1995 Flashback: First-time PC user can’t work computer
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- čas přidán 22. 01. 2015
- In this “CBS Evening News” report from May 22, 1995, a first-time personal computer user was featured to underscore the challenges in adopting the new technology. Former CBS News correspondent Reed Galin reports.
Nearly 30 years later the printer is still the most problematic piece of machinery on the planet.
As a SysAdmin I do hate printers. Sometimes they don't work for no reason at all.
Just Epic i agree
Printers are the moodiest piece of tech invented. They know the best time when to act up 😂
The router is second place?
I spent about 20 minutes trying to connect my printer to my PC wirelessly before giving up and going wired USB.
“4 megabyte memory” ah, the gold standard
This is too much, 640k is enough for everyone...
That is over four freaking MILLION bytes, what kind of application would be able to utilize such amount of memory.
@@Septagrim on my pc, chrome milks my cpu, so i got opera gx its so much better and cooler
@@coolak7293 Everybody laugh at Bill Gates for saying that (if he even said that), but maybe he was correct at a time of saying this phrase.
It's like saying 1 GB of ram is plenty in early 2000s.
@@Septagrim lie, oh wait im dumb nvm
'Press any key....'
'Where's the any key?'
😂 😂 😂
😅😅😅😅 you win
and where's my tab?
now its nothing but crap made to induce a moral pano
😂😂😂 incredible
As someone who works in the IT field, a lot of people are still this confused
Had a potential employer for an IT role on the phone a while back asking if I has basic CCNa qualifications? Such as can I insert a USB? I'm like.
"I have a Bachelor's degree in computer maintenance and systems support. I've built pcs since my twenties, installed operating systems, and configuration of cisco routers and switches"
They will always be confused.
All of those IT guys who had to deal with 'newbies' every single day are the real legends here.
Yeah I wouldn't be able to deal with that. I'd die on my first day.
That's me, as a real IT guy, all my family members call me for their computer problems. My mom literally txted me and ask me to make a video of how to turn her iPhone off....... she said every time she does it it's always siri.
thanks bro im dying everyday again with Pc Newbies
Yes, but have you tried turning it off and back on again?
@@Commander_HW As a previous Android user it also took me a couple of tries to turn an iPhone off. Simply holding the off-button activates Siri instead of turning your device off, not intuitive at all..
"For many newcomers, PC stands for *Pain* and *Confusion* "
I died laughing at that part
i prefer MAC: masochistic and costly
@@cameroncalzone8860 selectively not much expensive.
But my budget can only hold pain.
I mean it hasn't changed in that aspect
@@omairshafiq1998 not much but yes, my grandpa still hasn't figured out how to use his mouse
it stands for : ''aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa''
the same generation of people are still asking the same newbie questions 30 years later...
That's my mother!
opposite way too, zoomers and late gen z'ers weren't taught basic tech literacy because of phones, tablets, and chromebooks which simplified everything. there are some of us who dont even know how to make folders
same with zoomers lol
Especially Zoomers dealing with old tech.
@@skunksecond its funny you mention folders specifically because now i hear knowing HOW to make one on a computer classifies you as a power user nowadays
Nearly 30yrs later, not much has changed. Gen-Xers and younger grew up with tech, but we still have A LOT of ppl in the workplace that have simply memorized the steps to their job on a computer, and anytime anything happens outside of that sequence, their whole world gets flipped upside-down.
Operating systems are more complicated than ever, so it would be impossible for most people to be savvy about things that don't apply to their day to day role (not to mention a waste of their time learning things that they almost certainly would never have to know, and a lot of which would be rendered useless by the frequent updates to Windows). What's more Windows and the computer world in general seems to be have been pushing the consumer to be more reliant on Microsoft, Google etc. to let them do everything, control everything. I am less confident and able now than I was when I first got an IBM compatible in the early 2000s (I had owned a couple of Commodore Amiga computers in the 1990s as well as using IBM style PC at school, so was already computer savvy). I used to be comfortable installing mods for games and so forth on my computer, but things like Steam and Windows from 8 onwards took these things out of my hands (Windows 8 even made it hard for me to make changes to files in game folders on my own computer...).
@@danyoutube7491 Linux would revive those skills for you 😉
Kinda sad that so many redundantly use their phone without knowing or caring about the insane engineering behind it.
@@danyoutube7491 This 100%
Up until 2005 or so I could mod things pretty easily, install my own stuff manually, and it was easy. Now the OS either does it for you or you have to be in IT.
Sure young people grew up with technology, but they have zero idea how any of it works. It's a struggle for them to get a new social media app running and they don't even know how to work word or excel or any tool for that matter. Staring at a screen != learning about the technology.
A moment of silence for all the call center employees from the 90's who helped us get to this point.
and for all of the Karens they had to battle along the way.
I bet some of them just got fed up and came up with some ways of making computers easier to use like they are now
@@MrOiram46 theyve become so easy that theyve come full circle and made it harder for more experienced users lol
Rather an applause. Moment of silence suggests they all died, I'm pretty sure most of them are very alive.
point of censorship and programmers that became nurses? no thanks
This needs a “Where are they now”.
🤣🤣👏🏽👏🏽
dead
Yeah
Yes 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Dead or more older, indeed
Jamie is still fighting that damn printer to this day in 2024
That's not fair, that's very condescending, and that was uncalled for. Jamie suffers from acute boomeritis, even though she's not really a boomer. While paying for groceries recently at a nearby grocery store, our local CBS station field reporter, Tricia Takanawa, asked if she would pay using cash, credit, or mobile, but Jamie gave a confused look. Instead, she pulled out a check book.
