Non-motoring > How has technology changed our lives in the past.. Miscellaneous
Thread Author: RattleandSmoke Replies: 65

 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - RattleandSmoke
ten years.

I am talking about from 2000-2010.

We first got the internet at home in May 1997, I first used the internet in Jan 1996 on Netscape 2.1, Winsock DLL, Windows 3.1 and 8MB RAM!

By 2000 we still had dialup but by then I had wired up a network so the connection was shared, that was painfully slow but by then my mum was already doing a lot of stuff on line.

We got broadband in 2001.

From about 2003 onwards I don't think much has changed, a lot more services are online now, and we have on demand video but I think think social networks have changed things that much. Before facebook we all chatted via MSN and communicated by that.

I was very late getting my mobile, I bought it in 2000 after preasure from my mates. It was a Philips Savvy. Horrible thing. So in ten years my mobile has evolved from a mini brick with tiny screen to a hand held computer (Nokia N97 Mini).

Music wise I started downloading MP3s ilegally back in 1999 (took for ever on 56k) and used Spotify from the first day it came out in the UK. I am now a premium member.

The biggest change to me in the past year or so is that when I am now constantly on the internet. I am constantly attached to it. I am on it in my bath, in my sleep, on the bus, on the train. The only time I am not surfing the web is when I am on my bike, driving, in a pub, doing a job (but even then it involves the web) or on a dance floor.

It has got to the point where to live I need water, food, heating and then the internet.

My entire life has been based around computers and the internet (I even did at university). I just wish I was born a few years earlier so I got to see it elvolve more.
 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - rtj70
>> We first got the internet at home in May 1997 I first used the internet
>> in Jan 1996 on Netscape 2.1 Winsock DLL Windows 3.1 and 8MB RAM!
>>
I first had Internet access at and a decent speed at Manchester Uni in 1989. I downloaded Linux to floppy disk in 1992/93 and it dual booted with Windows on a 486! :-)

>> We got broadband in 2001

Around the time we did. I might go back to phone line Internet soon. We had NTL/VM and sold the house. The new house can have BT Infinity FTTC broadband.

>> From about 2003 onwards I don't think much has changed a lot more services are
>> online now and we have on demand video but I think think social networks have
>> changed things that much. Before facebook we all chatted via MSN and communicated by that.

When I went to university everyone queued for the BT phones. When I left 6 years later (Post Graduate studies) nobody really had a mobile. I got a GSM one in early 1996. Now everyone has them :-) And somehow we managed without a cash point and major supermarket in Fallowfield (Manchester) back then too!

And Rattle I bet you don't remember Microdirect being where the Aldi is on the A34!

As for Spotify... don't all record Mp3's illegally!

We first tried Prestel at a friend's house around the time of the Robert Schifreen scandal (84?) and the phone bill was out of this world! Also used bulletin boards at school and the phone bills were hundreds per month ;-( Now I have a mobile WiFi hotspot.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Sat 27 Mar 10 at 01:53
 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - RattleandSmoke
I can't really imagine what the internet would have been like back in 1989. I imagine email would be exactly the same, and I am sure HTTP existing back in 89 but no world wide web of course.

I believe before the days of DNS there was a host file which was updated everyday which had a list of IP address to relevant servers.

I've never used a BBS, when we got the net at home we signed up to Compuserve, my parents went so mad at me in 97 for running up a £300 bill that they refused to let me sell the 386 so I could put the money towards a second hand DX4. We had a rented 486 at the time.

I think we really started using the net when free server came out and then signed up to one of them £10 a month packages which gave you an 0800 number to dial up. It was so slow due to the fact we were sharing 48kbps between three computers that I used turned off all graphics.

Prestel to me is just an other world, we did have a C64 in the early 80's but my dad bought it to write music on and make silly presentations and of course games. If I was ten years older I think I would have bought a modem for it.

Didn't those BBS services all have premium rate numbers? I remember them being advertised in the back of magazines.

I don't remember the old Microdirect but I was aware it was on the A34. Formed in 1993 I believe. I used to use PAL (on stockport road) and remember paying about £80 for Windows 3.1 in 1994 from some IT services shop in Cheetham hill. I also bought DOS 6.22 when the PCWORLD opened in old trafford, that set me back a lot of pocket money!

