h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

In 1990, a new era of PC use was ushered in when Windows version 3.0 was released, and like versions 1.0 and 2.0, it didn't work.

At least not like we hoped it would, after the long, dark DOS era. But it did run, and we were past the early days of Windows attempts, during which the development team at Microsoft claims they considered shipping a blank floppy titled "Window".

Two years later, version 3.1 was released and finally we could do some of the cool stuff we'd been promised. It sold a million copies in two months, allowing full use of a mouse instead of arcane DOS commands, plus real multitasking rather than DOS's kludgy "TSR's" (things like spelling checkers, which were pretty cool in their day).

By the end of the decade, Windows 2000 Pro was released and it did ... it does work. Based on Windows NT4, it added a lot of "under the hood" improvements which made life less frustrating, e.g. fewer reboots. Plus it has some user-friendly things from the Windows 98 world, like ... Freecell . By then, we also had support for USB and IEEE 1394 (Firewire) peripheral devices (e.g. video cameras) which are much faster than serial or parallel peripherals. Activities like digital video editing, 3D animation and other demanding applications became not just feasible, but practical and reliable.

Yes, there are still problems, but they tend to be external like spam. IMHO, the PC by itself has become an appliance rather than a project.

man.. can you come fix my computer?

How many computer programmers does it take to change a light bulb?

None. That's a hardware problem.

Was Windows 3.1 really 90s?? I would have sworn it was about 20 years earlier! 90s - the years of outsourcing (never work in an IT deparment where the decision to outsource a large part of the operation is made by "fat cats" who don't have the faintest idea of the consequences of signing that contract). We ("the workers")predicted it would not work and it did not work (and not due to self-fulfilling prophecy, I hasten to add).

The Nineties were a musical desert - I cannot remember hearing ANY modern music of the time that was worth listening to - the sole exception being Oasis (desert, oasis: pun intended).

The good thing about the Nineties was that I left a job that I hated and moved to a house that I adore, towards the end of them!

"Was Windows 3.1 really 90s??"



I actually have a working 486 PC running Win 3.1, due to an antique piece of music software that requires an antique internal interface. The last time I ran it, I had to think how to exit Windows, then I sat there staring at a "C:" prompt, and asked my wife, "How do I turn this off?"

She said "The power switch." Ah ...

The early 90's, back when a desktop computer was an overgrown calculator/typewriter.

Wow, how far we have come in a few short years.

I wish I had held onto my first computer. Now I have only the vague memories of sitting at my desk, typing out a paper for school and thinking what a pain in the arse Windows 3.1 really was. (I had no idea how true that was going to continue to be) Windows 98 made me pull my hair out. Then there was Milleninum (wince) and finally Win 2k.

I never thought that the computer would play a major role in everyday life. Of course, looking back at it, thats what was said about every new innovation. So I suppose it shouldn't really surprise me that just as everyone seems to own a car, a color TV, have indoor plumbing,....(the list could go on and on) now everyone seems to have a computer, an email address, a website....(you get the picture, right)

And even though I had to live through the growing pains of personal computing, I wouldn't have wanted to miss out on it.

Having your nickname for an email address without having a bunch of extra numbers in it is priceless

Remembering the days before Win 3.1 just makes me feel old

"Remembering the days before Win 3.1 just makes me feel old"

There were a few bright spots in the DOS black hole. My first PC was an IBM brand 8088 running at 4.77 MhZ, so that's, lessee, about 0.1% of the speed of a current high end box?

But it did run Lotus 1-2-3, an amazing piece of software written by a single individual (there's a moral in that, IMHO). It had a monochrome monitor, but with a Hercules graphic card it ran "Flight Simulator" (pre Microsoft takeover), also amazing with its convincing action in only 640k RAM.