😂😂😂
I'm born in 97, but still had a PC sience i was quite young 5-6 years old. And i remember specific things of how awful the pc interface was, thanks god i was blessed with windows xp, cause 97 and 00 was extremly awful. I remember when you had to go in Total Comander or what was it called, or when a dude gave to my parent a thing for PC that had like 260 games in, sonic, alex kid, jaz rabit, road rage.. Jesus was so nice, i used to be so happy playing. But having to conect the cables is hard, especialy when you don't know what damange you can bring to a pc, with Usb's now and jacks, is sightly harder to destroy something, but with the cable the lady used you could break the pins, plus what if you connect something wrong and burn the circuits ,etc. Is just the same vibe when you build a PC, and you have to put the CPU into the pc, which mean 1 sightly mistake and avoiding to read where to put the cpu, you'll just easly lose 400-1.000$
@@ntsejfamyajyou laugh but printers are one of the Devil’s earthly minions
nah, my mum used to call the computer "he" ,"he's telling me to press a key" , "But what does he want?" , "why is he blocking the srcreeeen, what did you do to him? (I was alway guilty of soing something evil to "him" )", now she's even more addicted to technology than I am, she can't disconnect for half an hour.
Did Jamie Gold ever get her printer set up?? We need a follow-up.
Found her on LinkedIn. She's a journalist and tech consultant now.
But is the printer working? These are the things we need to know
Yes did she find the printers interface port and connect the cable, this we must know
Creating a document first, would have been more conclusive.
Legend has it, she's still trying to plugged it in..
*plug
and the camera man is still standing there doing nothing about it
@@Leshan51 I hate that term. Also, there is a family-friendly form of sex: incest! :)
@@Leshan51 “LeTs KeEp ThIs ChAt FaMiLy FrIeNdLy” headass
Legend has it, you're still trying to "learned" english
Back then, it was a severe mistake to buy a laptop as your first PC.
At least it’s a ThinkPad it has that easy BIOS configuration utility
it still nearly is
Exactly
@@coreysuffield depends
@@justinepaula-robilliard what?
I can still clearly remember when we got the first computer to my job, I was 37 years old, and a guy came to teach us how to use it. We sat in a circle just staring in disbelief, he picked me first to come and try it. He said put your hand on the mouse and start moving it slowly, I first asked what's a mouse??? After he told me I asked "like how"??? He said oh, you have never used a computer? I said NO I HAVEN'T, WHERE WOULD I HAVE USED ONE??? No one had them at home yet, and I thought I'd never ever learn how to use it..
How did it work out?
@@DugrozReports well,for me it took a long time to even think I'd be able to learn how to use a computer,it wasn't until I bought one for my home that I really came over beeing so acared to touch it😁 here in our schools the children taught themselves in no-time and then they taught the teachers! I remember seeing on the news how children age 10 sat and gave computer-lessons to their teachers😁
Didn't your schools have computers? I grew up in the 80s and our schools had them. Radio shack had tons of them too.
@@luivalentino8520I went to school in the 70's so no, we had no computers, I can't remember if there was one in the teachers room, but I don't think there was, there was typing machines and when "word" came(I think it was called that?) I remember it was a big thing; not to have to start from the beginning,just erase that ONE misspelled word and continue!
@@DugrozReports some say they never figured it out
the amount of self talking from this lady is amazing, my spirit animal
To this day my dad’s mind is still blown over the fact that he needed training software to learn how to control his cursor and I was able to naturally figure it out as a kid.
Have you heard of the hundredth monkey effect? That might explain how you knew, but I'm still wondering how he got the software installed if he didn't know how to use the cursor. 😁
@@Beegeezy144 back then you installed everything from the command prompt, lol. I’m a web developer and still install everything through a bash/zsh terminal on my Mac ssh’d into a Linux server. You just install from a repo whatever app you need. Tons of open source frameworks to speed development.
I remember my parents setting up our first PC and when I tried to help my dad yelled at me so I left. Later my mom told me what I had suggested actually worked when they tried it an hour later 😂
@@Beegeezy144 I think it was at his work. My guess is his IT department set it up and where training him. By the time we got a home PC he knew how it worked.
kids learn better
In fairness, there was more tech jargon and programming knowledge needed back then to operate a computer. Now there are less ports, devices are found automatically, apps install quickly, startup time is minimal.
USB changed the game dramatically too. Plug and Play.
@@richardsequeirateixeira So long as you can tell which of the 25 types of USB you have. :D
my computer has 9 ports being used right now, not including the power cable.
I find it funny and a little silly how people often think the kids of today are great with tech as show them pre 00's tech not just computers and they get stuck, tell them to do many non plug and play things on a pc and they don't know what to do. All they really know how to do is use apps.
@@revengenerd1 yep, my grandma thinks im a tech genie cause i changed the aspect ratio on her tv, even though it is just pressing one button ( to be fair, the remote had everything labled in English and she does not speak English)
Describing computers as pain and confusion has to be the most incredibly well aged quote of the century. I swear to god every time I have a "small" problem there's an iceberg under it the size of long island.
i feel you. something randomly breaks and i have to go down a rabbit hole to find a solution, and often to no avail. then it adds up and i have to reset windows entirely. computers should be working for us and not the other way around; i dont need to be a computer scientist just to use it.