I moaned the other day that my phone only has 128MB of RAM and a 400Mhz processor then I realised back in 2000 I was happily surfing the internet with that spec. In fact I remember upgrading to 256MB of RAM so I could get XP back in 2002.

I was very slow to get into Linux, have tried it for many years but always got annoyed of the lack of driver support and gave up with it, been using Ubuntu since October though and haven't looked back.
 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - L'escargot
I now copy cassettes onto CDs. When did that technology first become available?
 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - RattleandSmoke
From the first CD writers which I think date back to around 1992 :).

I assume you're aware the process actually means you loose a bit of sound quality? I guess you're doing it so you can play them in the car etc.
 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - henry k
>>I can't really imagine what the internet would have been like back in 1989. I imagine email would be exactly the same, and I am sure HTTP existing back in 89 but no world wide web of course.

I first got involved in computing in 1965. We had an email system then that I could use to address thousands of locations around the world. Multiple addressing was integral and due to pretty strict formatting many operational messages could be auto processed.
When Email as we know know it came into existance my emails from the other system were switched in automatically.

I recall many moons ago being at a Computer show and DR Solomons of Anti virus fame was doing a presentation. He said "Hands up who has a hard drive in their PC" . " OK all those without a H/D about turn and buy one from the stand next door!" Those were the days of just twin floppy drives.

Our first WANG Word processor used 10"? floppy disks ( they were really floppy) and had IIRC 1K of data. No WYSIWYG either.

Things are just getting faster in life, except, for many folks commuting by car:-)
 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - RattleandSmoke
The woerd processor on my 386 was MS Works 2.0 that was not WYSIYG but it did work very well 2MB of RAM. That was very posh at the time as it had an 80mb hard drive.
 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - Stuartli
I've still got an Active catalogue from September 1995 and most of the prices which had to be paid then for computer systems, monitors, components etc would make your eyes water.

In the 1990s, especially the first half, it was generally reckoned that a computer system from a known brand name would cost at least £1,000, whether 286, 386 or 486 based and would be fairly basic specification wise.
 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - RattleandSmoke
Yep in 1993 I was bitten a by a dog in a DIY store, their guard dog escaped and attacked me. They setteled out of court and I got £750 compo. My parents also put £750 towards it. We ended up having £1500 to buy a PC. Dixons ripped off us but none of us knew enough about PCs at the time, I was only ten years old!

We got for our £1300.

An IBM PS/1 386 SX 20, 2MB RAM, 80MB HD, 11" VGA Monitor, DOS 4.0, Windows 3.0 £750
A Cannon Buddle jet (actually very tiny almost portable) cost about £250
£300 for an extended warranty for five years - they told us PCs always go wrong and cost a fortune to repair.

In 1997 the 386 still looked new, and it still had 1 year warranty left so I wrote a fancy user interface mainly using batch files so the user could type type in a number to load windows rather than the cd windows win.com/386 or what ever it was. I didn't dare load windows automatically with the autoexec.bat because it was so damn slow! It was mainly a DOS machine windows on top. I sold it with Windows 3.1/DOS 6.22 but otherwise as new for £280 inc a dot matrix printer.

With the same money I went and bought a scruffy looking home built 486 DX4-120 and a year later paid £180 for a 2GB hard drive for it! I then built every PC until 2007 when I bought a basic sempron AM2//DDR2 machine for £200 brand new from Comet it was cheaper than I could built it for.

Over three years later one original part remains the motherboard, everytrhing else the HD, RAM, Processor, case, windows, PSU, cd writer etc has been changed.

The only reason I haven't upgraded my motherboard is I am worried about loosing my Vistra licence I paid £75 for.
Last edited by: RattleandSmoke on Sat 27 Mar 10 at 13:02
 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - Dog
Sat naf and Google has made an impact on our lives, I 'won' a pair of hi fi loudspeaker stands on fleabay.
The seller lives 20 miles away so I'll pick them up tomorrow.
Enter his postcode into Google and using streetview I can actually size his house up then using the same tech. I can work out the route + ETA + the distance = amazing stuff!
 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - Ted

Similar, Doggy.
Just been to North Wales to collect an engine from an old agent of my last firm who runs a recovery service and has a huge salvage yard.
I just put his postcode in and then sat outside his gates on-line to get some idea of where I was aiming for. Zoom out on the map and there the route was. No map needed in the car and no stopping to ask.
You can pinpoint a feature and use it....'1st left after Shell garage,' etc. Brilliant.

