# What are your profound computer/ information age moments? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 5, 2008, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-profound-computer-information-age-moments/466528 "2008-10-05T05:42:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-profound-computer-information-age-moments/466528/41 "2008-10-07T05:55:58Z")
> [@Shamozzle](#): > > What have been your “Wow!” computing/information age moments? Of course , now you have to do a thread on your most horrific moments in the cyber age. So of course you downloaded bonzi buddy [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonzi\_Buddy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonzi_Buddy) Your SO found some interesting holiday snaps of you on the net, stuff like that. Declan ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-profound-computer-information-age-moments/466528/42 "2008-10-07T06:23:16Z")
> [@Purgatory\_Creek](#): > > No, I recall it as a maze game, with huge mazes, and I was supposed to move a dot (?) through the maze. Seems to me it was orange on a black screen, but that was a lot of years and a lot of chemicals ago, so no doubt I’m wrong. 'Twas pretty amazing, regardless. Maybe CDC came up with that one. But orange on black (or black on orange) sounds like a plasma panel, all right. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-profound-computer-information-age-moments/466528/43 "2008-10-07T06:33:11Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > I teared up a little at the Cavalcade of Information Advances in http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFfdnFOiXUU video about all the stuff Bell Labs has come up with over the decades. Somebody linked it in the “We Didn’t Start the Fire” thread. I don’t know, I found it touching and awe inspiring even though it’s them tooting their own horns. I’m such a dork. From 2000 - just before Lucent basically killed Bell Labs in the meltdown. _sigh_. Funny they skipped noting Arno was president. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-profound-computer-information-age-moments/466528/44 "2008-10-07T06:37:11Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > My first thumb drive – having thirty times the storage capacity of my first (enormous) computer ON MY KEY CHAIN. Heh. When I worked at Intel, it was no big deal to get another gig of disk allocated, which I thought was impressive. Now I’m running a workshop which puts the proceedings on a thumbdrive and gives them out. We’re getting some (one or two gig, I’m not sure) for about $4 each. As for video games, I have one that is the size of the joystick for the Atari 2600, which has about 20 games and the Atari system in it. ---
**Author:** ![nivlac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3bc359/32.png) [@nivlac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nivlac)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-profound-computer-information-age-moments/466528/45 "2008-10-07T07:22:11Z")
Seminal moment for me was in 1983 when I walked into the IBM Computer Store (they existed in those days), plunked down over $3000, and bought an IBM PC1 with 64KB, one floppy drive, and a monochrome monitor. Over the next year or two, I promptly spent another $5000 or so in upgrades including a 20MB hard drive!!! Wow. I had a ball with that computer and relish those early days working with it. About 10 years before that first PC, I first encountered computer programming in a physics course and was absolutely enthralled with a machine doing all the calculations so fast. And the computer has been my friend ever since. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![phil417](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/6bbea6/32.png) [@phil417](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phil417)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-profound-computer-information-age-moments/466528/46 "2008-10-07T07:50:27Z")
To begin with, please understand that I’m 55; I graduated from HS in 1971. Back in the day, an IBM Selectric was high technology. I went to a business college, where I graduated with a degree in Computer Programming. The computer languages I learned were RPG (Report Program Generator), PL1 (Programming Language 1), and COBOL (Common Bisuiness Language). On the job, I’ve learned Lotus 1-2-3, WordPerfect, and Access. I attended college to learn Microsoft Office Applications. One profound information age moment I remember has to do with my first husband. He (the father of my two daughters, he did give me good kids, I’ll say that for him) was berating/beating me because I’d made mistakes on the keyboard of the VIC 20 (the keys were wider than those of a standard keyboard). For a change, I stood up to him & told him that I could type on the keyboards at work, just not on the VIC keyboard, and that my typing was paying for his expensive habits. I didn’t think so at the time, but in introspect, the pain was worth it. Love, Phil [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-profound-computer-information-age-moments/466528.md?page=2)