As someone in the IT industry, I can confirm the “pain and confusion” acronym is often accurate still
"It's printing way too large and I don't know why" - a problem that still happens in 2021, from personal experience, lol.
Lool
Same
Printers man.
Printers are still trash in 2021
It's cheaper to just buy new printers than it is to buy new ink cartridges.
the first lady looks like she's just figuring out what electricity is
i dunno how old you are you, im 38 but lemme tell ya when i was 7-14 years old my parents were like this. My dad was a computer scientist working in the army space program office, and military intelligence for 22 years in the army, but his first personal computer he bought himself was a pc in 1994-95 and he didnt know how to use it. He had to take computer classes to learn how to use a personal computer.. he knew electronics and satalites in space but didnt know how the new computers worked. My mom was the same thing, in 96 she had a computer its still in storage btw lol. and i remember her on the phone with tech support for 4 hours one night trying to get it to work.
Computers back then were not simple like they are are.. Once you get the cords all plugged in just installing stuff on a pc back then through floppy disks was complicated. Windows 95 was new, DOS was the main thing.. and to install stuff you had to go into dos and type commands everything. Like CD:/INSTALL DOOM. then to load it you needed to type in commands.. and thats just for CD's.. imagine doing this on 10 floppy disks.. The commands for things were complicated for new users...
If youre in your 20's or younger you dont know how easy you had things, you put in a CD and things install immediatly you grew up with windows xp .. you just select the hard drive to install it. Now adays for teens they just download things online and install them through steam or what not.. computers now dont even have a dvd or cd drive.
MITCHELL WIGGS You say that because you've grown up with a PC but for a lot of people back in the day, using a PC was a massive change and a steep learning curve. Put yourself during that time and I'm sure you'd be struggling too. You don't know pain and torture until you've tried learning to work DOS. Back then there wasn't even a user-friendly user interface. That didn't come until Windows 98. It's all much easier now because of usability.
@@jeepsblackpowderandlights4305 Thanks for sharing your story, man. I appreciate how things have gotten easier throughout the years.
@@jeepsblackpowderandlights4305 I mean...DOS ain’t that hard to use. You just need to know the commands. I can’t imagine someone selling you a program without giving you an instruction manuel...
What many people also forget that back then there was no Google and internet was very limited. Now it's so easy when you can google absolutely anything, any technical problem, 1 second of googling and bang, you have an answer.
I chocked on my coffee when I heard "4 megabyte memory." Not that it was unexpected, but it still got me...
We celebrated when we updated our old Tandy to one whole megabyte back in the day. We were cutting edge! 😅
$2,800 in 1995 = almost $6,000 in todays money….for a laptop. Insane how much the price of computers has come down over the year.
Same as Vision Pro today
Economies of scale
prices of literally everything else have disproportionately gone up way higher compared the the price decrease of PCs though
I don't know what it was like in the US, but in some countries the desktop PC had a price and a laptop was 4 or 5 times more expensive.
@@Jolgeable Yeah laptops were crazy expensive here too.
She spent nearly 5k in 2021 money
Big oof, Linus.
@TDFPL kek
Right? That's what's amazing about technology now. This stuff is far cheaper now than in the past and yet even more powerful and feature rich. It's insane.
@@jackkraken3888 Well, yeah. Computers are tens of thousands of times faster at computing now. It wouldn't make sense if a 5000 investment back then would be multiplied tens of thousands of times linearly with the compute ability. You'd end up spending many many millions of dollars for todays modern high frequency, high IPC, multi-core processors. I think that would be more insane.
@@jackkraken3888 do you really think that an old computer with 4mb of memory is very comparable to a 480gb computer which is very fast?
Imagine having to do tech support without the internet...
And the call gets charged by the minute
I feel the pain
That's why ppl were thougher than todays crystal dolls 😂
@@Nicksperiments they were 800 numbers so it had no charge
😬😬
The sad thing is that some of these same people still cannot use one today. It's 2024 and we still have computer dummies.
It's not completely sad. Some of us just weren't raised during the time. Where it wasn't the prominent thing or like me? I didn't have all this crazy tethe logical stuff. You kids have to, day. It's very different. Some of it's really neat and helps out a lot if you know what you're doing but some of us just get really frustrated because we don't know how to use it.
@@hurricane_valence In 2024, nearly everything is connected. I'm the type of person that if I use something, I learn it. Everything from repairing my car, home, AC, heating, everything.
I can understand older people maybe not jumping onto it, but we have young people who cannot use a computer, and that is ill preparedness!
I agree, I think everyone should at least try to learn. I'm just speaking more from the perspective struggle.
Of using technology as an older person or even as a middle-aged person who didn't grow up with all that stuff, but I do have a lot of modern. Text that I use, but sometimes I forget how to use certain things or when I buy a new thing. I have to learn and it sometimes may be harder for me or less. Interesting to me. Then say a kid would be because it's cool or it's what they grew up knowing. I love that we're able to be more connected now. Life can sometimes be more easier now because of technology. Sometimes it's a little harsir.
@@PolymorphicBytes If you don't mind me asking though how old are you?
@@hurricane_valence 53
"This just in, you have to learn new things and you don't instantly know how to use them...
More at 11."
The only way printers have changed is that they're wireless now
USB printers are still more common
And yet they still don't wanna work when you need them to, even through USB
Wireless printers are useless.
