I took a yearlong secretarial program in 1984-85 in Nova Scotia (where I'm from and was living). At that time, we learned to type on electric typewriters. We had two days (yes, whole two days!) of computer training. I didn't have a clue what I was doing but wasn't concerned about it since computers weren't here to stay anyway, right? Ironically 20 years later, I'd be making a living teaching Microsoft programs (Excel, etc.) for a living.
Anyway, I got a job right away with a company in their accounts payable department. I used a computer with some kind of basic accounting program that I just had to input numbers into.
When I moved to Toronto, my resume said I had computer experience. Well, I did ... kinda. Luckily the company I got a job with was implementing Word Perfect throughout their firm and was providing everyone with extensive training on how to use it. Whoohoo!
In the early 1990s, I bought a 486 computer. I didn't have the cash for it so had to go to the bank to get a loan. My loan was about $4500! That got me the computer with two floppy drives and a monitor. It didn't include a printer. When I needed to print something, I would put it on a floppy disk and take it to work. There was no mouse either ... back then you needed to know how to use control key/combinations to do stuff. And it was so big!
I bought my laptop last year ... it was less than $700 with taxes included. Crazy how technology has changed.
Photo courtesy of Vintage Toronto
They first laptop we bought cost even more than that! Thank goodness things have changed.
ReplyDeleteOh wow! Crazy doesn't even begin to describe how things have changed and evolved since then o.O
ReplyDeleteI recently bought my laptop at nearly $1000, but it's definitely nowhere NEAR $4500!
OMG... I remember I used to use 'Pagemaker'. It was the Graphic Designer's go-to software back in the day!
ReplyDeleteYes it sure was. I worked for a finance company we we did the leases for computers - and cell phones!!! Yes, it would cost over $2000 for a cell phone and we'd put it on a 2 year lease! Can you believe it?
ReplyDeleteIt's definitely unreal to see 8 year olds carrying smart phones and little kids sitting in waiting rooms typing away on iPads as well!
Our first family computer was a Comadore 64 and we had to program everything through DOS. My dad has to write out all the programming needed for me to play my games. It's crazy how technology has changed.
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