This week I caught the news that the ZX81 hit 30 and that got me thinking about the computers I have owned.
Then the fun went out of computers. I mean take a look at the next lot. (don’t believe me, pull out the internet cable and see what you can do with that thing on your desk!)
- PC (386 laptop with a massive 8 inch b&w screen)
- PC (486 compaq from work)
- PC (self built Athlon)
- PC (water cooled over clocked P4)
- PC (i5)
That first Commodore started me on the path to an IT career in applications development. Developing software in BASIC was the only way I could get that PET to do anything useful. The early days of the Spectrum as well led to plenty of coding, mainly due to the magazines at the time having code listings for games and projects. Also the plethora of magazines like INPUT (TV advert), that taught programming for the Spectrum and Commodore 64 amongst others.
These were the early days of home computing when there were many different machines, each with their own operating system. These machines had languages either built in or shipped with them on disks that allowed kids to experiment in programming.
Then came the PC (and to a lesser extent in the early days the Mac) and years of same old same old, with some improvements and iterations in the OS and just a little be faster hardware in each release.
So apart from a little nostalgia what’s the point in this post?
Well it’s tablets. The multiple different devices, the lack of standard operating system, the explosion in software development for them. It reminds me a little of the early days of home computing. The explosion of Apps is encouraging people to develop again. This could lead to a whole new generation of developers who enjoy coding, rather than build a web site in the hope of being the next Mark Zuckerberg.
From the developers of my generation came most of the stalwarts of the current Legal IT portfolio. The developers that come from tablet generation will maybe bring the next wave. I hope so, Legal IT software to me seems old and tired at the moment. It’s iterations of what we have already, better but not revolutionary. Maybe the tablet will bring the change?
Good spot! I like the analogy. Indeed, here’s hoping that the new medium will result in new (useful) toys.
And it was a pleasurable trip down memory lane, to visit those great but bizarre days of typing out code from a magazine, and then spending hours comparing character for character to work out why it’s giving a syntax error, before eventually spotting something like it’s supposed to be an L not a 1.
But then; breakthrough! several hours later and I’d made a big blocky sun move down the screen and change colour. Wowsers. Take that Nintendo 3DS.
Great post! You can’t beat a bit of computing nostalgia. 😉
My first ‘computer’ was a Amstrad CPC 6128 back in the early 90s – not a happy experience. The fact my buddy was enjoying the gaming delights of a sega megadrive while I struggled along with that reptile, made the pain even worse!
My awful Amstrad made the BBC computers we had at school seem even better – hehe.. I even blogged about it – http://lawactually.blogspot.com/2008/01/cbe-for-bbc-computer-dude.html