@@dracodrake2973 ⁉️
And yet even more annoying to use
The IT department at IBM hated dealing with "newbies" so much, the whole company left the consumer market 😂
best comment ever
Underrated comment
Please do standup. You seem to be funnier than most late night tv hosts
I don't blame them.
IBM now owns lenovo irght?
Legend has it that she is still looking to install the printer.
This is crazy! Just 20 years later we have computers everywhere! from our cars to our pockets!
Having $2,900 in 1995 to spend on a computer is very impressive
With this much money, she could have bought some shares of growing companies and become a millionaire today.
@@engineerated5627 Invest in IBM or Apple instead
Some corporate woman
Bitcoin, no doubt.
And im wondering what you could've used it for that its with the money at this point. At least as a normal private Person without any interest in technology
In 1996 I was 8 years old, pcs were just coming into India, only the rich people could afford to own one. My parents sent me to computer classes thinking it was the future. All I learnt were some DOS commands as well as MS paint. Now so many years later I'm an experienced software engineer. Smart move mom and dad. Thank you
Damn
4 years of undergraduate mechanical engineering courses at the university - and computer literacy was what I ended up learning - more than anything else. I became my parents' tech support.
@@perfectsplit5515 it doesn't matter what you do. You always are tech support for your parents.
Cost us 67k, HCL ..
@@KUNALBISWAS-NEWS-TECH-SHORT what?
ISA, PCI, PCIe, parallel ports, ribbon cables, dip switches, IRQ settings, sound card, modem and video card conflicts, configuring the BIOS, IDE...the days of building white boxes! Anyone else remember the "good old days"?
I had a job once where we needed to plug in a dongle to use an application. And, OF COURSE, the dongle would go missing and then we would spend 2 hours trying to find it so "Mike" could create a visual for his 2:30pm presentation. Good times
@@cinefyl I remember the dongles. Hahahahahahaha
lol duuuude...
It must have been around 1995 or so. My dad, who was a software developer at the time, had purchased a new computer: a pentium 75! This bad boy had a 4x cd-rom, 8 colossal MB of RAM, and wait for it...a freaking _GIGABYTE_ of hard drive space. I remember inquiring about the video card because the one we used in our family computer was an ISA card (it didn't even have a PCI slot lol, it was a 486 33mhz) and I loved playing Doom in "hi res" mode, but it was so slow and laggy on the family computer, I was curious how the new computer would handle it. My dad told me that the video was on board, so it was basically just as fast as a PCI card and I think it had a 1 MB allocation of video memory. Not only did Doom play faster, it could even handle it in hi res mode without an issue! And it even had sound instead of the PC speaker sound I was accustomed to with the family computer!! The plasma rifle was my favorite sound for a long time.
I could go on and on with stories like this lol
0:12 "for many newcomers, PC stands for... Pain and Confusion". I'm dead.
Crazy how I find this funny, but kids in the near future will probably think we are dumb too
I don't think people were dumb. It was new technology and it wasn't as beginner friendly as it is now. Compare installation of windows XP with windows 10 and it will be a very different experience.
Very wrong, we live in the year of information. Unlike our parents, we will have no problems keeping up with new tecnologies since we have easy access to/information of them.
@@heramann6916 yup, exactly
" U mean you can't compute pi in an instant?
pffft. Beeetaaa ! "
~ future 4 year old, probably
idk, people would install Windows 98 in those days, and now most people can't install win 10
UPDATE:
She's a Hacker now, beware.
oh hi smirk kid
w0w
Black hat or white?
@@maj746 probably red..hat)
hhhhhhhhhhhh
It's still kinda crazy to me that computers and internet were just invented not too long ago. Really shows how young the modern world is
My thoughts too
Until now, a significant portion of my life has revolved around computers. However, after watching this old video, I found myself unexpectedly moved, with tears in my eyes. I thoroughly enjoyed reading through all the comments on this video and even the replies to those comments. Everything about this experience brings me a sense of peace, and it feels really gratifying. Thanks to CZcams for suggesting this video. 🖥📺😌
u seriously cried to a video of a woman struggling to set up a computer grow up man
Crazy how far we’ve come in 26 short years; now, babies know how to navigate through a smartphone better than some adults lol
Today's tech is more easier to use, everything can be done wireless, no need to worries about cables and not matching ports
Yo I swear to god all they do is watch us on our phones & scheme until they're dexterous enough to do it too. Lmao
Ironically, back in the 90s only intelligent people had personal computers/laptops.
Huh??? PC is diffrent from SmartPhone
@@beefnoodles4981 I’m speaking about technology in general :P
"Did you try turning it off and on again?"
- "It's not even plugged in yet"
1995 was hard
LOL
🤣😂🤣
😂 😂
Still common nowadays. People who work in PC services or internet providers' technical supports can tell you hundreds of stories about dumb clients who can't handle plugs and on/off buttons of their PC.
you seems like a fella will enjoy some street countdown
95' is when i was born, and by 2001 I was playing Heroes of Might and Magic with my sisters. I loved computers ever since and I learned basics very early. Can't disagree though, things are much easier now.
Heroes of Might and Magic is the best game (series) ever!
I think I recall a video somewhere where someone tried to install a version of Debian from 1999 and it was a confusing and painful process that didn’t even get everything needed installed. This is making me even more glad that Kubuntu was able to come along since then.