My first foray into keeping in touch on the road was a pager. You got a printed message on screen and had to find a phone box. Not so easy in some places and you risked losing the job to someone else ! My neighbour had a mobile the size of a briefcase and mine was like a housebrick, with very few places to pick up a signal.

Love my Doro mobile....it's just right for me !

Ted
 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - Fursty Ferret
It's more an evolution over the last 10 years for me as opposed to a revolution. I grew up with technology.

Internet:
Well, my parents lived in the sticks. We had dialup for a few years until we got a grant for satellite broadband. So, back in 2001 we had 2Mbit download, but only dialup upload. Now, of course, it's all ADSL (or 50/Mbit cable, in my case).

Phone:
It took me ages to get my first phone 'cos I was a cheapskate. I think it was an ancient Ericsson model capable of two lines of text on the screen. Now I have a Nexus One (thanks Google!) which ticks along at 1GHz and has a screen resolution of 800x480.

I take it for granted that email comes to my phone now; that most of my contacts show a Facebook photo when they call; that I can search for things nearby just by speaking to the phone; that I can watch a high def movie on the go on my laptop.

Can't wait to see what the next 20 years brings.
 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - Robin O'Reliant

>> Can't wait to see what the next 20 years brings.
>>
Incontenance, dimentia and death :-(
 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - sherlock47

>> Can't wait to see what the next 20 years brings.
>>
Incontenance, dimentia and death :-(


Interesting that the only one that is inevitable is the one you can spell! ;)
 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - L'escargot
>> Can't wait to see what the next 20 years brings.
>>

Numerous bodily disorders caused by the malfunction of internal organs!
;-)
 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - Robin O'Reliant
The biggest impact on me is that my handwriting is now so bad I can hardly read it myself. With email for communication and a printer for formal letters it is a skill that threatens to pass into oblivion through lack of practice.

I suspect most people now dread getting a handwritten letter from a relative, even the neatest of them seems to take ages to decipher now we rarely have to read them.
 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - Zero
There was no "web" because HTML wasnt in use (on the web anyway, it was in mainframe documents) There was no google, and if you couldnt use ftp syntax AND know the source of where you wanted it there was no images.

Above all it was SLOW I first went on to BBS systems at 300 baud. When email arrived at work (and dont forget I was in an IT company so we went ito it early) my boss would delete *every* email unread. "If its important - they will phone me"

Its not about the technology, its the Applications and the use of them by the public that sets progress.

And Ratts my old son, I remember the days before TV. Now that was the dark ages.
 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - RattleandSmoke
Does that mean you were born before 1926? :p

I remember getting excited as a 14 year old kid and recieving my first email from Muggu I actually thought we would be rich!

I remember being 14 and me and my mate were sick of high cost of dialup and the slow speed so we actually considered running a cable from our two hours. It was about quarter of a mile away.

He was all for illegaly diggging up this alley way to lay it until I spoilt his fun and said what is going to power the repeaters!

In the end we just used FTP which was more reliable than UDP.

Back in 2001 I then designed a website for the firm my mate worked for and got a free bathroom out of it which included some structural work. The website looked very good the problem is I had no idea at the time about accessibility I made the stupid thing in flash!!

Ironic just a few years later I would end up creating very boring websites for the public sector which could be accessed by a blind person suffering from MS via a mobile phone.

 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - L'escargot
>> I assume you're aware the process actually means you loose a bit of sound quality?
>> I guess you're doing it so you can play them in the car etc.
>>

If, like me, you don't have high fidelity hearing then high fidelity reproduction is a bit academic!
 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - MrTee43
My first introduction to computing in 1981, was a Commodore VIC 20. I bet some of you have never even heard of it.
Storage was via a casette tape and it had a grand total of 3K memory.

There was no Microsoft, back then so operating system was BASIC and at switch on, all you got was the flashing A>

The internet was not around then, but I first got "online" with the VIC using a homebuilt Maplin modem kit that worked at a stupifying 300 baud speed.

