yeah these retro documentaries are awesome - they're like gold! this one in particular is great at demonstrating how popular and wide-spread computers had become even in 1980, and what their capabilities were at that time.
I was 18 in 1980. I had my first computer in 1982. I wanted one since 1977 when RadioShack had the TRS80... but at $2.90 an hour it was taking me a long time to save up. Even $500 was so much money to me.
"as normal as a color TV is now" in 1980 Ha! I still remember how excited I was as a 6-7 year old in 1982/1983 when our family finally got a color TV, I thought color TVs were for more rich folks, even into the early 80s. We were middle class, but my parents were very frugal, so my early childhood felt like what someone living in the 1960s or early 70s felt, with black and white TVs and hoping to have a color TV. I remember it was heavenly to finally watch Bugs Bunny cartoons and Knight Rider in color. Black and White TVs were still sold even into the late 80s, though by the late 80s I think just about everyone had a color TV.
@@Progressive2024 Yes I know color TVs were around in the 70s, even the 60s. As I said my parents were very frugal middle class folks, we weren't poor, but we weren't rich, and my parents didn't think a color TV was necessary until my sister and I bugged them for one. So my early childhood until I was about 7 years old in 1983 or so when my family finally got a color TV, felt like what I imagine someone growing up in 1963 felt like, watching a little Black and White TV. I remember it was a big deal for me to have that color TV in the 80s. I even met someone who told me how excited they were to get a color TV in 1992, now that floored me. I get the early 80s, but not the early 90s. Everyone I knew growing up had a color TV by 1985.
At the time, some people thought the "personal computer" (as it was called) was a passing fad like the hula hoop and would be forgotten by now. For someone back then to talk about a computer in every home would have marked you (in some people's minds) as deserving to be locked in a padded room.
Thank you for posting this! My grandfather, Alan Kahn is in this showing how he used his computer for expenses, taxes, and even how used it for flight records for the FAA. Funny how different times were! My grandmother, Barbara Pratt and her daughters are in it as well! This was very touching to watch. Thank you 🙂
By 1980 I had already been programming for 11 years. The analogy with an internal combustion engine is perfect. Computers are just tools - some folks are adept at using them directly some are not. Most who drive cars have no real understanding of how the engine or transmission works, which is fine. Most of the computers that are in use today are embedded devices that are used without anyone giving them a second thought.
when was the first time you used a computer, in college? Don't think in the 60 (or 80's!) most places had computers, Bill Gates/Paul Allen notwithstanding, he used the one at his prep school.
First exposure to "Data Processing" was a half credit course on punch card machines in 1962 as a Junior at Covington Catholic High School in northern Kentucky. After getting out of the US Army in 1968 having been drafted in 1966, I found a job as a computer operator with the Cincinnati, OH based Kroger Supermarket company. There were two IBM 360 Model 50 computers and two IBM 1410 systems. Most of my time was spent working on 2nd and 3rd shifts when the L-O-N-G batch jobs were run. During this time I started reading as much as I could about systems in general and programming. After about a year I applied for a programmer trainee position with a department store in Cincy - and they hired me with no degree but having had done well on the IBM Programmer Aptitude test. The first language I learn was IBM 360 Assembler. You can teach almost anyone how to program but it takes a special (twisted?) mind set to be really good at it.
Most people give no thought to anything they use. I've been making things for 15 years that no one ever gave one thought to who made it or how it was made. Thankless work..... I suppose that's how it's always been.
Back in those times there was a kind of huge enthusiasm about this new technology: terminals, computers and networks... now it's all so common to most people they don't even explore it anymore...
I just love how the people in this video knew what kind of impact computers would have in the future. It's amazing to see how far computers have come. But it's unfortunate that people now don't appreciate and learn how these little machines work.
Completely agree. I love learning about computers! I think it's like the comparison he made in the video about the internal combustion engine. The majority of people have no idea how they work, they just buy a car or a lawnmower, they don't have to think about the details because they are so completely abstracted from them!
It's not as simple though. I recall in the 90s, I was learning C/C++ and DOS was really easy to program with. You can easily access the display memory since it was set at a particular address and all you had to do was just write the program out. Just writing an app that drew random lines was pretty impressive. However, you couldn't write complex apps. Very rarely you had true 3d graphics except with vector graphics or something like quake. All the others were using fake 3d to draw the world.
I thought I heard about every computer analogy in existence, but this one is absolutely brilliant! It takes imagination to truly see the possibilities before they exist
In early 1984 I was a senior in high school and the Apple IIe was introduced & I got into the class. A friend & I developed a program that could run the accounting of virtually any business, down to retirement & health insurance & matching taxes. Sadly, we didn't know the gold we had in our hands & didn't do anything with it. I loved computers & programming but did other jobs for 12 years before jumping back in. If only I had stuck with it & rode the wave of development 😭. But, I have loved my hardware & software work for 28 years now & so many things I haven't taken advantage of but it still has been a great ride.
Me too (i'm from 1977) first computer lesson on 1989 , commodore 64 with laser print and sound card ^^ we was : WOW what a beautiful colors what a realistic games !
Wish I was born in 80's or thereabouts to live life before we all relied on technology (although technology was relied upon in that time, but not as much as it is now in this current day and age). I was born in the early 90's and spent most of my days in the new millennium. Must've been great when no Internet existed. Because let's be honest, the Internet albeit is a profitable place, is a very toxic and idiotic cesspool filled to brim with offensive memes.
Man, computers didn't really catch on where I lived until about 1987. Just think: some day we'll look just as ancient and primitive as these people do to us.