Jesus, I think even Satan felt sorry for those working first line support in those days.
true.
@Golem Goyim I always liked: "there's a loose nut behind the keyboard"
@Golem Goyim ID 10-T?
happy 666 likes
People were less entitled and rude back then, so I doubt it’s worse than today.
Why did she put a giant save button in her computer?
Nice
Good one. Didn't get it for a moment.
Lmao 😆
This is gonna anger someone 😂
Interesting, in what time this joke won't be a joke anymore?
Having worked in a call center for a internet provider in 1999 myself I can guarantee you that back then the people trying to help you often were hardly qualified to do so. I remember my job interview consisted of them basically asking if I new what the internet was and if I was wiling to work on Saturdays. Thank god there were some guys who really knew their stuff because I was just hopeless.
what internet provider did you work for in 1999? I ask because in 1999 there was only aol, anything else was just a basic connect to internet explorer with a dial-up modem. I was 16/17 y.o. and not aware of any "call centers" in the u.s. at that time.
Cool flashback! It would be neat to see a follow-up interview with her. The first computer I ever remember interacting with was a Macintosh at my elementary school right around this time in 1995. The first home computer I ever had was a IBM PS/2 Model 25 that my uncle gave me. I learned alot about DOS!
"PC stands for 'pain and confusion'"
that made me laugh so hard
True, wait, where did the and come from???
Eljay Duldulao Try to work DOS and you'll know "pain and confusion"
Still hasnt changed.
yeah get a mac
@@sulaiman9766 Mad and crazy
I'll never forget the look on my moms face when i told her I've got the reply to an email send to my/our cousin(s) in Canada in the same day (I'm European BTW). Mail even had pictures and it moved across the ocean instantly... It was like sci-fi for her.
Yup .. I still remember the telegraph's office building in my hometown, It was about the same size as the Postal Service one, they charged you per letter. The closest we had from instant communication was the International and National LADA phone calls from a land line. Calls were terrible quality and extremely expensive! I remember in 1985 after the earthquake in Mexico City, we were unable to communicate to our relatives living there until a few weeks after the event. And I was possible thanks to the "Radiodifusores" People who owned large CB radios with huge antennas on top of their roofs who communicated with other people in other regions as a hobby. (An expensive one!) What is really amazing is that even with all these limitations, we still could fly in about the same amount of time as now, is just that plane tickets were more expensive.
Your comment is causing me pain and confusion
It's still like sci-fi to me, and I grew up with it.
@@toKy0t0 That’s good stuff
But think about this but in terms of instant material teleportation. This was already achieved on the atomic level
30 years later. Nothing has changed!
My grandma used to always call me before she deleted any file on her computer. She was terrified she would break it.
I had to laugh when he said that "PCs for Dummies" had sold 18 million copies. Some clever people back in the day laughed all the way to the bank.
I mean in 1995 a UI like windows 95 was completely unheard of to the vast majority of people. It's like if you took someone from 1700 and told them to fly a plane
@@diverman1023 what percent of the human population can fly a plane in 2921?
Those are the best book there's one for everything subject including stocks. Is the best informative book series that why is still selling like hot cakes or drugs.
@@sivartb7273 ah yes, 2921
@@diverman1023 In 1995 nobody have windows 95, its not like today that you can download, in that time it was not that quick
2:37 lol her frustration while the credits were rolling. The editors made it look like a comedy segment like The Office xD
* curb your enthusiasm credits *
loool it does 💀
@@nobody-tj1mv no
@@Halo56Guy yes
Now we know where The Office took inspiration from
It's interesting seeing all this as someone who was born with computers. Mad to think there was a time like this! :)
Same. I'm especially amazed, because I'm in Gen Z and also particularly tech savy (Comp sci major, linux user) so it's interesting to see such a different world
Words can't describe the touch, the smell, the sounds those computers were making. And the brochures and magazines with whole overpriced sets including printers, speakers and CRT monitors. I got my first PC when I was 18. As far as I remember I had a whooping 512MB HDD.... I consider myself lucky to have experienced both worlds in my lifetime.
I feel so sorry for her. I don't know why, but if people can't use modern technology like phones or computers and are confused, it just melts my heart and I wanna protect them. I grew up with computer, and these days everyone sort of knows so I have no clue what it must be like not knowing.
Personally I feel that if oyu can live without a computer, you're better off.
Was there ever a point in computer history, where printers just worked? 99% percent of the computer related problems in my office and at home are printer problems.
That Office Space printer scene felt soooo good!
It's why old job had a ricoh guy on standby at all times
@@zachsmith1731 Printers has always been like that. They never seems to evolve. It's like formating a an email. Sure you can use HTML and CSS but if you try to do something fancy like setting an image width it will only work in half of the mail clients.
It's because modern hardware got HARDER to use, because of how wide the range has gotten for drivers. Etc.
Usually on Mac. Right now I’ve got a Brother printer and I’m running MacOS Mavericks, works every single time
@@trashyraccoon2615 yes, but the wide majority use windows, Mac is nice, but for certain printers, it's not like " ok it's a pain to get working but I can install drivers!" And then if your not lucky Mac can just not offer drivers... because Apple doesn't like 3rd party stuff... that's what happens when your computer is "virus proof" (not really hating on macs but they do have more flaws then windows compatibility wise...
It is probably the first time I've seen a 3.5" floppy being inserted with two hands.