You could only connect to a few bulletin boards in those days but the thrill when I soldered it all together ,got it working, then seeing letters and words appearing from a distant computer on my screen were quite magical.

I was hooked then and my next purchase had to be the external floppy drive, which was almost as big as a shoebox, and a single floppy could hold a staggering 170k's worth.

Its quite amazing, when you think how much storage memory, you can get on a USB stick in comparison.

Computing today is just fantastic.
 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - R.P.
Rode my 27 year old Honda to its new owner today set me thinking on progress in that field - the Honda had one primitive computer to make the sparks fire at the right time (Optical CDI thing) - Rode the BMW later.

On powering up the main ECU will fire up, measure air temp, set fuel states - the Braking system ECU fires up and sets up the ABS and power brakes for the imminent trip, the integral GPS system fires up at the same time and starts acquiring satellites and also at the same time pairs wirelessly to my Blackeberry for telecomes - at the same time the oil system is checked as are the tyre pressures and self test of all lighting - all this within seconds of firing up the bike. To power this is a 720 watt altenator.

That's what I call progress....:-(
 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - RattleandSmoke
I know the VIC20 well, I am a computerhead born in 1982 so the VIC20 was all around me.

Did you upgrade the RAM on the VIC20?

The BASIC on the VIC20 is actually written by Microsoft. It is a stripped down version of MS Basic (a lot of the graphics commands were taken out) and everything had to be done with poke and peak. I remember writing lots of lines just to get the colour of the screen to change! Disco lights C64 was my favourite program done by writing a simple goto statement.

I believe Commodore paid Microsoft about $10k for the rights to Commodore Basic MS believed Commdoroe would sell a few thousand machines. Microsoft must have regretted that decision it is one thing that made Commdore's so cheap. The other is that Commodore owned MOS so all the ICs in their microcomputers were made in house. Other companies such as Apple had to source all their chips from Motorola etc.
 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - Iffy
So where does the BBC Micro fit into all this?

My brother had one and I remember typing in BASIC programs from a magazine so we could play a, er, basic arcade game.

I have a recollection he paid about £400 for the computer and bought it more or less when it was launched.

 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - Robin O'Reliant
You kids don't know you're born. I cut my teeth on a ZX81 with 1k of RAM.

Amazingly there was a chess game written for it that actually worked.
 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - MD
Amstrad 9512? I believe and I was the most forward thinking Builder on the planet. Also remember having a PC with a P166 processor a few years back.. future proof they boomed. Future proof my....................................

Battery drills/screwdrivers after the 'Yankee' pump screwdriver..Brace and bit and so it goes on and we just take it all for granted until Ratty comes along and gives us a jog. Good on him. It's nice to 'go back' once in a while.

Thanks Rats.

MD
 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - R.P.
I "found" a lovely Yankkee screwdriver in the garage when sorting it a few weeks ago....nice bit of kit.
 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - Fursty Ferret
My dad had an Amstrad 1640 with a WHOLE 640KB of RAM and a 10MB hard disk. He fondly remembers the day the bloke in the computer shop told him 10MB would last a lifetime. Now I can fit 32GB onto a MicroSD card the size of my fingernail.

Of course, before that we had an Amiga, a computer that was truly ahead of its time. We even had a colour dot-matrix printer to go with it, which was well and truly abused by my brother and me who used it to print out A4 pictures we'd make on the computer.

Which brings me to a much more useful subject - old games. :-)

Anyone else have Digger, or Dizzy, or Rainbow Islands?
 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - R.P.
My dad had a slide rule (!)
 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - Runfer D'Hills
So did I :-(
 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - R.P.
....well he had two in fact a full size 12 inch model (Desktop I suppose) and a natty six inch rule (laptop ?)
 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - Zero
these are not life changing events,
 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - henry k
Getting rid of log tables was
 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - Zero
Ok Ok give you that one.
 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - Ted

We had a black bakelite telephone with a pull out tray...remember them ?
I found two Ten Bob notes, different issues, in the tray.
Still got them !
If any of you young whippersnappers haven't seen one, I'll scan them in !

Ted
 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - Dave_
Only this evening I found myself explaining to my 10 year old daughter what a TV licence is, what it pays for, and what it was like only having BBC1, BBC2 and ITV. C4 started on my 10th birthday, I can clearly remember watching the interminable 21 MHz test-card being replaced with the animated "4" logo and then Countdown.

