> CP wrote --
>> I loved that little thing! I had so much stuff stored on cassettes!
> My first was a cassette drive as well.  Took about 15 minutes to load
> Text Pro to write a letter.
> Then I moved up a blazing fast disk drive, that only took a couple of
> minutes.  Now if Word doesn't load in one second I'm thinking "Come on, whats
> taking so long?"  :)

IKR? I get the same way, even with microwaves -- oh, c'MON, why is 45 seconds 
so fleeping LONG???

Didn't use a microwave until I was in my early 20s, was spoiled by them before  I hit 30!

I had no commercial software on my Vic=20 - all games were painstakingly typed  out from Compute! magazine, line by line of code. (especially a page or two of  data to be later POKEd into memory; I learned from the REMs some details &  startred playingh with creating new characters by using unused keys &  bitmapping them (each character was an 8X8 bitmap, so I just had to poke the 8  binary terms into the right memory register to rewrite temporarily with space  aliens, etc. . .

>> touch typing to 30WPM or more, learn DOS, Win 3.1, Wordperfect 5.0,
> I used to know DOS (but forgot a lot from not using it for years).
> Never used 3.1,

Which Windows was your intro?

> Used WP for years until I moved over to Word.  I use Word 2007 and
> perfectly happy with it.

Was that the one you began with? I use OpenOffice, & save in Word 97 format for max compatibility with workmates & customers.  Actually, fior them, I convert  to PDF using a free online utility, that also lets me pull up any image or Pdf 
& edit it (have to remove doctor's names & contact info)

> But now, I understand, MS is no longer selling stand along Word CD's.
> Have to lease a copy yearly for big bucks.

Yup, another reason why I'm into OpenOffice (freeware forever); most of  Europe's official offices (governments, business) have already switched thusly.

> I was on GEnie (General Electric Network Information and Exchange, or the
> like).  I was able download various groups, read/reply and upload.  At the
> time it was "time and mileage" to use it and the phone call was long
> distance.
> I got my first "real" Internet connection free, at the local university.
> I was associated with a non-profit organisation at the time. Had to fill out
> all sorts of paperwork why I needed, what to be used for, etc then have that
> approved, etc.
> Now they are handed out like candy at Halloween.

My first foray into internet email & newsgroups was via a local BBS who pulled  them in & gave us access, later I got a frteecycle accoun to access them after  his BBS disappeared. (he retired, I think, & had been using the university  equipment for the board)

> I keep very little on my desktop and laptop, other than programs I can
> easily replace.  Had too many crashes in the past and lost a lot of stuff.
> Most of my stuff is all on CD/DVD (sometimes multiple ones in case one
> fails and can't replace that info).  A thumb is used for temporary storage.

Backup, backup, & back up, the 3 most important rules.

I always go for saving more than I need & using redundancy.  My boss said I  saved our company by doing such, after Amazon Cloud lost everything. (I had a  copy of our database structure, so our IT guy could rebuild from that & what  partial data he could pull up here & there)

> The only Windows I never used as 8 and something else.
> I'm sticking with 10.

Wjhich 10? (how many updats has it done to you?)

I was happily using win8.1(64bit) & had updates turned off, but microsoft  ignored that & pushed me to 10, then the 2nd & 3rd windows 10. .. :( 

> I've only brought a few, the rest are freebies.
> Every October and April Marshall has a job fair with vendors in from all
> sorts of companies.
> I wander around checking out the freebies (pens, pencils, etc) one year a
> table had 9 MB thumbs and picked up a couple.  The next year there were 58
> MB thumbs and got a few of those.

Oh, I've outgrown thosem, but I'd take them if given aty a trade show or expo,  as I can use tjhem to give stuff to people (SneakerNet we used to call floppies for moving files/data; SneakerNet's had a few big upgrades over the few years)

> My tv viewing is currently old shows I get free off the net, stored on
> DVD's to watch whenever I want.  I download the shows since things have a
> tendency to disappear without warning on You Tube.

Makes sense -- why not watch only what you like, eh, without ads & on the  schjedule you prefer. . .

I grab torrents of full seasons & store them on DVDs (several seasons of a show on one DVD, as data files instead of viodeo files); our DVR can read them  directly off the DVD (can get 5 full length films on one DVD, too -- we've  filed a few hundred like that)

If the internet dies, but we have electricity, I'll still have tv & movies to  occupy me & my fam.

--- BBBS/Li6 v4.10 Toy-5