*crunch
that do be interesting doe
Well aren’t you a lucky man
i still remember the 8 and 5 inch floppy and was excited for a brief moment when the zip drive was introduced lol
Wait 'til you see a boomer use a mouse with two hands.
You must have had some real patient girlfriends then
I'm happy to have discovered PC computing in the mid 90's with a 386 rescued from trash. No money spent for it. It was probably throwed away by some guy sending his PC to garbage after going berserk by using it. This PC was working perfectly after only replacing its HDD and reinstall MSDOS. I was a 10yo child and it helped me a lot to familiarize early with computing and english language where in France it was very rare for a family to own a computer in these years. That served me a lot to show quickly advanced skills with computers in school compared to most of my teachers and comrades. I was immediately able to use the PC keyboard because when I was even younger, I had fun typing on my grandmother's typewriter.
I like that story!
I played with personal computers since the early 90s. My dad was an electrical engineer and used to work on computer graphics. I remember playing with computers at school with math games and other students were jealous I could do math. I miss going with my dad to the Siggraph computer graphics expo. I now work on a lot of Software.
honestly i've had a computer since I was 5 and I still whole heartedly relate to this woman.
We evolved from adults struggling to work on their PCs to young teens building high-spec gaming stations at the age of 13
Nowadays building a pc is easy as breathe.
@@edga7490 fax, it really doesnt take computer knowledge to buy it
Back when nerds were not some woke wannabes....
The power of the internet
Building a PC now is easier than setting up a laptop + printer + custom modem hardware + phone configuration was back then.
My Dad bought me a PC after much begging when I was about 18, so it was 1990 ish. I'd read PC Magazines for months and we finally bought a Hyundai 386 SX16 costing around £1400. Worked like a charm and I spent hours every day fascinated with what I could get it to do. Two yrs later after joining a company on work experience, I instantly became their IT Manager because my knowledge of PC's was God level compared to the staff already there... Thanks Dad :)
You brought a car?
@@giovanigeorgis3848 It's actually a pc lmao
@@Rsconquest IK Hyundai is the obscure computer brand also sold by Fry’s Electronics as a last resort to stay in business here in the US and also a car brand.
@@giovanigeorgis3848 It was nearly as big as a car!
@@giovanigeorgis3848 rip fry's
28 years later & it still ain't any easy. ( the more we learn the more complicated it gets every passing year )
Really? I thought its far easier now. What in particular do you think is hard or harder?
It's way easier. Networking configs were a bear back then to get online to the Internet. Now it's all very simple. Login/security is simplified, chance of corruption is much less from updates (was quite normal you'd have your system hosed and have to reinstall it), virus/malware protection is much much enhanced now without any thought to it.
$2,832 in 1995 is worth $5,802.97 in 2024, that is wild for a computer.
also not true. the kind of computer she was using in this video clip did not exist.
unless she got it from time-traveling military aliens.
Lol what are you on@@superfun54
Where did they find this lady, I love her. "You'd let me know if I'm about to blow something up?"
Also so glad we have USB now.
That bit was so good, if only they had access to CZcams back then. She'd know, from watch countless videos, that the person holding the camera never offers any help but simply records the chaos unfold.
Yes, USB fits nice and tight in the ethernet port, but the printer is still not working.
@@sprytnychomik and my HDMI is sitting real nicely in my usb port. Also got a 3.5mm headset plug fit easily in my microusb port
@@TH3mrBROWN i think she would actually need a computer for youtube in its first years (the first 2 years)
You could have come to my house & seen the exact same thing.
People forget that user manuals used to be written like Technical Manuals...they were actually fairly confusing and full of jargon. Once manufacturers realized the average user didn't have a CS degree, they began writing tech manuals and explaining specifications for non technically literate people.
I think that's good! As much as I'd like to have manuals that are full of jargon and all the technical information that goes along with the device, I think that the switch to a more casually-worded manual was smart since it's more practical for most people.
Thank you for sharing that fact!
@@Ascertivus I mean there usually are specs listed at the back page or on the back of the box and when you get into enthusiast pc equipment like high end graphics cards or professional-grade motherboards you will find that the manuals aren't really about how to install the the thing but more about how to diagnose error codes and which ports do what
And now they just forgo user manuals altogether 🥺
yes, in spanish
That's because the manual was meant to teach you how to actually get the most out of the machine. Nowadays, a user is expected to use their machine the same way everyone else uses it, to accomplish the sake basic tasks, so 'manuals' are really just quick start guides. Which is bad, because how can you get the most out of your machine if you can't mold it around your unique needs and goals?
Ah I remember my first computer back in 2000. It's crazy how fast we progressed in technology, but now it started to stagnate, at least for the average users.
Printer was like sub-boss level, but to set up internet was boss level, or superboss level to make that freaking Microsoft Outlook work properly and make it stable.
To be fair, getting a printer to work for someone new to computers is like asking a newborn infant to drive an F1 car
Especially back then.
No
In what way?
@@johnmartinez7440 Sometimes they just don't wanna. So you restart it and it says, "Good nap. Ok, I'll print."
@@piotrmazek540it is even worse now... it is like asking an infant to fly spaceshuttle....😂
Man, imagine if you bought Microsoft or Apple stock back then.
all you needed was few bitcoins from 2006
If u bought Bitcoins would’ve been worth it 99%
This was already too late. You shouldve bought in the 80s
@@XelaShade not 2006 man. you could have bought bitcoins for few dollars in 2011 too.
