“They are showing me important history, something that happened before I was born and significantly influenced my life.” This is what’s going through my mind as I watch two well-dressed gentlemen operate an old IBM punch-card computer. They’re so proud, and they should be, because they’ve fixed those machines after being stored for decades, left to perish. Now, the gentlemen are reliving their mid-twenties and it feels full of energy.
They are fascinating, as is the whole exhibition in the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California. I visited it last fall and wandered what it would be like to have lived during those historic moments. To be in those gentlemen’s shoes and to show a part of history to younger generations.
Geeking out pic.twitter.com/0lgUQ007VO
— Merlin Rebrović (@merlinrebrovic) November 7, 2015
I didn’t have to wait for too long. The other day, Fine Brothers released a new reaction video: Teens react to Windows 95. Windows 95 is an operating system that defined my exposure to technology in my teen years and where I started to get into 2D and 3D computer graphics. It also connected me to the Internet for the first time. That’s why it’s interesting to see reactions from people who weren’t yet born during that time—the same reaction those gentlemen got from me. Everyone in front of the camera is 19 years or younger; Windows 95 is 21 years old. I highly recommend watching the video.
Btw, did you know you can try Windows 95 in a browser?