OT: Old people stories

[Agoodnap]

Every spreadsheet is a rip-off of VisiCalc.

 

[Pitchfork Rebel]

The young'ins don't remember Lotus 1-2-3

I weep every day for Lotus Improv. It was a fundamental improvement in the traditional spreadsheet, but Lotus screwed up the marketing and mortally wounded 1-2-3 as well, by claiming Improv was better than 1-2-3 and confusing people.

It sort of has survived with Quantrix, but that's $1500/license.

I had an interview forty years ago next month with a now long gone Wilkes Barre bank, United Penn for the position of credit analyst. I was taken to meet my potential co-workers and saw 1-2-3 for the first time on tiny monochrome monitors. I could see how powerful it would be. My sole comp sci class was Fortran on punch cards so that was an "oh sh**" minute.

 

[AgSurfer]

I weep every day for Lotus Improv. It was a fundamental improvement in the traditional spreadsheet, but Lotus screwed up the marketing and mortally wounded 1-2-3 as well, by claiming Improv was better than 1-2-3 and confusing people.

It sort of has survived with Quantrix, but that's $1500/license.

I had an interview forty years ago next month with a now long gone Wilkes Barre bank, United Penn for the position of credit analyst. I was taken to meet my potential co-workers and saw 1-2-3 for the first time on tiny monochrome monitors. I could see how powerful it would be. My sole comp sci class was Fortran on punch cards so that was an "oh sh**" minute.

Way back in the early 80’s, I visited my brother for a few days and he took me in to his work place to show me what he was doing. He had a monochrome monitor on his desk with a bunch of little, simple pictures (i. e. Icons) and I thought to myself “So what? “ I didn’t see any real value in what he was working on.

I was looking at the first prototype version of Microsoft Windows.

 

[Ski]

Way back in the early 80’s, I visited my brother for a few days and he took me in to his work place to show me what he was doing. He had a monochrome monitor on his desk with a bunch of little, simple pictures (i. e. Icons) and I thought to myself “So what? “ I didn’t see any real value in what he was working on.

I was looking at the first prototype version of Microsoft Windows.

Still felt the same when I saw Windows 2.0 in the late 80's. Just didn't see what the fuss was about. Me of little vision. 🤣

 

[7brwnpsu]

I had a well earned "D" in Fortran. Punch cards! Got a chance to see Microsoft's campus on a trip west in the late 1980's. Never thought that company would be pushing nuclear power these days.

I was a huge Dan Fogelberg fan back in the day. For you youngsters, play Face the Fire on your music box. Times they are a changing. Again.

 

[Pennstate1985]

I weep every day for Lotus Improv. It was a fundamental improvement in the traditional spreadsheet, but Lotus screwed up the marketing and mortally wounded 1-2-3 as well, by claiming Improv was better than 1-2-3 and confusing people.

It sort of has survived with Quantrix, but that's $1500/license.

I had an interview forty years ago next month with a now long gone Wilkes Barre bank, United Penn for the position of credit analyst. I was taken to meet my potential co-workers and saw 1-2-3 for the first time on tiny monochrome monitors. I could see how powerful it would be. My sole comp sci class was Fortran on punch cards so that was an "oh sh**" minute.

Punch cards!! I did that in high school, and then I had to walk the mile to Lock Haven State College and feed the cards into the only computer in the county. Simple if/then statement programs. The good old days as they say lol.

 

[AgSurfer]

Punch cards!! I did that in high school, and then I had to walk the mile to Lock Haven State College and feed the cards into the only computer in the county. Simple if/then statement programs. The good old days as they say lol.

Punch cards! Ha ha ha! You just reminded me of a student prank when I was at PSU!

Someone noticed that the guys at the IT center would always stack the student program cards on the card reader right before lunch break and let the programs run during lunch. Then when they got back, they would gather up the output printed by the line printers and put them on the shelves for the students to collect.

So someone wrote a program that was just a big Do Loop with the only executable statements in the loop being ASCII 12 and ASCII 13 which meant Form Feed and Carriage Return.

So when the program ran, all it did was cause the line printer to spit out tens of thousands of blank pages. When the IT guys got back from lunch, the entire room was filled with paper that had been ejected from the line printer!

Note: This was probably one of the earliest instances of malicious code being used in a computer system.

 

[Pennstate1985]

Remember when the first Texas Instruments calculator came out? Mind blowing

 

[doubleboots]

 

[SlipperyPete12]

How many kids these days would even know what this is, let alone how to use it?

 

[Sleepylion]

Punch cards! Ha ha ha! You just reminded me of a student prank when I was at PSU!

Someone noticed that the guys at the IT center would always stack the student program cards on the card reader right before lunch break and let the programs run during lunch. Then when they got back, they would gather up the output printed by the line printers and put them on the shelves for the students to collect.

So someone wrote a program that was just a big Do Loop with the only executable statements in the loop being ASCII 12 and ASCII 13 which meant Form Feed and Carriage Return.

So when the program ran, all it did was cause the line printer to spit out tens of thousands of blank pages. When the IT guys got back from lunch, the entire room was filled with paper that had been ejected from the line printer!

Note: This was probably one of the earliest instances of malicious code being used in a computer system.

 

[AgSurfer]

Remember when the first Texas Instruments calculator came out? Mind blowing

The TI-50 was an absolute necessity for every engineering major when I was at Penn State.

 

[mcpat]

Some early computers I and my friends had:

Commodore Vic20
Commodore 64
Apple IIE
Texas Instruments TI 99/4A

I thought the Commodore 64 was the best but my older cousin said the TI 99/4A was better.

The Commodore 64 had some awesome games. Load “*”,8,1.

 

[tullfan68]

lol back in my day no computers we had to write everything and add with our hands and minds not so much anymore!

 

[nerfstate]

Early on, I was all about the Radio Shack brands. Color Computer II (hooked up to your TV) and the Tandy 1000.

 

[tullfan68]

how about in high school my gym teacher/wrestling coach had no problem using the paddle on all of us that's just how it was and none of us complained!

 

[dbldoofus]

I had a well earned "D" in Fortran. Punch cards! Got a chance to see Microsoft's campus on a trip west in the late 1980's. Never thought that company would be pushing nuclear power these days.

I was a huge Dan Fogelberg fan back in the day. For you youngsters, play Face the Fire on your music box. Times they are a changing. Again.

Ah yes, I remember these.... The McKinley Administration.

 

[El-Jefe]

lol back in my day no computers we had to write everything and add with our hands and minds not so much anymore!