Well, non technical people are on exacly same primitivism level today as hey were in this video. Learning to play with new gatget is like smartphone doesn't make you more insightful about anything. What separates todays regular people from true primitivism is only the fact that they learned to read, write and basic arithmetics. Buying able to byu a gadget doesn't mean really mean anything. If you think that technoglogy and tools you use cultivate your culture and ethincs, then just realize that most people today doen't understand basic concepts like pressumption of innocence (opently admiting that concept like this is irrelevant to a person is equivalent to be savage or facist). The progress we have gained is the great knowlede which must be understood to be used. But regular people don't learn it. They are lower and lower below the level of understanding what makes the civilization run. So you don't have to look at these videos. Yust look at the people around you how they are using the technology, unconscious of their consumeristic addiction to the most useless aspects of it.
People are not less primitive now. We just have better technology to do everything that we did ourselves without the use of smart phones and computers back then. Making us, today, more ignorant and primitive
@@GeorgWilde sadly, your quite serious about what you said… you have less perception or understanding of computer sciences than the people in the video had, there weren’t any apps yet, we had to write everything creating programs and applications. I know young adults didn’t look upon elders as primitives that’s a recent phenomenon.
My Dad was software developer, computing scientist back in the time. I am a software developer engineer... I hope my kids, when I have them, first and foremost find their own ways but It'd be amazing if they followed this beautiful path
*Computers were ridiculously expensive back then. I can remember when I was 5 or 6 years old between 1989-1990 I used an Apple II computer, it was the first computer I had ever used and I remember my teacher had to do a lot of work to make the software work. Then in 1998 I was starting high school and my parents finally bought a desktop computer for home use, it was a Gateway computer. I love my modern computers including my iPad and my HP laptop but I do miss a time before excessive social media.*
Im watching this on my mobile smart terminal crazy right They nailed it its everywhere And a phone has a 1000 times more computer power as a terminal computer back then
My husband bought my first pc in 1999 as a gift thinking I would enjoy doing something new and interesting recovering from an illness. It was the beginning of a love affair that continues to this day :) Thank you for uploading this video. Fun to watch.
I bought my first PC in 1999 - I was looking to compose music with it, but the total storage for 10gb. The sales person assured me "you could never fill 10gb...". Times have changed!
Hits really close to home. I was 10 years old when I was introduced to the Commodore PET in school. I had the VIC-20, the C64 and the 128 at home (and even took the 128 off to college!) before moving on to the PC platform. So many memories packed into this short video. Great stuff in here, thanks!
And despite it's low memory the C64 offered more opportunities then today's consumer only garbage. The C64 made the programming of the 90s possible as many who made your favorite titles one time or another had a scene in the Commodore groups. The Commodore 64 you could program directly to the kernel without paying big $$$ for the secrets.
I remember at school messing around with a Commodore PET and I was hooked. This was in 1979. They had a bunch of Commodore PET computers available for students and they had to actually try and get me to get out of school so I can go home since I wanted to stay afterschool messing with the computers. :) Amazing how far things have gone.
I used to get a buzz when I would go to computer stores, and get hooked, the possibilities, the noise, the hardware, software, wow! I feel the same way about the current technology!
Back around this time I had an Apple II computer. My coworker who was studying computer programming programmed it to play Tic Tac Toe in Basic. It maxed out the memory of the computer.
This is amazing, like I have no words to describe how amazing this is. Even if I were to watch it a year later I would still be amazed as I am right now. And now I'll see you next year, same day.
Like we have everything we need in our phone we got reminders, Wallet, music, calling, texting, access to online, calculators, flashlight and a camera all in one device. Before people had each of those things in physical form and you had to carry each of those things and now you don’t have to and our cameras are super clear and high tech and cars that can drive themselves. What else could we possibly need?
It will look different in some ways but it will probably not look so dramatically different as this video compared to today. This was a very special and specific point in history, the first real explosion of the home computer market. This being in 1980, by 1990 people would already be looking back at this as ancient history from a tech standpoint.
I loved this. I will never forget the wonder of using the computer room at school with the Atari 800, the TRS-80 Model 1 and the Commodore 64. I've been obsessed with computers ever since.
What would be really interesting is a documentary made in 2019 on what impact computers are expected to have in 39 years time - I bet you it wouldnt even be close to what the reality will be
Pinoy Fried And using those extremely powerful computers in their pockets, not to understand how, why and who are increasingly trying to control us ..... but to upload pictures of themselves, pictures of their latest meals and watch pussy cat videos - the dumbing down of society just keeps on going!
At this time period, you were seen as an alien freak genius if you had and used a computer. I remember just being made fun of so much back then simply because I learned about computers and became proficient using them. People who used computers back then were seen as social outcasts who lived alone in basements with no human contact, like they saw D&D players. The funny thing is that playing D&D and using computers in a fun way back then ENCOURAGED being social in so many ways. Your average person didn't start to accept computers and people who used them till the mid to late 90's. Now.. EVERYONE has one and uses them. Most have them in their damn pockets.
People who used computers and were productive with them put in the time to build or improve them... and just like these days, no program is ever completely finished. There is always room for improvement. Just like one can get engrossed in a movie, the same can happen with programming projects, or *any* project, for that matter. So instead of being social outcasts by nature, these people had just found a hobby that was very engrossing.
of course we are living in the very dawn of advanced technology. we haven't even had global connectivity accessible to all for much more than 20 years. we barely know what to do with it yet. we are living in the future stone age of technology.
this was great to live during this time to see the genesis of the technology. We experienced real childhoods. We had to play outside and interact with all of our friends in a physical environment. We were a motley crew of kids that played all day into the evening .... And this computer thing had its place but it didnt replace and consume our lives and turn us into zombies staring at a screen for hours...in front of the tv,ipad, desktop, etc... we were probably near the last generation that thought it was fun to dig a hole in the backyard and play war or have a bottle rocket fight or spend the whole day on an expedition plotting out trails that covered the surrounding forests in our neighborhood..