I used to use lotus 1, 2, 3, a lot, brilliant piece of software, Word perfect 5.1 was a well designed bit of kit too, I've still got my old 486 PC in the cupboard under the stiars, though I don't think it works now Never liked the windows 3X, I stuck with dos, till win 98 came along Sometimes I think it was easier in DOS 6 days, if I wanted to do something I could just write a little batch file, guess I ought to lurn programming for windows really there was a great little mathmatics DOS programme I used a fair bit, it was written by the son of a lecturer at university, don't think he made any money from it, pity it was quite useful F5 list files/open
F7 save
shift f7 spell check or was that shift f5 I used to remember all those WP5.1 doobrys but I seem to have forgotten I've still got all* the disks for WP5.1, two copies of DOS 6.1, thre e copies of Win 3X and some non MS DOS thing that I remember begin awful, and I think* I've got lotus 1, 2, 3 somewhere, and also the freeware version of it, as easy as... which was kind of a dead copy of lotus

I think I used Word Perfect for a while ... I've been using MS Word for so long now I can't remember, plus Wordpad seems to be adequate for most of my current needs. I did shift from Lots 1-2-3 to Quattro Pro to support Borland whom I thought was doing great software for cheap, e.g. compilers for $50, TSR real time (gasp) spell checkers, etc. It surprising to me that Amazon is still selling Word Perfect Office (Word Perfect, Quattro Pro and Presentation - now from Corel) for ~$50, sounds like a great buy and it is reportedly compatible with MS Word.

Borland's CEO Phillipe Kahn was quite a character, inclduing sax playing gigs. One gig was as he marched into our computer club leading a group from the marching band at a local college. Of course, wearing his trademark Hawaiian shirt ...

When I saw the front page item on a collaborative entry about the 90's, I thought personal computers should be mentioned. Then I thought, didn't I already start that converstion. Sure enough, almost a year ago ...

Things keep moving, and happily IMHO. My recent acquisition is a 3 GhZ machine with 1 GB RAM, a 256 MB video card and a DVD burner. A pretty awesome machine, or at least it was a month ago when I got it

Some of the software coming out is very impressive - Ableton Live for music, Vue 5 Infinite for 3D animation and environments, Particle Illusion for video effects, etc. So I stay happily addicted to PC's

And I stll have a copy of the ancient creation of those good working fellows which proclamed themselves the CORE (Challenge Of Reverse Engineering)group: the Windows98 SE; is still works on my PC

i like Zork.

i remember that st00pid windows 3.1 tutorial. you got to pick flavors and toppings for your virtual ice cream cone.

i remember when windows 95 came out.

windows has always been such a system resource pig. why can't MicroBorg make do with an OS that DOESN'T take up 2/3 of your RAM without even running any actual programs. why couldn't MicroBorg make a PortHole program that didn't take 3 1/2 days to start.

crappy MicroBorg.

RESISTANCE IS FUTILE!!!
Nerd42

Yup, I'm no defender of Microsoft, and actually try to avoid their software if a reasonable option is available. An example is Mozilla for browsers, rather than IE. But when I started with PC's, running Lotus 123 (DOS only) was the primary goal, since my job required it and I wanted to be able to learn at home. After that, I accumulated more and more software, all requiring DOS or Windows. The value of what I now own (Photoshop, Lightwave, Poser, After Effects, Premiere, Vue 5 Infinite, Particle Illusion, dozens of games, etc., etc.) greatly exceeds the cost of a computer.

So switching to another platform is not a real option, plus I've never considered OS emulators (e.g. Windows on a Mac) as realistic as they require limitations, e.g. only limited RAM supported or some such.

So I slog on with WinXP, actually pretty good experience so far ...

anybody on here played Myst (the original) when it first came out?

I did. I didn't get very far, but I enjoyed the art work. I dabble in 3D imaging/animation (some apps listed in an earlier message), great fun with the current tools.

The 1990s: era of boot disks.

Computer games really took off as well didn't they?

Yes, I was happily addicted to computer games for most of the 90's. We recently remodeled, requiring me to stack all my old games in one pile. The oldest include "World Circuit: The Grand Prix Race Simulation" by Microprose, copyright 1992. System req'ts: 286/386/486 IBM & Compatibles, DOS 5, up to 8 MB hard disk. Others are "Wing Commander" and "Falcon 3" (5.25" floppies!). Some day I'm getting a six pack and playing those again, and yes, I can load 5.25" floppies (I think).

don't forget the shareware titles.
jazz jackrabbit, commander keen and major stryker ROCK!!!

I remember having childhood ambitions to rip-off Jazz Jackrabbit and create Booster Bunny. Sadly it never got off the ground .

lol

One Must Fall 2097 - best fighter I've ever played.

might say alot about how many fighters i've played but anyways...
Nerd42