Recently, I finished reading iWoz by Steve Wozniak, one of the co-founders of Apple. Wozniak designed the original Apple computer and the super popular Apple II. His tales of growing up in the early days of computing and designing the Apple were mesmerizing.
Growing up in the 70s and 80s, I’ve been lucky to witness the computer revolution through the eyes of child. I’ve always had a fascination with the hackers and computer geniuses of this world. When I was younger, I kept articles of hackers, reading and rereading them like they were rock stars. Unfortunately, as I got older, I dumped all those articles in one of my many moves to grow up. I wish I still had them.
The first computer I came into contact with was the Vic-20 from Commodore. In my eyes this computer held the keys to a new world. I was in the seventh grade when my folks brought it home. I immediately feel in love with it. None of my friends at school had a computer so it was like talking a foreign language with them. However, Stacy Blackman, a kid from church, had a Vic-20 and we hit it off. We were soon hanging out together on the weekends and writing programs in BASIC. We spent time reading Compute! magazine, learning new routines and tricks. Our favorite programs were little security routines to stop others from using our cassette tape menu programs. Looking back it was a ridiculous thing to write, but we had a ball doing it.
The second computer my folks brought home was a Timex Sinclair, a small computer with a membrane keyboard. I think they got it for sitting through a timeshare presentation. This computer was horrible and I just couldn’t understand why I’d spend any time with it. It couldn’t stand next to my Vic-20.
At the start of my sophmore year, we moved to the north side of Spokane. This meant a new school district, a new school (Shadle Park) and the struggle to meet new friends. That year, I got a job at Albertsons and the first couple of paychecks I received went to a Commodore 64. My dad drove me to the house of a guy who had put an ad in the paper selling his computer. Dad thought it was all very shady and looking back he was probably right. Regardless, I bought this amazing computer, disk drive and programs for $150. (As a side note, I still have that C-64 to this day).
The Commodore 64 opened up a new world. Two of my new friends, Steve Flock and Derek Etten were also Commodore 64 users. Derek was like me, really committed to the 64. Steve, who has been my best and longest friend in life, was a bit whorish with his computer love. He tried them all including Tandy’s Color Computer, the Apple II and the TI 99, to name a few.
Anyway, here we were with these computers, playing games, learning to write BASIC programs and exploring Bulletin Board Systems (think of it is a kind of pre-cursor to the Internet). We could talk with people throughout the world on a BBS through a type of e-mail system. If you were lucky, you could talk with the Sysop (system operator) if he was on-line.
For some silly reason, Steve and I would call each other’s computer directly. This would allow us to have “live” conversations via text. Kind of a single point-to-point Instant Messaging. It would have been easier to pick up the phone and talk directly, but that wouldn’t have been nearly as cool as typing text to each other.
I was always in awe of Steve. He was, and is to this day, heads and shoulders above most people when it comes to technology. Back in school, he would tear the computers apart to look inside. I was always afraid to do that. He switched systems constantly to learn new things. He was the guy in our group who could really hack into something. His brain made him cool.
Speaking of hacking, I made a WarGames dialer, a computer program modeled after my favorite movie which called phone numbers sequentially until it found a computer tone. Unfortunately, that’s as far as I ever got. I could never figure out how to actually get into a system and I was afraid to get caught by my parents for leaving the dialer working all day or night. Therefore, the WarGames dialer worked in theory but never in application.
I never completely gave myself to computing as I wanted a girlfriend at this time so my head was often elsewhere. That was a running theme through my youth.
The majority of kids at school didn’t have computers at home. There were Apple IIs in the computer lab, but only a few of us were lucky enough to get in that class. Unfortunately, being in a computer class labeled you as a bit of a nerd which was hard on the social front.
Regardless, computers were a huge part of my life in junior high and high school for the worlds they allowed me to explore. Often those worlds were only inside my machine, but it was still a marvelous place to visit growing up.
Now, I’m 42 and I no longer have the wonder and excitement over technology. Unfortunately, I don’t believe the majority of children growing up in this period do either. Those born in the 90s have only really known computers in their current forms. Graphic user interfaces (GUI) like Windows and Mac OS have remained basically consistent for the past two decades. They have some really slick upgrades with every new release, but the underlying principal is the same.
The iPod is an awesome invention and I treasure mine, but it really didn’t change the way we listened to music. It was the best invention since the Walkman for portable music, bar none. However, the basic principle was already in place.
The iPhone is really a slick “smart phone” and there were other smart phones before and still are. In fact, my Samsung Vibrant is amazing. However, at the core it’s a cell phone and a Palm Pilot. Items we’ve seen around since the 90s.
I’m not hating on Apple’s iPod or iPhone. I’m using their popularity to show a point. Technology has become so common place that certain items are now purchased based more on their status than their need. Just like people go to Starbucks for that little white cup because everyone else does, people run to the iPod or iPhone because it’s what the hipsters buy. It’s better to wear the white headphones of an iPod than the black headphones of a competitor. It’s like wearing the appropriate type of jeans.
Also, there’s not much interest in the hardware anymore, it’s about the applications or programs. Games are hyper realistic and there’s no point of reference for the younger generation to appreciate how great computers and technology really is today.
And that’s where I’m disappointed. We loved computers growing up because of what they meant. We were experiencing something new and foreign. Something few others would ever try. We were misunderstood for it and sometimes mocked for it, but we did it nonetheless. Being cool had nothing to do with technology.
There you go. I’ve finally turned into that curmudgeonly old man on the street corner yelling at the youth because they don’t know how good they’ve got it. But they don’t care so why should I? Their world is about them and I don’t like them.
That’s it. I’m checking out. I’m going to hook up that Commodore 64, put on some Oingo Boingo and pretend it’s 1984 again.
Bah!
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