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Computing Pioneers Share Their First Tech Memories
An anonymous reader writes "Major names from the world of computing and technology such as Vint Cerf, William Gibson, Richard Stallman, Michael Dell and Hermann Hauser have shared their memories on their first computers and what inspired them to get involved with the computer. Highlight's include Cerf recalling his experience with the valve-based US air defense network Sage — as seen in Dr Strangelove — and Acorn co-founder Hauser building an eight bit computer out of marbles and a shoebox."
MICHAEL DELL
CEO and founder of Dell
From the time I was seven years old, I was captivated by blandness. When asked what kind of ice cream I wanted, the answer was always "Vanilla, please."
My favourite toy was an old sock that belonged to my grandfather. It was the most dull, lifeless white sock you had ever seen. I called it "Blandy". When I turned 13 my parents let me paint my room any colour I wanted. I picked a decidedly neutral beige paint. I didn't want any excitement in my room, just a calming dullness. My whole room was like that: beige walls, beige lampshades, beige bedding. The only contrast was when I would place Blandy on my pillow. My room was the ultimate in dull. Sitting in it was almost like floating in a sensory deprivation tank. Except you could see that glorious beige everywhere.
What are your memories of your first computer?
I bought my first computer when I was fifteen. It was a Radio Shack TRS-80. The silver-grey painted chassis caused too much excitement in my otherwise dull bedroom so I spray painted it beige. The cassette tape's door was a shiny bit of transparent plastic, far too eye catching. I used some 120 grit sandpaper to take off the glossiness. You couldn't read the tape labels through it after that, but I didn't care. It was a small price to pay in my quest for supreme dullness.
What modern technology do you wish you had growing up and why?
I've learned that technology on its own isn't what really matters. What's important is how dull it is. How you can get someone to spend their hard earned money on something then look at it and wonder "Why did I buy that?" To me, making items that has people doing just that, even before they receive their order confirmation, is the greatest thing ever.
Companies that go for excitement and innovation are certain to die. They have no future. Why, if it were up to me, I'd sell whatever company it was and give the money back to the shareholders. Printed on dull, beige cheques.
Trolling is a art,
RICHARD STALLMAN
EMACS
I will talk to your parrot! I do not like eggs!
Unless they are between my toes! Then NOMNOMNOM!
Ahh, vintage Stallman: Because when all you have is an axe, everything looks like a grindstone.
Question: "What modern technology do you wish you had growing up and why?"
Stallman: "In terms of freedom, computing technology is getting worse."
Nice sidestep Richard. How about just answering the simple question? We would have been interested in your answer.
...not a computer pioneer.
Hell, the man himself admitted he didn't know thing one about computers when he wrote 'Neuromancer.' They were magic boxes to him.
Did somebody 'shop his head to be too small?
Skip TFA and go straight for the print view.
Misery loves company. Online misery loves unsuspecting random strangers.
Don't get me wrong - he's a hell of an author. But his inclusion seems a bit odd, given that he doesn't really work in "the computer industry".
Of course, neither does Michael Dell.
Thanks, folks. I'll be here all week.
Misery loves company. Online misery loves unsuspecting random strangers.
Yeah I noticed that too. The way his neck is positioned he kinda looks Jim Carey-ish (you know how Jim Carey's neck always looks weird.) Some of those pics look... odd, to say the least. Cover Warwick's mouth and he looks like he wants to rip your throat out. I won't even touch Stallman... just like I wouldn't in real life.
"None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license." --John Milton
Lynch may not even have enough passion to remember the correct model number of the machine that inspired his passion (there is no BBC Micro 650 - there was a model A, a model B and a Master). But I kind of like the irony that it was Hauser, in the same article, who was playing with cereal packets, who made Lynch's toys. Nice.
Nothing new there.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Your selection of "pioneers" reminds me of an "American boy band": New Kids on the Block. Seymour Cray, Danny Hillis, Steve Wallach and many others in the 1970s-90s were the real "pioneers". Get off my grass!
Sage was NOT seen in Dr. Strangelove; Vint Cerf only states that Sage “was like a scene out of Dr Strangelove.”
Did somebody 'shop his head to be too small?
I think his shoulders are overlarge. Probably has a parka on under his suit.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Too bad nobody gave the correct answer to which current technology you wish you had back then. The correct answer is google.
21st Century Renaissance Man
I remember mine. It was given to me when I was five. It ran DOS and had enough physical memory that it could ether have the original Civilization game or Lamborghini on it at any point in time. Fond memories those. How about everyone else?
