Why do Computers Scare You?
I have been working in and around computers of one type or another since the 1970′s. Back then, our High School brought in one of the first Programmable Calculators. It’s language was not easy to use, but it did allow you to program the process of a whole calculation. The printout was the size of most calculator papers and could take several feet of tape to print out the instructions for the calculation.
My first exposure to what would be called a Personal Computer was the Osbourne 1 in the early 1980′s.I am a Genealogist and some of the people I knew in the hobby had these machines to take with them to libraries and research centers. It was a heavy and awkward machine, but it served the users for entering their notes.
In 1985, I was teaching at a private school in Texas and someone donated an Apple IIE. Being the only male teacher on campus, it was decided that I would be the one to learn this machine and put it to the use of the school. I was basically clueless on how this machine worked, so I went back to my classroom full of teenagers and asked if anyone in the room knew anything about the machine. Two students raised their hands and I made them a bargain for what they would get if they taught me how to use the machine. Within days, I WAS HOOKED! Within a year, I made a major career change and began to pursue computers as my full time occupation.
In August of 1988, after a one year nightmare with Egghead Discount Software, I opened my first consulting company. I was teaching people how to use computers and how to make use of computers in their businesses and their homes. This was still the days of the DOS operating system as Windows was barely in it’s first stage of development. Everything was keyboard based and programs mainly did one of three things: Data Management, Word Processing, Math.
Now, how was it that I found computers to be so easy? For me, it was just the next step in one of many interests I had already pursued. I had been active for many years when CB radios were a hot hobby, I had worked with Audio and Video for years and anything electronic fascinated me. So when computers came along, it was the natural next step.
After all, a computer is nothing more than a Typewriter and a Tape Recorder, connected to a Television with the ability for the user to change what that recorder will do and what that television will display. Accessories like mice and keyboards do nothing more than help you control what the computer will do and the accessories like printers just help you see your results.
Computer Technology does nothing more than combine the abilities of previous devices into one central device! How cool is that!