First computer, 1984, Sinclair Spectrum 48k for £189.99 (when the 16k was on special offer at £129.99). I recall having to pack it back in its box, polystyrene and all, after every use. And feeling honoured at being allowed to switch the TV on before 7pm.

First mobile phone was an analogue Motorola in about 1995. 40p/min to (fuzzily) call landlines, 120p/min to (virtually inaudibly) call other mobiles, and then only on the same network. There was only Vodafone and Cellnet in those days of course.

Second mobile was a Nokia NK501 on Orange, bought as part of a deal with a Dancall DC1 for the then SWMBO. The Dancall could only receive texts but not send them, as no-one knew whether this texting thing would take off. It was a good couple of years before cross-network texting was enabled, before that you used to have to find out what network people were on before knowing whether you could text them.

First got my ancient PC online with Freeserve in 1995 (hence my old email address which began dave1995...) only dial-up of course, and only from an amateur point of view. Broadband didn't "happen" for me until 2002.

These days I have the cheapest possible home phone & broadband package, under £20/month for both with 6.5mbps speed (no cable in our area, so BT is the only option). PC is a 1.866GHz 768MB bitsa running XP and Firefox. Plus the newly arrived laptop (1.9GHZ, 2GB Samsung R519) with a mobile dongle. My phone is a Sony Ericsson W595 with 'net built in, but I only scratch the surface as far as access goes.
Last edited by: Dave_TD {P} on Sat 27 Mar 10 at 23:43
 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - R.P.
I bought a Toshiba MSX computer - software by a little known company called Microsoft.....the rest as they say is history.
 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - Dave_
>> Toshiba MSX

I remember those, they were the Next Big Thing for about 6 months...

At school we had one BBC Micro on a trolley, shared between classrooms for half a day per week!

At my (adult learning) college we have 8 "clusters" with ~40 PCs in each, plus several more PC-equipped areas in the workshops, and full wireless access throughout the campus for laptops, iPods etc.
Last edited by: Dave_TD {P} on Sat 27 Mar 10 at 23:49
 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - R.P.
I've got a habit of buying the NBT - Betamax, MiniDisc etc
 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - rtj70
I remember the day my brother got a new video recorder (VHS). I could work out the exact day because the first space shuttle landed and it got recorded as a test.

Now this was in the days when you'd rent this sort of stuff and because the TV was a Rediffusion cable effort (only the standard channels!) the VHS recorder had to have a separate tuner box itself which needed to be set manually like the one for the TV. The twin controller was on the window sill ;-)

But when I realised you could rewind 'TV' because I saw the astronauts go backwards up the steps, I asked the installer to rewind the next bit.... they looked at me as if I was stupid and said it's not recorded. I discussed and thought it should be possible.... if only I got the patent to rewind live TV aged 10 ;-)
 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - RattleandSmoke
Microsoft was a big company well before the MSX. As I said earlier they wrote the BASIC for Commdore. They also wrote versions for little jumpsarts such as Acorn and Sinclair. Then in 1981 they made a fortune by being the sole Software supplier for the IBM PC. This was known as MS/DOS. The MSX was already outdated when it came out hence it was never that popular in the UK.

My mate bought one from a car boot, it was nice to program on having proper MS Basic but other than it was as bad as a C64 but more expensive.

As for TV technology I don't know how I managed without PVR. Now I just set my PVR to record every corrie episode so it dosn't matter that I am working when its on. Anything on BBC I have Iplayer for.

My monitor is also a TV. 5 years ago if somebody said I would buy my monitor from Richersounds I would have laughed! My 22" LG 1080p TV is perfect as a PC monitor via DVI.

Even my parents who are getting on a bit (my dad is approaching 60) really see the benefit on having a 22" monitor in very high resolution.

I think this is the big thing that has changed, most people now under 70 have PCs and use them a lot. Many of my customers are in their 80's and are pretty net savvy.

I also know a guy (my mums school friend's father) who is in his mid 80's who used to supplement is income by building PCs and selling them in loot.

