Digital Reminiscing (Part 1 of 5)

There are Chief Digital Officers and Chief Digitalization Officers now. Digitalization is more than a buzzword. It is an industry. It is such a hype that I had to ask myself the question, "Am I digitalized? Is all this different from what I have been doing for the past 35 years?" One thing for sure, the term "digitalization" is new enough to prompt that red squiggly underline beneath it. Now there is an irony for you! If any company would be way ahead of the curve on the topic, it would be Microsoft, right? Not the case. Spellcheck didn't have the word in its dictionary. I had to add it. Go figure.

Anyway, I started reminiscing and decided to write it down. I hope at least one of you will enjoy this walk down memory lane with me.

My first exposure to computers was thanks to Uncle Dave. He and my father were roommates in Manhattan in the early 1960's. They were jazz freaks and saw all the legends play live. Imagine seeing Miles Davis live at the Half Note back then! These two roommates were dating two women who were also roommates and the package deal worked out. Uncle Dave married Aunt Virginia. Dad married Mom. Years later, Dave got into the data processing business. He founded a company and that company BOUGHT an IBM mainframe. That sounded like the coolest thing ever. I bugged my father to take me to see it. I wore him down and we finally went to see it during one of our visits to their house somewhere in northern Pennsylvania.

I was underwhelmed. I expected the bridge of the Enterprise. Instead, I saw punch-cards and magnetic tape reels spinning back and forth. Fortunately, there were some lights blinking and quite a few buttons. At least that was cool.

Fast forward to the 7th grade. When I found out that Cooperstown Central Junior-Senior High School had a computer, a semi-excitement for computers returned. I couldn't wait to see it. As soon as I could manage it, I wandered into the computer room and found two seniors sitting in front of what looked like the offspring of a marriage between a typewriter and a desk. One of the seniors was typing. The other dude was watching what the typewriter was printing on the green-bar paper. Again, I was expecting the bridge of the Enterprise. "Where's the computer?" I asked. I'm pretty sure they rolled their eyes or told me to get lost or both. But, I stayed.

After a few minutes, they realized that I was not going to leave and started to talk. They told me that the computer wasn't there. It was 75 miles away in Binghamton, NY. The typewriter desk was a terminal that talked to the computer via a modem over a phone line. I later learned that the computer was a PDP 1170 minicomputer made by DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation).

The modem had the blazing baud-rate of 500. 12 years later, I got to know 2 DEC engineers really well. They were my classmates in the Northeastern "High-Tech MBA" program.

Back to 1977... Watching an 18-year-old dude type on a weird typewriter was super turbo boring. I was ready to leave when the typer guy clacked one of the keys really hard. As soon as he did, the typewriter sprang to life and started typing at a speed that startled me. It was typing at least 10 times the speed my mother could type, and she was a REALLY fast typist. Now THAT was cool!

I asked the dudes if I could use the computer. "You have to ask Mr. White." Mr. White was the calculus teacher and the varsity basketball coach, nickname... Digital Dick. Not because he was a prick, but because his first name was Richard. I didn't have him as a teacher until senior year and looking back, I'd say he was the best teacher in the school. And he had tough competition. At the time, CCS was loaded with A-player teachers. Anyway, I asked. He enthusiastically approved. Then I signed up for as many time slots as I could. I got kicked out by seniors most of the time, but once in a while, I had the room to myself and could play around. I learned BASIC. I played the Star Trek game. (that's a whole essay in itself) I remember the irrational exuberance with which I told my parents about the experiences. After my first solo session on the terminal, I was convinced that the computer had a personality and I told them that the school's computer had a sense of humor. Why? Because when I made syntax errors, it responded with "WHAT??" There were other responses that I viewed as being a bit sassy as well.

It took only 2 or 3 more sessions to figure out just how DUMB computers are. Frack-sakes, you gotta tell them how to do everything. I did not know what it was called then, perhaps nobody did, but the dream of AI was burned into my head and has never disappeared to this day.

To be continued... Same Bat Time, same Bat Channel...

Part II on the way soon.

Stay tuned for:

1. MTS
2. IBM 3070 mainframe
3. 1st IBM PC
4. 1st MAC
5. Compaq "Luggable" (1989)
6. 1st cell phone (1990)
7. 1st laptop in the company
8. 1st email address in the company
9. 1st smartphone
10. etc...