What did you think about your first time getting on the internet?

fuzzybuddy

fuzzybuddy

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Since you are reading this, you are computer literate. 30 Years ago, did you ever think you'd be sitting in front of a TV, typing away? What did you think about your first time getting on the internet? I can do banking and a few other things, but that's about it. What do you think of your computer skills?
 

My first memorable impression with the internet: I'd bought some graphic design software (CDs in those days - no downloads) to help me make logos for our business. Despite reading the instructions and going to the website for the minimal help offered in those days, I still couldn't figure out how to do what I wanted. Found an online graphics forum, posed a question and someone reached back to me.

He said it was too complicated to respond to on the forum so asked for my email address. I (naively) gave it to him. Turned out the guy was for real. He sent a long step-by-step explanation of what to do, including screen shots, and helped me along when I had a few questions.

I learned he worked for a sanitation company in Ohio. (What?) As it happened, he played around with graphics software as a hobby. He took me under his wing a bit, counseling me to set up junk email addressed that didn't include personal info for future interactions with strangers. He said he happened to be safe, but not everyone I encountered on the net would be.

Thanks to him, I accomplished what I'd set out to do and learned to be more cautious in my online interactions. Mostly though, I discovered many truly helpful, selfless people exist in the cyber world. Youtube is a perfect example of that.
 
Well I was a touch typist anyway having learned at school, and passed exams in it... the typing didn't concern me.. but learning how to use this expensive piece of equipment without breaking it was my uppermost thought.

I took a course in Internet use at college in about 2000, when we first got a home computer... ( 23 years ago at least) where I learned not only about the internet but about how computers work.. mainframes , and all hardware etc....

Both my o/h and I were learning at home at the same time .. which was a blessing for me because he's very technically minded, and also was using computers at work, so that was very helpful...he went on to build computers as a hobby

The funny thing now..altho' looking back was very frustrating.. was that my daughter had been using computers at school all through her final years.. and then at work for an International Corporate company.. but when I asked if she could help me by showing me how to do simple tasks, she got very impatient and wouldn't show me..
 
hollydolly said:
The funny thing now..altho' looking back was very frustrating.. was that my daughter had been using computers at school all through her final years.. and then at work for an International Corporate company.. but when I asked if she could help me by showing me how to do simple tasks, she got very impatient and wouldn't show me..
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A close friend has Apple computers, phones, TV, watch, the whole shooting match. When she has a problem she goes to an Apple store. She says that unlike her children (similar in age to the employees), the people working there don't roll their eyes at her questions. :cool:
 
We had a friend who had a home computer business. We started with the first desktop, some games and a word processor. There was no "Windows" on it. Remember it was just DOS operating systems back then. When the internet became available we connected. Big speed back then was 2400 baud. It took 30 minutes to download a 256 K picture. I thought it was miraculous. :) He supplied us about every year with an upgraded computer and operating system. This lasted until the 486 computer arrived with Windows as the operating system.
 
StarSong said:
A close friend has Apple computers, phones, TV, watch, the whole shooting match. When she has a problem she goes to an Apple store. She says that unlike her children (similar in age to the employees), the people working there don't roll their eyes at her questions. :cool:
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yes I've had to go once or twice.. the kids are really helpful...however there are no Apple stores anywhere near me


My first computer was Microsoft of course..I can't remember what make of monitor it was but it was a big old Bulky thing
 
Paco Dennis said:
We had a friend who had a home computer business. We started with the first desktop, some games and a word processor. There was no "Windows" on it. Remember it was just DOS operating systems back then. When the internet became available we connected. Big speed back then was 2400 baud. It took 30 minutes to download a 256 K picture. I thought it was miraculous. :) He supplied us about every year with an upgraded computer and operating system. This lasted until the 486 computer arrived with Windows as the operating system.
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I remember DOS. My first computer pre-loaded with Windows had 3.1. The next one had Windows 98, which I loved.

Also recall my first 486. Lightning fast compared to the 286 it replaced!
 
In 1986 I was charged with transferring an inventory from a card system to a computer with my only training coming over the telephone. That was my first experience with a computer and I was hooked. I could not rest until I had my own. My first Internet hookup was dial-up. I can still hear that modem.

I don't remember where I first explored on the Internet but once I had a computer at home it wasn't long until I was asked to volunteer for an Internet group. I learned a lot doing that. The site only lasted a few months as I recall but I got enough experience with it to lead to a second career some years after I retired from the first career.
 
It was the in the 1980ā€™s. I believe it was necessitated by research I was doing. I had to communicate (email) with a professor at another university. Dialed into the schoolā€™s mainframe and connected to Bitnet? (I think that was what called) and the forums were Usenet. I found it useful for the project and it did get published. Everything was done by commands at a prompt - no graphical user interface. The irony was I was doing research on prototyping graphical user interfaces! Ha!
 
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My first experience was actually with a BBS before I had Internet. Most amazing to me was that I could send a message to a friend in Germany and he received it in *only two days!!* Then when I finally got the 'Net, I had another friend ask if I've seen the "Sci-Fi Channel Page" and I had to ask what a "page" was... figured the Internet was just a fancy and fast post office for correspondence.

Funny PS to this is that when I did get the 'Net and my German friend's address, I sent him an email thinking it would still take a day or two, and he wrote back in about 90 seconds with "BOO Katie!"
šŸ˜Š
 
BBS services to begin with, then the first Microsoft animated file cabinet on the screen, that was funny.

The internet properly came available in November 1994. Netscape was the browser. My love of research expanded here. The dialup tone was okay, but the download speed was horrible. I remember one night circa 1995, staying up to get free game of about 34 megabytes.

Fell asleep at desk around 4 am. By the time I woke up at 7am to take care of munchkins, file had failed to download, oh bliss!

To this day, wish we still had Netscape navigator to browse the internet, it was that good.
 
Supernatural said:
BBS services to begin with, then the first Microsoft animated file cabinet on the screen, that was funny.

The internet properly came available in November 1994. Netscape was the browser. My love of research expanded here. The dialup tone was okay, but the download speed was horrible. I remember one night circa 1995, staying up to get free game of about 34 megabytes.

Fell asleep at desk around 4 am. By the time I woke up at 7am to take care of munchkins, file had failed to download, oh bliss!

To this day, wish we still had Netscape navigator to browse the internet, it was that good.
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Oh gosh I remember those days of downloading a game all night only to find it had failed... arrgghhh... šŸ˜£
 
I'd fooled with DOS in the military ... installation was on 21 3.5 floppies,
And was happy to see the GUI of Win95 and didn't have to use command prompts.

First PC and I wondered if there was anything on the Internet besides AOL (America Online)
I'd heard there was but couldn't find it ... for several days anyway.
And I too thought the modem sound was the neatest thing. Well except for the screechy part.
 

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