I'd started first grade one year earlier than I did I'd have been in a one-room school. And I remember lugging a manual typewriter off to my first year of college. PC's were unheard of. In fact, there was a guy on the dorm floor who had an electric typewriter. Talk about bitchin!

 

[Russ]

Dan,

I was is a one room schoolhouse through the 6th grade. Machias Elementary; even was the stereotypical white with brick chimney. Kitchen in the back of the classroom that doubled as the &quot;hack&quot; room.

Russ, NCNE

 

[frizzlefry]

<<

<< The fact that I no longer have to get off the couch to dodge commercials about feminine hygiene products. >>


That seems to be a favorite with alot of people


<< Must be overwhelming if you really think of it. I'm only 20, I remember our first 4x CDROM drive, the evolution of modems from 2400bps, TV's with cordless remotes. >>


Yeah that's exactly what I was thinking, I just ordered a PPC ipaq that's more powerful than my first 3 computers combined. And more powerful than the laptop I got at the start of college. It's only been 4 years too. >>


2400bps? I remember cans and a string!
No I remember 300baud modems. Hard drives that were 20MB were considered huge! Backing up large progams to multiple floppies. Knobs on TVs. Remeber life before computers? Where you would actually go outside and play with the neighbors? And to be able to get non stop pr0n for free! And in an instant?! Man that's just insane! I remember DLing jpgs that would take 5-10 min before I could do my biz. hahahaha

LOL @ Russ

 

[Geekbabe]

lol &quot;old farts&quot;


I think I resemble that remark

 

[Tiger]

Technology comes in fits and starts.
As Linflas said it's a crying damn shame we've let the space program recede like it has.
Just because technology advances doesn't neccesarily mean that politicians or the public have the cajones to finance it to it's logical conclusion.

In my lifetime I've seen nuclear reactors producing electricity, men walk on the moon, computers shrink from room size to palm size, and still no great engineering feats like electrification. We've squandered the available technology through bad decision making.

If we spent the money we spend every year on a totally preventable disease like aids on technology that could benefit all mankind, we'd be better off.

 

[apoppin]

Well, I'm not working with DOS much anymore.

The TV remote is nice and convenient and everything looks better in color.

The phone is so much faster with touch dialing than rotary.

There is an Internet.

 

[Fireman]

OK, I'm 35, here is what I remember:

Candy bars $.15.

Jolly Ranchers $.02 each.

B&amp;W TV.

Cars that didn't even COME with seatbelts unless you ordered them.

If we saw a car in a parking lot with it's lights left on, my father would open the door, turn off the guys lights and close it back up.

$.25 for 5 balls on the pinball machine.

Computer?.....what computer?

 

[lesch2k]

my computer has a processor that is 11 times faster, with 8 times more ram, and a cd rom that is 24 times faster than the computer i had in my room before it. and this is only a 733 p3 with 128 ram, there is much better out there.

 

[ElPool]

it seems like ALL the great advances in technology right now are happening inside your computer. the internet was the greatest invention we've seen in quite a while, and before that it was the PC. whats going to be next? nanotech?

 

[WombatWoman]

When I was 14 years old, in 1962, I was a finalist in the State Science Fair, which was held at the University of Oklahoma. While the judges were examining our projects, the university gave us a tour of the various science buildings and exhibits on campus. I remember how proud the tour guide was of the university's awesome new multimillion dollar Computer Sciences building, a huge, noisy place filled with banks and banks of chattering relays and flashing lights.

Today I have more computing power than that in a device that will fit in my purse.

 

[kursplat]

i remember my dad comming home with this new game that was so amazing my brother and i played it for days on end.

PONG

 

[Fireman]

One more for ya:
My grandparents owned a restraunt durring the great deppression. People would come in and order a hot bowl of water for like $.02 and then empty the ketsup bottle and all the crackers into it for a tomato soup meal. They had to take all the stuff off the tables cause people would pilfer whatever they could just trying to survive.
These people were not scum or criminals, just regular working American Joes trying to survive.
Be thankful my friends.

 

[NesuD]

I can remember as a young boy My Grandfather learning television repair from a corresondence course and being totally awed at what he could do with old b&amp;w tv sets that were full of gobs of tubes got hotter than hell and had crappy reception. used to take him a couple weeks to tear one down and completely rebuild it testing an replacing all the bad parts. If he were still alive i think he would be pretty amazed to see me assemble a complete pc in just a couple hours and have all the software installed in a couple more that made it into a total home entertainment center. tvtuner, dvd, communications, sound system, game center, business machine, video and photo editing, all in 1 box that took me all of 4 hrs to completely set up.

P.S. the old fart thing doesn't really bother me I figure i've earned it

 

[V]

<< Candy bars $.15. >>



I wish candy bars would be that cheap now:frown:

 

[StarRover]

Black and white TV,because ther was no color TV and transistor radois did not exist.

 

[Tominator]

The question is not what WE did in the last 30 years, it is what YOU will do in the next 30!

IF you remember the history and sacrifice already paid in blood sweat and tears, your task will be much easier...If you choose to ignore those that have already shown the way, your task will be insurmountable and limited only by your own ignorance.

The real battles have been won. It is up to YOU what will happen next.....

...No, I'm not amazed at progress...I am amazed how we must learn what is already evident over and over again....

I remember 17 cent a gallon price wars....5 cent popsicles...mamosa trees in Arkansas...my dad rebuilding the lawn mower as it was a luxury....heroes were commonplace and crime wasn't...the person reporting the news was a relative and so was the local cop...and, there was an advertisemnt for the Negro College Fund stateing a 'Mind was a terrible thing to waste,' ad nauseum! I often wondered what they meant as I thought my Grandfather was the best man I ever knew and drove a tractor all his life plowing fields and none of my family went to college. Their son's became executives and decorated Veterans or did not come back...

...Old Fart?....
..SURVIVE!...Because of them you got it easy! So do I!....

 

[mrCide]

Hey, I'm still waiting for my f~cking flying car thank you very much.

 

[hopefloats]

and jetpacks! We were all supposed to be zipping around with those by 2001!! lol

 

[natto fire]

i was so stubborn to leave DOS all of my friends had windows 95 and I was like &quot;Damn you people need to respect the true reliability of DOS, this windows crap always crahes!&quot;

Which I kept believing...
Until I installed Windows 2000