@@santoryu2753 not for few cents
Ouch. This video is so nostalgic it hurts.
After 28 years later I am watching this video. It's really interesting how our technology is developing day by day.
4mb memory, lol
Even my phone has more memory
I wonder how much storage it had
@@ua7521 128 megabytes was the storage of the mac
@@ua7521 What a surprise..
@@ua7521 no way..more than 4mb of memory?
It was more interesting to learn that the word "newbie" goes back that far
Yep, it’s not an - oldie.
why would it be a new word?
Even the dinosaurs used it , it's an old word.
@@jgon12 Earliest uses probably date to late twentieth century United States Armed Forces jargon.
@@jericoba 😂😂😂
People not understanding computers back then was understandable.
People not understanding computers in this day and age is terrifying.
Yep. There's still a lot of tech illiteracy. There's a huge difference between being social media savvy and tech savvy.
and the tech illiteracy is getting larger with the new generation. a lot of kids have just phone and console. no PC or even laptop
legend says she still is struggling with which port to plug the interface cable in.
what 1995, I still found many people who react just like this girl.
YES! Omg. And the help page is as useless than before.
Yep - to this day is hard for my to convince to my aunt that she can check her post, or pay bill on the pc. no seriously she's looks at me like I'm from another planet.
That's a Woman, not a Girl..
@@rashidhumine its a grill
@@Uria-jz1gu Its a Gurl
We all would be in “Pain and Confusion” if we were to wake up in 1995 trying to operate these computers.
@NuNu there's a big difference between 1995 computers and 1965 computers lol
Nah, we’ll maybe idk. I first started using computers when I was 6 which was around the same time this video was made so I grew up with a lot of these old computers I find them easier to put together and work compared to what’s available now.
@@Mr.Obongo Agree with you. I was born in '88 and grew up with computers
Even if we managed to operate them we would still be in pain and confusion because it would feel to SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW !
The worst pain would be having to buy printer ink all the time. And floppy disks.
Nowadays it's usb chargers.
$2,800 in 1995 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $5,654.92 today, an increase of $2,854.92 over 28 years.
I just spent about 5k on a new computer set-up, but it's pretty tricked out...RXT 4090, 128 gb ram, two 4k monitors, etc. Average user I'm guessing spends a fifth of that now lol.
I would have loved to live through this era...
The biggest improvement in usability came from the fact that drivers were automatically installed and USB cables. Those made things way easier.
Basic drivers if you aren't connected to the internet.
and all the work done on UX
Don’t know what you’re taking about. I had to install my GPU drivers and flash my motherboard BIOS after getting a new CPU.
No just that but decades of RND that haver gone into ease of use.
@@ShrivledAlienLol You don't have to install your GPU driver, there's always a basic driver available. And most GPU's have automatic updates now.
Poor Jamie, I hope she figured out how computers work and is doing ok today
She is
@@brendan8812 but how can you be so sure?
@@the_grass_trainer haven't we all figured computers out by now?
She's fine. A few years later she became a man and won the world series of poker.
@@uXses Her name is Dan Bilzerian.
0:12 After this sentence I knew instantly this is going to be golden
A couple of things about this video. Even regular PC computers were relatively complicated by today's standards to install and use. Installing device drivers, getting online, understanding what you were buying etc. all relied on what was printed in the manual, what the salespeople told you at the store and your immediate social circle. You couldn't just Google something or go on CZcams and look at 10 different videos which explain everything. If you got stuck with something, you remained so until you could find someone to help you with it. Installing new hardware required all kinds of compatibles components and installing drivers by hand. You couldn't just plug something into a USB port (didn't exist) and expect it to start working. And all computer stuff was *expensive*, especially new tech like digital cameras or CD-R drives. Then a year or two later they'd put out something twice as fast and good. It was brutal.
you get it. I think many here who have no compassion for the newbie in the story weren't there and don't realize how much easier things are these days. I was lucky in that I had a friend who held my hand while setting up my first PC. That was the only way to get a frustration free start in those days. I'd like to see young people today install a sound card in a PC from 93 and have to manually set the DMA and the IRQ or set up a LAN in Windows 3.1. Good luck.
it's only hard, if you expect to learn everything in 1 day.
if you just have fun with it, play with it and don't give it too much expectation, you'll be well versed with it within year.
there are a lot of amazing thing you can do with it.
after all, there are things that only PC/laptop could do, that smartphone, tablet, etc won't be able to do.
all the Companies around the world use PC and not Smartphone or tablet for work for a reason
I grew up with computers and disagree; these people are cognitively inferior nincompoops. Computers back in the 80's were simple compared to the stuff we have today.
easy to miss the perspective!
this is most sensible of all comments here
By watching the girl trying to make the PC work. I noticed something that her fashion wear is today fashion trend :D
totally. funny how on-point she looks for now.
lmaoo
@Trippie Nxouch jealous much? She was actually decent and I'd say attractive in some ways.
@Trippie Nxouch well she did look like a girl in the video tbh. What if she's still in shape & looking good though? ;).
I've seen girls my age look more like big mamas than her. Hope you ain't one of em.
@Trippie Nxouch Stfu
I wonder how Jamie feels watching this 30 years later....
Even today the same issues are still present. And I meet plenty of Software Developers that have these issues or don't know how to build a PC but are amazing at writing code for said PC's
I work as an IT Technician and I feel this to the very core of my soul.