I think that is one big thing that has changed. In the old days old people just didn't do computers, now there are many internet users aged 90 and beyond.
Last edited by: Pugugly on Sun 28 Mar 10 at 09:50
 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - Pat
Communication has a lot to answer for.
I remember the days when I lived in a sleepy village in Leicestershire but found that with a Sigma 4 on the chimney I could talk to people in America, Canada, Italy and all those far away places.

Yes, AM CB was in it's prime in the 70's and had a Ham Multimode2 and a Tristar 777 confiscated during those years because it was illegal. The fine was £450 the first time and £600 the second!

Now we can pick up a mobile phone and talk to almost anywhere in the world for peanuts, but is this really progress.

The telephone evolved as a means of communication from telegrams and writing letters, yet we now have an all singing & dancing tiny phone and what do we do?
We struggle to write on a tiny keypad with 3 letters per button.

Pat
Last edited by: pda on Sun 28 Mar 10 at 07:02
 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - MD
Tha gal has a point.
 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - Dog
>>>Tha gal has a point. <<<

See - - - - - - - - ->
Love my (((Doro mobile)))....it's just right for me !

Ted <- - - - - - - -
 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - Zero
>> Yes AM CB was in it's prime in the 70's and had a Ham Multimode2
>> and a Tristar 777 confiscated during those years because it was illegal. The fine was
>> £450 the first time and £600 the second!

PAT pat pat. You see you didnt follow my mantra even then.

I ran a 1kw burner at home, and ran mobile with a magmount k40 and never got caught in 4 years, despite the fact i was importing rigs from the us and selling them.

Remember the Zero way - Do what you want - but dont get caught.
 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - Pat
I had a K40 on my Reps Escort Estate and used to park up for lunch at the highest point I could find, usually Cliffe Hill Quarry at Markfield, for an interesting break.
I don't know how I got caught the forst time other than it was a summers day and the door was open, so they just walked straight in!

FM was never the same, was it?

Pat
Last edited by: pda on Sun 28 Mar 10 at 16:09
 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - Zero
>> FM was never the same was it?

no idea, never went there. Went Legal radio ham.
 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - R.P.
I know Rattle but few punters ha heard of them - now most people have. The MSX platform was good just never took off in the UK and US.
 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - Zero
PU whats the next big thing?

SO I can buy the other.
 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - AshT
One next big thing that doesn't seem to have taken off is video calling by mobile. I'm in the market for a new mobile and looking at the specs of the available handsets it appears that there aren't many on the list which support it.

The mobile I've got now supports video calling, but I've never used it and it's not on my list of musts for a new handset.
 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - Zero
Judging by the txtng habits of Ashley Cole and Vernon kaye, it wouldnt be face to face video calling!
 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - RattleandSmoke
I just remember how nice the BASIC was on it, probably being a much purer version of Microsoft BASIC that ended up in the Commdores etc. BBC Basic was also very good (again from Microsoft I believe).

I think the reason for its lack of sucess in this country at least is the UK at the time was flooded with cheap home computers. In 1993 when I had to decide what to buy it was a touch choice between a top spec Amigia or a PC. The Amiga was actually a better machine but the PC was more the future. I am glad I did buy the PC.

I had a friend who would constantly buy a new micromputer each week from a car boot, in the early 90's you could pick those up for £20. The most interesting thing he bought was the MSX.

The most useless thing he bought was the VIC20.

Video calling hasn't taken off because its expensive and pretty useles. It never took off on land line phones either.
Last edited by: RattleandSmoke on Sun 28 Mar 10 at 13:07
 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - Robin O'Reliant
>>
>> The most useless thing he bought was the VIC20.
>>
Touche.

Only I bought mine when it was new :-(

The eighties were certainly a great time for computers, it was all new and exciting with newer and more advanced machines being launched by the week. Although it is better now with everything being compatable and all that, it's all rather safe and boring.
 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - RattleandSmoke
It was useless because he bought for about £10 in circa 1991-1992.

If I tried to write anything fancy on the damn thing it would just say out of memory. But then my programming skills were enything but neat being 11 years old I never understood the engineering behind programming so the code was truly wasteful and awful.

I agree computers are now boring but in many ways I think the mobile phone market is very similar to the what computers were like int he 80's especialy since mobiles are now just hand held computers.

