A child’s perspective on computing before The Internet

Whilst waiting for him to finish his Tea this evening, I was chatting with my eldest Son, Joshua (in-progress blog). The conversation went like this:

Josh: “Daddy, what was your first computer”

Me: “Well, my cousin had a Vic 20, and my Dad had an Osborne 1. My first computer was an SE/30. I’ve got the SE/30 and Osborne 1 in the loft, shall we get them down and take a look at them when Mummy is away?” (Mummy’s going on a business trip for a week, so I’m looking for exciting Daddy things)

Josh: (now excited) “Yeeesss. What can they do? Can they play Miniclip games? Can they surf the Internet?”

Me: “This was before The Internet. You could do word processing, or spreadsheets, or draw things”.

Josh: “What’s the point in a computer that’s not connected to The Internet?”.

Um, yup.

Out of the mouths of babes etc… The Internet has indeed had a massive impact in the utility of an individual computer, to the extent that it’s almost useless if it isn’t connected.

One day I’ll sit him in front of a green screen terminal, see what he makes of that!