Love you, man. Thanks for helping the people and being so patient. If you need to switch to something else, go for it.
things have changed lol besides printer. Atleast for my generation we're born into such things so things come easily to us but yes i get ya
As another IT tech, I can confirm
Same here XDDDD
Dude... Some old biddy is on her way to you with her jaw set. It's a thankless job.
“PC stands for pain and confusion”
Yea. I feel that when I play league solo.
What is league???
@@saadsajidul9001 league of legend obviously
@@chocho6766 i hate game, just an opinion no offense
@@saadsajidul9001 ok , just fyi playing league solo (alone with random people) is very frustrating it feels like so hard and unfair people will just blame each other when they lose , it's just a stress
@@chocho6766 is it toxic??
When I was a teenager, older people around me did not understand computers. Now I'm in my forties, older people still do not understand computers, but younger people do not understand computers either, because they use their phones! It seems to me it was just our generation that was really into computers, and that's it.
Adjusted for inflation, the woman paid $5,706.82 for a PC less powerful than our most basic cell phones.
I can feel the pain of the call centre workers. I have to teach my dad, aunt and grandma how use youtube and facebook. The hardest part was to make my grandma believe that her post on Facebook will not be viewed by everyone in the internet.
Its hard man. When ur helping them over the phone. Theres no visuals or something to teach them. Sometimes they got mad, really mad.
Im a former call center btw
@Bacon Pancakes she doesn’t know her password. I know it. And she can't even post. I've to write it for her.
If she sets her post to public it has the *potential* to be viewed by everyone
@@danielsjohnson that's wha she wants. She wants that everyone in the world will read her post. And she becomes really disappointed when she gets only 6/7 reacts.
I once had to instruct my grandma to download Whatsapp using Play Store and restore the backup chats over the phone. I can relate your pain
Someone should find her and ask her if she ever found out how to use her ThinkPad.
she wouldnt know how to plug it in
She die of frustration and anxiety 1 year ago.she was still trying to make the computer work
What if she’s like a twitch streamer and does speed coding for fun. I mean she got into computers before most of us were even walking.
She did she has a twitter now and is also working as a writer and editor at inquire first
She's been on PC for 26 years I'm sure she's a wizard by now
Back then "Windows" and other software had to be installed from scratch.
Got my first PC in 2003, I had to install all the software before I could use it, internet was "Dial Up" so one could not make or receive phone calls, mine had a 20 gig, hard drive and 256 Ram
I get that this almost looks like a comedy skit watching it today, and we feel like laughing at the frustrated lady, but as someone who grew up in the 90s, I get where she's coming from. Not only were computers in fact more complicated to set up and use back then (even starting Windows used to require a specific prompt after turning on the PC), but people also didn't have the easy access to information that we do today.
The concept of user-friendliness also wasn't really a thing until not that long ago. The products had manuals, but they weren't really written with the average user in mind (they used a lot of jargon that was incomprehensible to most people back then - notice how she had no idea what a disk drive was), so you either had to take a few computer lessons beforehand or have someone over to help you set up your new PC. It wasn't like today, where you can look up a tutorial on YT using your smartphone and learn how to assemble a PC from scratch even if you've never done it before.
It still amazes me today how things just work. I grew up in a world of dial-up, parallel ports, IRQ conflicts, and DOS.
BIOSes and OSes got a whole lot better.
Ahhhh…good ole’ IRQ conflicts. That brings back memories! iSCSCI IRQ on Apple was my confusion. Granted I was just 8 or so when I was putting my Mac components together and didn’t really understand what the heck was going on.
Amazes you? We've had 40 years to improve on it. I'm not amazed, I'm satisfied.
they've been running on the same principles for decades. it's the users who have become savvy.
I still remember having to move, add, or remove jumpers to make changes to the settings for the CPU, peripheral cards, disk drives, etc. Overclocking a CPU involved physically moving some jumpers on the motherboard. Good times.
The difficulty back then was that your resources for assistance was either going to be someone in-person or via a phone call. We didn't have smart phones to google "why won't my printer print?". Not to mention a lot of connections back then were incredibly unique and had exposed pins that could bend and get damaged. On top of that, it was time-consuming to do simple things that we take for granted with USB-plugs. Want to use a mouse? Install the software first, turn off the computer, plug it in, turn the computer back on, see if it works. And computers didn't boot quick either. Accidentally unplug your keyboard while the computer is on? You gotta power it off before you plug that keyboard back in to use it.
These were the years where some of us developed the patience to handle technology today. Some people never cultured it.
True.
"We didn't have smartphones to google 'why doesn't my printer work?"
Now we do. But I still use it only after I made everything worse AND returned this everything to its first bad state. 😂
with PS/2 interface you can plug and unplug your keyboard on the fly.
i member
My first laptop was a windows vista pc and i can't imagine how bad it might of been for some in the 90s.
Thank you.
2,800 for a computer in 1995 is almost 6,000 today. That's insane. However, I do agree that computers are more intuitive to use today.
I worked at help desk call center from 98 to 2002. It was tough trying to troubleshoot anything over the phone. I was more confused than the end user.
Thank you for your service.
I would like to know a little bit more... How was life back then? Do you have kids? Were you paid enough? How long you had to work? I am guessing you would be as old as my grandmother...
@Straight brown Male dude 🤣 🤣 that is funnyyyyy