subject: Computer Software Nostalgia - a Trip Down Memory Lane for PC Users over 40 [print this page] Computer Software Nostalgia - a Trip Down Memory Lane for PC Users over 40
Over 40? You'll need to be to read this article. Most of the time the software industry is relentlessly forward-looking, but occasionally it's nice to take a few moments to wallow in the past. This article does just that - see if you can find your favourite application below!
DOS
Before Windows 3.0 came out, there was ... DOS. Remember writing batch files to execute commands? The DIR command to list out directories? Third-party utilities from the likes of Norton made some tasks easier, but you still had to know your MOVE, REN, COPY and other commands.
COMPUTERS
The first personal computer from IBM was the AT, and came in two models, having 10 and 20 megabytes of memory (before that, of course, memory came on separate plug-in disks, such as for the Amstrad PCW range of personal computers). The first portable computers came from the likes of Compaq: huge things, with monochrome screens (orange, in my case), and speciai carrying cases.
LOTUS 1-2-3
Yes, there were SuperCalc and Quattro Pro, but the king of the spreadsheet jungle was Lotus 1-2-3 (many people believe that it was the invention of the spreadsheet which drove the personal computer market, not the other way round). Lotus 1-2-3 2.0 was a DOS-based application, with a horizontal menu bar across the top of the screen. Here are some macro sequences:
/rnc - Range Name Create
/fn - File New
/re - Range Erase
Ah, those happy memories flooding back! The author's main aim was always to spell a word with macro keys, but as far as I remember I never succeeded.
Freelance
Lotus dominated the PC software market in those days, and the PowerPoint precursor was Freelance, Drawing on a DOS-based package was always a challenge, so that Freelance for Windows was a big event when it cameout.
WordPerfect
Every software application has one killer version, and WordPerfect 5.0 swept all before it in those days. Even to this day I can remember that:
SHIFT + F6 centred text
F6 made it bold
F8 underlined it
etc, etc. Not bad after nearly 20 years! How many WP 5.0 function key combinations can you remember?
DataEase
Although there were other database apps around (such as Lotus' Approach), DataEase was by far the easiest to use. Perhaps it still would be, if Microsoft hadn't launched the Access juggernaut ...
Punch Cards
OK, this is going back a bit further, but in 1987 at college we had to submit programs not by typing them in on a keyboard, but by colouring in combinations of circles on a card using 2B pencils. And if that sounds primitive, there was no computer screen either - just reams of print-out.
What's your favourite memory from those times? Which pet software application have I overlooked? Let me know!