I wonder if one operating system will just become standard on mobiles? Personaly my favourite OS for phones is Symbian.
 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - R.P.
The build quality on the Toshiba MSX I had was superb - shame Spectrum couldn't manage that.
 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - Dave_
>> Video calling hasn't taken off because its expensive and pretty useles

Video calling hasn't taken off because one of the beautiful things about voice calling is that no-one can see where you are, what you're doing or what state the place is in. . :-)

I've had "3" mobiles with video capability for a few years now, the only other person I know with one is the ex mrs... and I sure as hell don't want to have to look at her face while I'm talking to her! That issue besides, who wants to make sure their hair etc is tidy, the room is clean etc before making a quick call? Not to mention people who aren't where they say they are, or who are driving... Just think how many photos you take that you don't share with people because of background clutter/revealing data etc. Much better to make a simple voice call and let the other party imagine you looking your best.


>> Anyone remember the old Sinclair Spectrum scam?

That one passed me by, I must have been young, naive and innocent when I had my Speccy. Saying that, I hear of all sorts of commonplace scams nowadays that just wouldn't have crossed my radar (like how easy it is to fiddle gas meters, clock cars and so on) so maybe I'm destined to remain naive and innocent forever?
Last edited by: Dave_TD {P} on Mon 29 Mar 10 at 10:16
 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - Fursty Ferret
>> I've got a habit of buying the NBT - Betamax MiniDisc etc
>>

HD DVD here. Bleedin' Sony. Everyone knew HD DVD was the better format until you bribed the porn studios.
 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - RattleandSmoke
I considered buying a Minidisc but I read a review of the Rio MP3 player back in 2000 and I knew this would be the future.

It cost £300 and had 64MB of storage!
 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - Zero
Ah well there you go. Clearly you didnt learn your VHS wars history.

I stayed well clear of HD media till there was a winner.
 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - Iffy
...till there was a winner...

And I knew vinyl wouldn't last when I bought my first record in 1972.
 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - RattleandSmoke
You got that wrong then :) Have bought three LPs this year alone, all new albums etc.

Vinyl will out live CD because there will always be that audiophile niche. Go to any HMV store and you will see a poster advertising a new album very often it will show two prices, one for the LP and one for the CD.

Releasing a vinyl version of the album/single is now for norm for most British alternative bands.

That reminds me I could do with buying a new stylus for my Ortofon cartridge.
Last edited by: RattleandSmoke on Sun 28 Mar 10 at 13:42
 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - Zero
Alternative = no one buys it anyway.
 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - Dog
>>> That reminds me I could do with buying a new stylus for my Ortofon cartridge <<<

Nice record player on ebay comrade ~ preview.tinyurl.com/ygzvc2b
 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - Zero
I believed Raymond Baxter on TW when he said CD would be indestructable.

This physical media thing is a real and serious problem. We need to preserve mdeia for the future, but on what format? The ability to access some of the stuff we have produced may be lost to future generations. With paper its fine, but when it was only ever produced digitally in a certain format? I mean how many 8 inch Floppy drives do you see now?
 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - Robin O'Reliant
>> I believed Raymond Baxter on TW when he said CD would be indestructable.
>>
>> This physical media thing is a real and serious problem. We need to preserve mdeia
>> for the future but on what format?
>>
Just transfer it onto whatever the next storage device is. You can even put your old 78s on to your PC now.

Anyone remember the old Sinclair Spectrum scam? Buy a new Spectrum for £148, plus an aftermarket full size keyboard for about £50 and a power supply for £15. The internals of the Spectrum were installed into the new case and some unscrupulous types used to then put a lead weight inside the original Sinclair case and return it to Boots or wherever claiming it was faulty and demanding a refund.

Apparantly Sinclair ended up with a warehouse full before they discovered the ruse.
 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - RattleandSmoke
Altnerative music artists probably make more money on pop acts these days.

Morrissey is a classic example of that, he must be one of the richest people in the industry.

The Linn looks very nice but a tad out of my budget, for now I will have to stick with my ten year old Project Debut MKII I paid £120 for brand new! They are £200 new now.
 How has technology changed our lives in the past.. - L'escargot
>> My dad had a slide rule (!)
>>

I still have one I bought in 1957, plus others I've acquired since then. I collect them.

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