Yeah the amount of storage available now is staggering.

My little 11" Air astounds me. All solid state, weight of a feather, and enough power to render video. Just insane.

You know how sometimes the diagram is what makes an explanation pop or plop? I was trying to work out how the fuck to adequately represent "virtual machine", and figured "Hey! I bet the internet already knows!" which led me to this [link] which are really pretty, and have saved my spaghetti illustration as much as it can be.

I totally heart the naming discussion. -t, I think I may love you.

I think I might have to name my Mac mini "No'-As-Big-As-Medium-Sized-Jock-But-Bigger-than-Wee-Jock Jock" because it is smaller than the towers but more powerful than the powerbook.

Windows 95 Tips, Tricks, and Tweaks

This is pretty funny.

Man, i kind of love Windows 95. I remember doing that upgrade. It was terrifying and exhilarating (I was 12). I have never done a software install that changed a computer that mind-blowingly all at once (well, I installed linux, but technically I did that on a different computer first, got used to it, then switched my main computer to a dual boot, then finally dropped Win 98, so it was a slow switch.) Switching to Mac OS X after years on Linux was less dramatic. Switching to Windows 7 after Mac OS X was less dramatic. NOTHING compares to Windows 3.11->Windows 95.

Maybe Windows 8 will come close?

NOTHING compares to Windows 3.11->Windows 95

Yeah, I remember.

eta: For me, the first time I bought a modem and got on The Well was like that too. I was all, "My computer is now a communications device!"

Also, probably the last OS I've ever installed from floppies.

I never had Win 3.x. I had TI-994a and then Mac's, until I got a Win7 laptop super cheap. But I remember helping my fathers gf out with her computer problems (after years of Mac use, mind you) and get to the machine, expecting XP, and horrified to see it was Win3! It took a lot of head scratching to get started. I think it was "how do I do formatting in Word Perfect" or some such. On the Mac, it was easy. Click the icon for underline. Click the icon for center justify.... Oh crap, you don't have those.

I had Windows 3.0 running on an XT clone for a while. That was fun--it would take a few minutes just to print a simple Word doc.

Win 3.1 was the first version that would not run on an 8086/8088.

I think my biggest "Whoa!" was installing OS/2. I went from Windows 3.1 to that, I think? Do those dates work? Maybe it was an earlier version of Windows, but OS/2 was the fucking coolest-ass shit. Magic.

In fact, my current Android feels are a bit like the my OS/2 feels from two decades ago. I do hope this turns out much better.

I remember the greatest thing about Windows 95 was thinking: OMG! I don't have to fuck with memory handles anymore.