Uh-huh. And this EXACT SAME SPEECH, word for word, was repeated by YOUR grandpa, but substituting the word "television." Nothing has changed. At all. Grandpa.
I learned to type in an IBM Selectric. Three-part forms, the ink, the "Wite-out" lots of mess. I appreciate computers, especially pre-packaged, after learning BASIC,which was used a lot in the 1980s.
+Helium Road you can still run and use BBS... you can dial them via telnet instead of dial-up.. which in case of long-distance would reduce your phone bill.
And Telix chatrooms where everybody else was as nerdy as the rest of us and the jerks of society couldn't get in because you needed a brain to use it. 20 years later the neighbourhood has gone to hell because all the riff-raff have moved in!
The fact nobody did anything on their computer they couldn't have done on the back of an envelope and put up with those crappy graphics shows what incredible hope these people had in the future of computing. And they were right!
Our man's in the video just had a giant sticky note, didn't you see his teletype going crazy haha they saw the scalability of their programs and that's what I think they were excited about.
1978 to1981 was such a weird time, it still had that depressing look of the 70s, but a lot of things that were common to us through the 80s was already becoming mainstream (computers, video games, microwave, cable TV, VCR's...... The styles however were still 70s with tube socks, number shirts and short shorts worn by just about every kid. Decor was starting to be more 80s in newer homes with fake wood and lighter colors, but so much of the 70s was still everywhere. By 1983 things started to change rapidly all the way around, every year felt so much newer, this continued to the mid 2000s, now it sometimes feels like we are going backwards. We still have not gotten where we were expecting to be by the year 2000.
I talked a lot to Radio Shack personnel, in the day. The Tandy RLX had a bad disk drive, three drives later, and a three year warranty took care of the repair. I sold it years later. I miss it.
In 1980 when this was made, I was in high school 11th grade taking one of the first computer classes on one of these machines. Let me just say this, It was horrible. We've come along way.
I was in college. I input a bunch of code in basic for a project. It was 90 pct done, but it would not save to an 8 inch floppy. So I just printed it all out and handed it in. I got a passing grade in that course. Basically I developed a calculator for charging different fares for different distances traveled on the NYC subway.
I worked in a vacuum-sealed computer room like that, chasing down COBOL reports and running nightly jobs. IBM mainframe, what a huge, clumsy, loud machine. Amazing how far we've come.
I used a math drill program in high school computer, it helped a lot. No judgement, very patient. I could have used it to take notes in class, and in college. The computer, like the calculator, helps. It was a good thing I knew how to divide on paper since the calculator quit, either the batteries gave out, or I didn't have it turned to a proper source of light "for solar" use. I got an A- on that Accounting exam without the calculator.
I never thought would hear someone on ironically say “what’s the advantage to using a computer instead of a typewriter?” Things were so different back then.
I wish I lived in this time period. So cool. The technology back then was so interesting. I hope when I die this is my after life. Computers are soooo cool.
1980... The Coin Op Video Game Industry was exploding... The Home computer market was just opening up.. Think about a mere 5 years later... You had the VIC 20, the C64, The Amiga, The Atari 400/800 the ST, The Mac.. The apple 2 series.. the Tandys, the Texas Instruments computer, Great Britain had several computers, (I might have the time line wrong). like the Speccy, Amstrad etc. But seriously.. 5 years after this Documentary was made... we had the Next Generation of 16 bit computers, (The Amiga, Atari ST, the Mac and the IBM PC).... it was like a 1,000 years of advancement in 5 years! From crude Word Processing.. to Video Editing,,,(OK the video Toaster on the Amiga came out in the late 80's)... but certainly Desk Top Publishing... Graphical Editing programs... Music Programs.... This Weird Arpanet thing.. with those Useless MODEMS.. (That stood for Modulator/ Demodulator).. Why would Computers ever need to log onto other computers to download info.. how strange..and who could ever forget that FAD about taking pictures with a Computer.. and Editing them... (ala Digiview).... How useless was that?? Thank God that whole "Computer Fad thing" Went away... as predicted... (also that stupid "Video Game Thing".. My God when I was a Teen They certainly predicted that lame hobby as going away!). Seriously,, Great video! I love Retro Computing! .. I did not get into it till like 83... but the Coin Op Gaming.. I was a junky since 72.. by 1980 it was unbelievable!.. Computing.. by the mid 80's it was God Like! Sluggo
This makes me wish that I could go back in time or an identical dimension with some decades of delay from ours and tell someone about technology in our time.
Having lived through that entire era as a teen it seems strange to see it again. The part we did not realize at the time was the impact of connectivity. Modems were a step in that direction. But once the Internet hit things really exploded. I think we rely on the Internet too much these days. When the Internet drops we can't play our games or stream our videos.
I'm maybe a bit younger than a lot of people here. The young people I talk to online say I'm old because I got my first PC in 1997 and was using Windows 95, but seeing guys here who got one in the early 1980s is pretty eye opening. I came in right as the internet was getting popular, and now of course we all have supercomputers in our pockets, which would be total wonders to people from this era.
I don't think it yet as prevalent as a tv is now, but getting close I still know people who don't have computers. Usually elderly people, but one I ran into who only in her late 40's, early 50's just a couple years ago.