It's amazing how far we have come with computers...
http://www.montuori.net/
look like John Carroll Lynch? A relation, perhaps?
Most of them wished they had the internet when they were growing up. Granted, I'm about a generation behind most of them and got my first internet access account when I was 23, however I have to admit that over the last 10 years the 'potential' of the internet has pretty much turned to crap thanks to a) ISP Corporatism b) government meddling & c) the mistaken belief by so MANY groups that it is something that needs to be "CONTROLLED".
Personally i'm starting to take the pov that anything that has occurred on the internet could have eventually happened with 'near-line' or 'on-line' bbs's. I mean honestly, has http actually made things BETTER, or just more accessible by the masses?
Wang 3300 Basic Ready>
Gah. This may have been a threadjack, but I just spent 15 minutes reading wikipedia Golden Girls-related articles. (3 of the four are dead now)
*shakes fist*
--
"I have also mastered pomposity, even if I do say so myself." -Kryten
It reminded me of the Big Suit from the Talking Heads movie 'Stop Making Sense
No, Vint Cerf squashed it with his fingers.
I was at the end of 8th grade when the Matrix came out. I was fascinated at that point. I actually had a minidisc player as tried like hell to get it to work as a regular disc drive. I started listening to industrial electronic music. I deleted windows from my computer and figured out how to get linux running. I started reading books on C++. I subscribed to 2600. FREE KEVIN. Throughout high school I was obsessed be programming. I kind of got out of it after my first year as a computer science major in college. After having spend the majority of my past 5 years in front of a computer screen I decided it was enough and got into economics. As dorky as it is to say, The Matrix had a huge impact on my youth. I'm still interested in tech. It is still a hobby (I am commenting on /. after-all). But the days spent with Mountain Dew, my face in a thick programming book and the glow of the CRT while listening to God Speed You Black Emperor at 3am are gone...
"Lust for gold? Power? Or were you just born with a heart full of neutrality?"
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
The Sage system was not shown in "Dr. Strangelove", but several of its components are prominently featured in the TV series "The Time Tunnel", between two rows of Burroughs tape drives.
Hermann Hauser is a giant compared to the others. The only European to create 5 (or is it 6) billion dollar companies (in any industry). And of course one of the founders of ARM.
And they interviewed Stallman in the same article? Jeez. Nothing but contempt for that man. He cares about his notion of freedom at the expense of everything else. I wonder when he buys his clothes, food, or travel if he actually understands "value". He is just the same as the arch libertarians that know the price of everything but have no notion of value and thus live a life that is lesser than those of use that do not charge money for every activity we participate in.
I never thought I would have anything in common with Stephen Elop but I have to agree that one of my most formative experiences was learning the EDT editor on a VAX. I already knew the PET, the Apple ][ , the BBC Micro, the HP-85 but that editor just made developing a pleasure. On that machine I graduated from the various flavours of Basic and assembly to Pascal (because the manuals for DEC Pascal were lying around) and then someone showed me a copy of K&R and that changed my life.
In a way the things that got me into my chosen career weren't just the technology but the books. First "Illustrating Basic" by Douglas Alcock, Then the 6502 programming manual by Rodney Zaks, and later as already mentioned - K&R.
While I'm reminiscing, around the time I was besotted with the EDT editor on VAX I once noticed a Porsche driving through Manchester with the registration number A780VAX and I talked about it to anyone who would listen for weeks afterwards
When the only tool you have is an axe
Wait for it......
Every problem looks like the back of someone's head.
For Balmer substitute chair for axe.
No brain, no pain.
more than 64k marbles.
No brain, no pain.
I know no one really cares but it's kind of funny so I'm posting anyway.
In the early 80's my parents bought a ti-99/4a computer which my siblings, my mom, and I used to play games on (I remember hours of Pirate Adventure and Tunnels of Doom)
but one Saturday morning I forgot to plug a game cartridge in and when I turned in on the only option available was 1) TI Basic
So I thought... okay, let's see what this is all about then.
I was hooked.
Around Christmas time my mom sat with a magazine to order games for the computer and asked me to circle ones I might want for Christmas
she was shocked that the only one I asked for was "TI Extended Basic"
Highlight's include ... Acorn co-founder Hauser building an eight bit computer out of marbles and a shoebox
Cardboard box?
Hauser: Aye.
You were lucky! We had to build our four-bit computer out of bits of gravel in a paper bag at the bottom of a septic tank.
No left turn unstoned.