Week 2 - Day 4 History of Computers

We were doing Microsoft Word and Excel this week. The new girl Christina was walking in and out of class all the time, which was very annoying. Alisha also kept complaining that she didnt understand the work. Apparently she knows nothing about computers. She even called herself "computer stupid".

I do not see how anyone can go through 10 or 12 years of school and still not know anything about computers in this day and age. My 6 year old son has been using computers since he was 2 or 3 years old. He uses the 2 computers we have at home and the 2 old computers they have at daycare.

I have been using computers since 1982 when my dad first brought home an Atari. I can still remember having to hook up the Atari to our old black and white TV, and using large 5 inch floppy disks or audio tapes to upload games and programs. This was BEFORE the smaller 3.5 inch floppy disks. Most kids these days have no idea of the history of computers. And I can still remember when the old back and white TV blew its picture tube, because it could not handle all the graphics from the games. So Dad had to go out and buy a new colour TV.

Bolderdash was my favourite game. The operating dystem was DOS. RAM was only 64 KB in size. Very small. I even did a computer course where I learnt to write BASIC and COBOL programs on DOS.

When I finally left home in 1987, I couldn't afford to buy a computer. But I did manage to get one in 1992. By now the RAM was up to 64 MB and the strategy game Civilisation was the rage. I LOVED playing Civilisation. The Operating system was still DOS.

In 1995 Microsoft released a new operating system - Windows 95. (yes I know there was Windows 3 before this, but I regard that as more of a test run). Then in 1998 I was finally able to rent another computer. This one had Windows 98 and I think the RAM was still 64 MB but the hard drive had 2 GB. This is when I really learn about computers. This is what I used for that part time Computer Technology course I mentioned earlier. This is what I used to finally get on the internet. By now I was playing Civilisation 2.

Now ten years later, we have 2 computers at home. One has Windows XP and the other has VISTA. RAM is now 1GB and the hard drive on both PC's are over 200 GB. I have played Civilisation Alpha Centauri. Now I am attempting to play CivCity Rome.

I apologise for the brief history lesson, but most of kids do not really know the history of computers.