There are some accurate predictions in this video but what they didn't see was that, at some point computers would be designed to be intuitive and that people would not really need to know how to program or be tech savvy in order to benefit. So the idea stated at the end, that the sooner people jumped on the personal computer bandwagon the better was not true for most people. For them, waiting until PC's started to become standardized and plug and play, and for operating systems that were GUI based to be developed, actually made more sense.
.....Wow!.....2016....their predictions are true, yet little did they know!....I love the old days, even the ones before my time! just to think of what came next! if I can travel to 1980 and tell them about today!!! anyway great video, totally enjoyed it.
Going down memory lane.. I had a Lear Sigler ADM 2 at one point in my life. I fished it out of the garbage, not knowing what it was.. real neat collectors piece. Sadly, lost it in storage.. (parents stashed it at the time, we moved, they didn't pay storage, it go byebye...) it's out there somewhere...
Thanks for uploading this. It's easy to forget the early days of home computing. I remember the excitement when Sinclair announced the Spectrum with 128k RAM (!)
Back when I was in high school in the mid 80's our computer lab was full of Atari 800 and 800XL computers with 64KB RAM. We used to write BASIC programs on them and play games. I remember being blown away when our computer teacher got in an Atari ST with 1 MB of RAM. I was like, "there's no way you'll ever be able to use that much memory."
+Henrik Kongsgaard Jakobsen A spell that is highly addictive and surveillance Your every move to benefit the agenda of the new religion.... global fascism! It is very often shoved down Your throat whetever You like it or not.
OG PC!. The home computer in many ways have evolved into the smartphone age we live in today, small pocket computers that are strong enough to do any task. Except for the high demanding video games that are on PC and consoles, but that's isn't far off either.. These days you can even dock your smartphone as a desktop PC and your phone as your regular PC..
What’s sad is I remember getting a computer and my neighbor having one in the early 90’s. Maybe 93. But it was used literally as tool of education. Now it seems that people have forgotten what computers were originally meant to before and now they are just used a distraction. I haven’t been able to afford Wi-Fi for idk 8 years now at least and no computer for about 9. I miss every moment and what all I could’ve learned versus what I have with just a cell phone (which yes still a computer but not the same)
Documentaries like this are like time capsules. Thanks for the upload!
yeah these retro documentaries are awesome - they're like gold! this one in particular is great at demonstrating how popular and wide-spread computers had become even in 1980, and what their capabilities were at that time.
@@skylerlandale1437 Agreed
I agree. Hope people are backing all these up so they can be re uploaded because you never know when youtube decides to take them down.
That's nothing, where I live it is still 1979... a living time capsule. This 1980 documentary seems rather futuristic to me...
Indeed and its almost 2020 and looking back at this is really fascinating!.
I was 18 in 1980. I had my first computer in 1982. I wanted one since 1977 when RadioShack had the TRS80... but at $2.90 an hour it was taking me a long time to save up. Even $500 was so much money to me.
"as normal as a color TV is now" in 1980
Ha! I still remember how excited I was as a 6-7 year old in 1982/1983 when our family finally got a color TV, I thought color TVs were for more rich folks, even into the early 80s. We were middle class, but my parents were very frugal, so my early childhood felt like what someone living in the 1960s or early 70s felt, with black and white TVs and hoping to have a color TV. I remember it was heavenly to finally watch Bugs Bunny cartoons and Knight Rider in color. Black and White TVs were still sold even into the late 80s, though by the late 80s I think just about everyone had a color TV.
People had color tvs in the 70s
@@Progressive2024 Yes I know color TVs were around in the 70s, even the 60s. As I said my parents were very frugal middle class folks, we weren't poor, but we weren't rich, and my parents didn't think a color TV was necessary until my sister and I bugged them for one. So my early childhood until I was about 7 years old in 1983 or so when my family finally got a color TV, felt like what I imagine someone growing up in 1963 felt like, watching a little Black and White TV. I remember it was a big deal for me to have that color TV in the 80s. I even met someone who told me how excited they were to get a color TV in 1992, now that floored me. I get the early 80s, but not the early 90s. Everyone I knew growing up had a color TV by 1985.
I can't wait until we get a computer in every home, it sounds very futuristic :)
One in every fridge!
At the time, some people thought the "personal computer" (as it was called) was a passing fad like the hula hoop and would be forgotten by now. For someone back then to talk about a computer in every home would have marked you (in some people's minds) as deserving to be locked in a padded room.
Thank you for posting this! My grandfather, Alan Kahn is in this showing how he used his computer for expenses, taxes, and even how used it for flight records for the FAA. Funny how different times were! My grandmother, Barbara Pratt and her daughters are in it as well! This was very touching to watch. Thank you 🙂
Wow! I'm so glad you found the video. The newborn baby in the video is my daughter. She just turned forty!
I'm watching this on my home computer terminal
LOL
3 years late, but you have "Terminal madness". 😃
Yup that's exactly what i say ^^
I'm watching this on my phone - how crazy would that sound in 1980?
or - i'm watching this on my phone on the train. people would say "you must have a long phone cord"
By 1980 I had already been programming for 11 years. The analogy with an internal combustion engine is perfect. Computers are just tools - some folks are adept at using them directly some are not. Most who drive cars have no real understanding of how the engine or transmission works, which is fine. Most of the computers that are in use today are embedded devices that are used without anyone giving them a second thought.
when was the first time you used a computer, in college? Don't think in the 60 (or 80's!) most places had computers, Bill Gates/Paul Allen notwithstanding, he used the one at his prep school.
That's dark when you think about it.
