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Dating myself

First, a little background.

HANDS OFF THOSE MICE!

I’ll keep it quick.

Beth is a smart, 15 year old kid who has been using computers at home for most of those 15 years. When she was a little over one we bought an original iMac. ‘Twas the day after Thanksgiving (in 1998) and all through the store, folks were swinging mice like weapons, crying the holiday motto: MORE! Then, like now, folks were questioning the wisdom of selling a consumer computer without a critical piece of hardware.

The current scene: Kauffman Household (v2.2) family room, earlier today. A father and his daughter are admiring a Mac Plus on the wall of fame.

Beth: What is that slot looking thing under the screen?

Me: That’s a floppy drive.

Beth: (not kidding) What is a floppy drive?

I know floppies are (mostly) gone, but somehow I wasn’t quite ready for them to be forgotten. I’m not sure why. Most of my experiences with them were bad. I’d just as soon forget them myself.

I’m afraid I was too tired to explain why those (mostly) rigid, little plastic squares were “floppies.”

2 Comments

  1. Funnie. I date back to when they were 5.25 inches wide, and were indeed floppy—hence the name, which stuck when the 3.5 inch rigid versions came out. I date back to punch cards, and a time when the idea of a computer sitting on my desk was outrageous science fiction.

    I can’t imagine what my grandparents thought when they watched the Apollo 11 landing, having been born before the Wright brothers’ first flight.

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