First exposure to "Data Processing" was a half credit course on punch card machines in 1962 as a Junior at Covington Catholic High School in northern Kentucky. After getting out of the US Army in 1968 having been drafted in 1966, I found a job as a computer operator with the Cincinnati, OH based Kroger Supermarket company. There were two IBM 360 Model 50 computers and two IBM 1410 systems. Most of my time was spent working on 2nd and 3rd shifts when the L-O-N-G batch jobs were run. During this time I started reading as much as I could about systems in general and programming. After about a year I applied for a programmer trainee position with a department store in Cincy - and they hired me with no degree but having had done well on the IBM Programmer Aptitude test. The first language I learn was IBM 360 Assembler.
You can teach almost anyone how to program but it takes a special (twisted?) mind set to be really good at it.
Most people give no thought to anything they use. I've been making things for 15 years that no one ever gave one thought to who made it or how it was made. Thankless work..... I suppose that's how it's always been.
mike klaene Thank you for your service Mike, and for your personal computer history.
Back in those times there was a kind of huge enthusiasm about this new technology: terminals, computers and networks... now it's all so common to most people they don't even explore it anymore...
I just love how the people in this video knew what kind of impact computers would have in the future. It's amazing to see how far computers have come. But it's unfortunate that people now don't appreciate and learn how these little machines work.
Completely agree. I love learning about computers! I think it's like the comparison he made in the video about the internal combustion engine. The majority of people have no idea how they work, they just buy a car or a lawnmower, they don't have to think about the details because they are so completely abstracted from them!
It's not as simple though. I recall in the 90s, I was learning C/C++ and DOS was really easy to program with. You can easily access the display memory since it was set at a particular address and all you had to do was just write the program out. Just writing an app that drew random lines was pretty impressive. However, you couldn't write complex apps. Very rarely you had true 3d graphics except with vector graphics or something like quake. All the others were using fake 3d to draw the world.
The internal combustion engine analogy was perfect.
I thought I heard about every computer analogy in existence, but this one is absolutely brilliant! It takes imagination to truly see the possibilities before they exist
In early 1984 I was a senior in high school and the Apple IIe was introduced & I got into the class. A friend & I developed a program that could run the accounting of virtually any business, down to retirement & health insurance & matching taxes. Sadly, we didn't know the gold we had in our hands & didn't do anything with it. I loved computers & programming but did other jobs for 12 years before jumping back in. If only I had stuck with it & rode the wave of development 😭. But, I have loved my hardware & software work for 28 years now & so many things I haven't taken advantage of but it still has been a great ride.
I love that this exists. Really takes me back to being a kid in the '80s.
Me too (i'm from 1977) first computer lesson on 1989 , commodore 64 with laser print and sound card ^^ we was : WOW what a beautiful colors what a realistic games !
Wish I was born in 80's or thereabouts to live life before we all relied on technology (although technology was relied upon in that time, but not as much as it is now in this current day and age). I was born in the early 90's and spent most of my days in the new millennium. Must've been great when no Internet existed. Because let's be honest, the Internet albeit is a profitable place, is a very toxic and idiotic cesspool filled to brim with offensive memes.
Yeah me to 👍
Thanks to visionaries like these I already owned a commodore Pet and an Apple II in 1978. I am now finishing my career as a software engineer
Man, computers didn't really catch on where I lived until about 1987.
Just think: some day we'll look just as ancient and primitive as these people do to us.
Well, non technical people are on exacly same primitivism level today as hey were in this video. Learning to play with new gatget is like smartphone doesn't make you more insightful about anything. What separates todays regular people from true primitivism is only the fact that they learned to read, write and basic arithmetics. Buying able to byu a gadget doesn't mean really mean anything. If you think that technoglogy and tools you use cultivate your culture and ethincs, then just realize that most people today doen't understand basic concepts like pressumption of innocence (opently admiting that concept like this is irrelevant to a person is equivalent to be savage or facist). The progress we have gained is the great knowlede which must be understood to be used. But regular people don't learn it. They are lower and lower below the level of understanding what makes the civilization run. So you don't have to look at these videos. Yust look at the people around you how they are using the technology, unconscious of their consumeristic addiction to the most useless aspects of it.
People are not less primitive now. We just have better technology to do everything that we did ourselves without the use of smart phones and computers back then. Making us, today, more ignorant and primitive
I still don't own a computer in 2021
@@GeorgWilde sadly, your quite serious about what you said… you have less perception or understanding of computer sciences than the people in the video had, there weren’t any apps yet, we had to write everything creating programs and applications. I know young adults didn’t look upon elders as primitives that’s a recent phenomenon.
@@pedroramires4459 you probably do, it's just in your microwave.
My Dad was software developer, computing scientist back in the time. I am a software developer engineer... I hope my kids, when I have them, first and foremost find their own ways but It'd be amazing if they followed this beautiful path
Imaging going back in time with your smartphone
The main guy they interview was spot on accurate with how he compared computers to internal combustion engines, and the many uses it could have.
I showed this video to Alexa. She cried. She had never seen her family album before.
Alexa application or a person?
love the android nim on the TRS-80 at 13:15. thanks for preserving this lil slice of history. 👾
Scary how much they got right in this film. I’m always interested to see people’s perspective in the early days of certain technologies.
Wendy Carlo's Switched On Bach is the perfect music choice for such a documentary.
It's interesting to me how we've had primitive home automation since the 80s (and probably sooner) but it's only now starting to become commonplace.
This man at 11:47 had an extraordinary mastery of domotics 30 years before it was even a word. People that went to his home must have had a shock !
lol that’s the guy that uploaded this video :)
*Computers were ridiculously expensive back then. I can remember when I was 5 or 6 years old between 1989-1990 I used an Apple II computer, it was the first computer I had ever used and I remember my teacher had to do a lot of work to make the software work. Then in 1998 I was starting high school and my parents finally bought a desktop computer for home use, it was a Gateway computer. I love my modern computers including my iPad and my HP laptop but I do miss a time before excessive social media.*
Im watching this on my mobile smart terminal crazy right
They nailed it its everywhere
And a phone has a 1000 times more computer power as a terminal computer back then
My husband bought my first pc in 1999 as a gift thinking I would enjoy doing something new and interesting recovering from an illness. It was the beginning of a love affair that continues to this day :) Thank you for uploading this video. Fun to watch.
I bought my first PC in 1999 - I was looking to compose music with it, but the total storage for 10gb. The sales person assured me "you could never fill 10gb...". Times have changed!
Meet somebody on-line? Kidding! 😁
Hits really close to home. I was 10 years old when I was introduced to the Commodore PET in school. I had the VIC-20, the C64 and the 128 at home (and even took the 128 off to college!) before moving on to the PC platform. So many memories packed into this short video. Great stuff in here, thanks!
And despite it's low memory the C64 offered more opportunities then today's consumer only garbage. The C64 made the programming of the 90s possible as many who made your favorite titles one time or another had a scene in the Commodore groups. The Commodore 64 you could program directly to the kernel without paying big $$$ for the secrets.
I remember at school messing around with a Commodore PET and I was hooked. This was in 1979. They had a bunch of Commodore PET computers available for students and they had to actually try and get me to get out of school so I can go home since I wanted to stay afterschool messing with the computers. :) Amazing how far things have gone.
I love the sound effects in this video... PEW PEW PEW SPRRROING SPRRROING SPRRROING :-) Very late seventies- early eighties.
I wish we could go back to these earlier times, back when computers were like this.
Lol?
wow way ahead of your time Mr. Martin, that's amazing, thanks for sharing,
I used to get a buzz when I would go to computer stores, and get hooked, the possibilities, the noise, the hardware, software, wow! I feel the same way about the current technology!
The term "It does not compute." rings a bell! Lost In Space Robot B9 from the tv series!
I’m 22. I needed this in my life. Thank you.
I admire these people very much
Back around this time I had an Apple II computer. My coworker who was studying computer programming programmed it to play Tic Tac Toe in Basic. It maxed out the memory of the computer.
I suppose the same could be said of the IPad!!!
I had my first Computer in 1981. The Sinclair ZX81. I even taught myself how to write programs for it and I was in my thirties.
nice one, you're never too old.
Good job man. I never made it past basic on a trs80. We had an Apple II that ran basic as well if I'm not mistaken.
This is amazing, like I have no words to describe how amazing this is. Even if I were to watch it a year later I would still be amazed as I am right now. And now I'll see you next year, same day.
Sometimes the TH-cam algorithm just gets it right. Thank you SO MUCH for this upload.
This was 40 years ago, I wonder how it will look another 40 years from now
Agent Smith I don’t think a lot will change because we are very advanced and I’m not sure if there is more we need to invent
Like we have everything we need in our phone we got reminders, Wallet, music, calling, texting, access to online, calculators, flashlight and a camera all in one device. Before people had each of those things in physical form and you had to carry each of those things and now you don’t have to and our cameras are super clear and high tech and cars that can drive themselves. What else could we possibly need?
It will look different in some ways but it will probably not look so dramatically different as this video compared to today. This was a very special and specific point in history, the first real explosion of the home computer market. This being in 1980, by 1990 people would already be looking back at this as ancient history from a tech standpoint.
@@Alyeah_ 😂
Hell just 5 years is crazy I bet when you wrote this comment you didn't expect to have everyday AI usage in such a short time!
I loved this. I will never forget the wonder of using the computer room at school with the Atari 800, the TRS-80 Model 1 and the Commodore 64. I've been obsessed with computers ever since.
11:32 this guy did all of that in the 80's , imagine what he would have been able to do now?
"ok google" ..... "O-KAY GOOGLE! Turn on the damn lights!"
I love the middle parts in this with music getting played.
What would be really interesting is a documentary made in 2019 on what impact computers are expected to have in 39 years time - I bet you it wouldnt even be close to what the reality will be
Pinoy Fried
And using those extremely powerful computers in their pockets, not to understand how, why and who are increasingly trying to control us ..... but to upload pictures of themselves, pictures of their latest meals and watch pussy cat videos - the dumbing down of society just keeps on going!
I wonder how easy it would be to find such a collection of bright, enthusiastic and innovative people in small town America these days?
At this time period, you were seen as an alien freak genius if you had and used a computer. I remember just being made fun of so much back then simply because I learned about computers and became proficient using them. People who used computers back then were seen as social outcasts who lived alone in basements with no human contact, like they saw D&D players. The funny thing is that playing D&D and using computers in a fun way back then ENCOURAGED being social in so many ways. Your average person didn't start to accept computers and people who used them till the mid to late 90's. Now.. EVERYONE has one and uses them. Most have them in their damn pockets.
People who used computers and were productive with them put in the time to build or improve them... and just like these days, no program is ever completely finished. There is always room for improvement. Just like one can get engrossed in a movie, the same can happen with programming projects, or *any* project, for that matter. So instead of being social outcasts by nature, these people had just found a hobby that was very engrossing.
Ah, It's great being in the future XD.
Yay us!
of course we are living in the very dawn of advanced technology. we haven't even had global connectivity accessible to all for much more than 20 years. we barely know what to do with it yet. we are living in the future stone age of technology.
Same shit as any time period.
this was great to live during this time to see the genesis of the technology. We experienced real childhoods. We had to play outside and interact with all of our friends in a physical environment. We were a motley crew of kids that played all day into the evening .... And this computer thing had its place but it didnt replace and consume our lives and turn us into zombies staring at a screen for hours...in front of the tv,ipad, desktop, etc... we were probably near the last generation that thought it was fun to dig a hole in the backyard and play war or have a bottle rocket fight or spend the whole day on an expedition plotting out trails that covered the surrounding forests in our neighborhood..
Uh-huh. And this EXACT SAME SPEECH, word for word, was repeated by YOUR grandpa, but substituting the word "television." Nothing has changed. At all. Grandpa.
Fuck you
I learned to type in an IBM Selectric. Three-part forms, the ink, the "Wite-out" lots of mess. I appreciate computers, especially pre-packaged, after learning BASIC,which was used a lot in the 1980s.
The old days, when the Internet was mostly text, no WWW. I miss the local BBS's, those were a lot of fun.
+Helium Road you can still run and use BBS... you can dial them via telnet instead of dial-up.. which in case of long-distance would reduce your phone bill.
And Telix chatrooms where everybody else was as nerdy as the rest of us and the jerks of society couldn't get in because you needed a brain to use it. 20 years later the neighbourhood has gone to hell because all the riff-raff have moved in!
We can still use them and it would be a lot cheaper today compared to then because of flat phone fees and they would be more secured.
when people who used computers were those that understood computers, not like today where most sheep would be better off without them
I enjoyed learning about those during a computing course I took last year.
Crazy to think that literally everyone in this video died such a long time ago
The reports of my demise are greatly exaggerated. :)
@@TitaniumGamerGM Then tell me your social security number so I can verify it's you and you're living. Only a liar wouldn't.
Watching this on my phone while I work at my home PC. What a time to be alive
The fact nobody did anything on their computer they couldn't have done on the back of an envelope and put up with those crappy graphics shows what incredible hope these people had in the future of computing. And they were right!
It wasn't hope. It was a certainty. The trajectory was obvious for anyone knowledgeable about computers at the time.
Our man's in the video just had a giant sticky note, didn't you see his teletype going crazy haha they saw the scalability of their programs and that's what I think they were excited about.
George Martin Thanks for posting this video, makes me feel old knowing I was alive during the 80's, but is nice to see how different things were.
1978 to1981 was such a weird time, it still had that depressing look of the 70s, but a lot of things that were common to us through the 80s was already becoming mainstream (computers, video games, microwave, cable TV, VCR's...... The styles however were still 70s with tube socks, number shirts and short shorts worn by just about every kid. Decor was starting to be more 80s in newer homes with fake wood and lighter colors, but so much of the 70s was still everywhere. By 1983 things started to change rapidly all the way around, every year felt so much newer, this continued to the mid 2000s, now it sometimes feels like we are going backwards. We still have not gotten where we were expecting to be by the year 2000.
We still had wallpaper in our house in 2000. Lol.
This is an amazing snapshot in time. Noting has changed. Just gotten better and more integrated.
21:01 we can apply this very same mindset amd outlook to our concerns regarding AI and technology today. Very smart lady.
I talked a lot to Radio Shack personnel, in the day. The Tandy RLX had a bad disk drive, three drives later, and a three year warranty took care of the repair. I sold it years later. I miss it.
In 1980 when this was made, I was in high school 11th grade taking one of the first computer classes on one of these machines. Let me just say this, It was horrible. We've come along way.
I was in college. I input a bunch of code in basic for a project. It was 90 pct done, but it would not save to an 8 inch floppy. So I just printed it all out and handed it in. I got a passing grade in that course. Basically I developed a calculator for charging different fares for different distances traveled on the NYC subway.
were there games like Skyrim in 1980?😢
@@michaelm9920 No.. But Dungeons & Dragons was the first real RPG published in 1974.
I worked in a vacuum-sealed computer room like that, chasing down COBOL reports and running nightly jobs. IBM mainframe, what a huge, clumsy, loud machine. Amazing how far we've come.
I used a math drill program in high school computer, it helped a lot. No judgement, very patient. I could have used it to take notes in class, and in college. The computer, like the calculator, helps. It was a good thing I knew how to divide on paper since the calculator quit, either the batteries gave out, or I didn't have it turned to a proper source of light "for solar" use. I got an A- on that Accounting exam without the calculator.
I easily have around 20 computers in my home today. Between phones, tablets, smart tv, PC, videogame, e-reader, etc...
0:39 gotta love that cheap 80's synth music
Can someone explain me how the man at 11:57 managed to automate his computer to switch lights on and off? Can I do it with a modern day laptop/pc?
I used X10 technology with a computer interface. X10 is still around: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X10_(industry_standard)
I never thought would hear someone on ironically say “what’s the advantage to using a computer instead of a typewriter?” Things were so different back then.
I watched this because I answered "yes" to all 3 questions near the beginning of this program
That was a fun watch. Thanks for sharing it.
I wish I lived in this time period. So cool. The technology back then was so interesting. I hope when I die this is my after life. Computers are soooo cool.
1980... The Coin Op Video Game Industry was exploding... The Home computer market was just opening up.. Think about a mere 5 years later... You had the VIC 20, the C64, The Amiga, The Atari 400/800 the ST, The Mac.. The apple 2 series.. the Tandys, the Texas Instruments computer, Great Britain had several computers, (I might have the time line wrong). like the Speccy, Amstrad etc. But seriously.. 5 years after this Documentary was made... we had the Next Generation of 16 bit computers, (The Amiga, Atari ST, the Mac and the IBM PC).... it was like a 1,000 years of advancement in 5 years! From crude Word Processing.. to Video Editing,,,(OK the video Toaster on the Amiga came out in the late 80's)... but certainly Desk Top Publishing... Graphical Editing programs... Music Programs.... This Weird Arpanet thing.. with those Useless MODEMS.. (That stood for Modulator/ Demodulator).. Why would Computers ever need to log onto other computers to download info.. how strange..and who could ever forget that FAD about taking pictures with a Computer.. and Editing them... (ala Digiview).... How useless was that?? Thank God that whole "Computer Fad thing" Went away... as predicted... (also that stupid "Video Game Thing".. My God when I was a Teen They certainly predicted that lame hobby as going away!).
Seriously,, Great video! I love Retro Computing! .. I did not get into it till like 83... but the Coin Op Gaming.. I was a junky since 72.. by 1980 it was unbelievable!.. Computing.. by the mid 80's it was God Like!
Sluggo
boy you aint kidding!
Thanks for sharing such an important piece of history!
This makes me wish that I could go back in time or an identical dimension with some decades of delay from ours and tell someone about technology in our time.
Having lived through that entire era as a teen it seems strange to see it again. The part we did not realize at the time was the impact of connectivity. Modems were a step in that direction. But once the Internet hit things really exploded. I think we rely on the Internet too much these days. When the Internet drops we can't play our games or stream our videos.
Amazing find. Thank you
I'm maybe a bit younger than a lot of people here. The young people I talk to online say I'm old because I got my first PC in 1997 and was using Windows 95, but seeing guys here who got one in the early 1980s is pretty eye opening. I came in right as the internet was getting popular, and now of course we all have supercomputers in our pockets, which would be total wonders to people from this era.
I enjoy the computer noises and random graphical effects
I don't think it yet as prevalent as a tv is now, but getting close I still know people who don't have computers. Usually elderly people, but one I ran into who only in her late 40's, early 50's just a couple years ago.
That little demo at the end, AppleVision off the Apple II DOS 3.3 disk... That was a great little blast from the past.
There are some accurate predictions in this video but what they didn't see was that, at some point computers would be designed to be intuitive and that people would not really need to know how to program or be tech savvy in order to benefit. So the idea stated at the end, that the sooner people jumped on the personal computer bandwagon the better was not true for most people. For them, waiting until PC's started to become standardized and plug and play, and for operating systems that were GUI based to be developed, actually made more sense.
I had a TI 99/4A set to a tv and learned BASIC Programming, it was fabulous, my first computer!
Their prediction where spot on!! try that yourself for the next 30-40 years and nail it like they did.
.....Wow!.....2016....their predictions are true, yet little did they know!....I love the old days, even the ones before my time! just to think of what came next! if I can travel to 1980 and tell them about today!!! anyway great video, totally enjoyed it.
Going down memory lane.. I had a Lear Sigler ADM 2 at one point in my life. I fished it out of the garbage, not knowing what it was.. real neat collectors piece. Sadly, lost it in storage.. (parents stashed it at the time, we moved, they didn't pay storage, it go byebye...) it's out there somewhere...
This was really interesting. Thanks for posting
I'm watching this on my trs80. Woah the colors! I'm hooked.
Me from “FM Attack - Fade Away”. It was pleasure to watch full film
Awesome piece of History and Anthropology!
Thanks for uploading this. It's easy to forget the early days of home computing. I remember the excitement when Sinclair announced the Spectrum with 128k RAM (!)
Back when I was in high school in the mid 80's our computer lab was full of Atari 800 and 800XL computers with 64KB RAM. We used to write BASIC programs on them and play games. I remember being blown away when our computer teacher got in an Atari ST with 1 MB of RAM. I was like, "there's no way you'll ever be able to use that much memory."
What sorcery is this computer???
+Henrik Kongsgaard Jakobsen A spell that is highly addictive and surveillance Your every move to benefit the agenda of the new religion.... global fascism!
It is very often shoved down Your throat whetever You like it or not.
Luddite kryptonite
Knowest thou not? This be work of the devil! Get thee behind me, computer satan!
wow, a lot of PETs.
As soon as I started this great documentary I went to increase the resolution to 480.... wait what?
OG PC!.
The home computer in many ways have evolved into the smartphone age we live in today, small pocket computers that are strong enough to do any task.
Except for the high demanding video games that are on PC and consoles, but that's isn't far off either..
These days you can even dock your smartphone as a desktop PC and your phone as your regular PC..
So this is what "TerminalMontage" originally meant
So interesting. I'm a kid and have never seen any of this! Great upload!
It really starts to get interesting around the 7:50 mark when they start talking about the nascent internet.
What’s sad is I remember getting a computer and my neighbor having one in the early 90’s. Maybe 93. But it was used literally as tool of education.
Now it seems that people have forgotten what computers were originally meant to before and now they are just used a distraction.
I haven’t been able to afford Wi-Fi for idk 8 years now at least and no computer for about 9. I miss every moment and what all I could’ve learned versus what I have with just a cell phone (which yes still a computer but not the same)
Computers will be everywhere
Amazing how they were right about what computers will do😃
The good old days. I wish I lived in that era. Where every thing was so cool and retro. I wished I used that old computer.
Wow! brings back memories
We’ve basically gone from the Middle Ages to now in less than 150 year
world war 2 wasnt that long ago. only about 80-85 years time. which was the war the first computers were built.
It's been in the hands of the military and the elite of shit since the 50's.
They suppress
EVERYTHING.
10:27 sounded and looked like a Commodore 64, but wasn’t. Which machine was it? Apple?
Who's that guy giving the first interview? I love that style of explaining with stories, reminds me of Richard Feynman.
Nicholas Johnson. Check out his TH-cam channel: th-cam.com/users/NJohnsonIowafeatured