Friday, February 22, 2013

How Many Computer Operating Systems are in Your Home?

I often point out to my kids how lucky they are.  I didn't have a computer in my home until I was about 8 years old, an Apple IIc.  My Dad would bring the portable computer from work home on occasion and we were able to play a Centipede like game.  But that thing was as big as a suitcase.  The Apple IIc was sleek, it had a 10" monitor (although some of my friends had a monitor up to 13") and we could play games like Oregon Trail and Loderunner.  Oh yeah, and we could keep track of our allowance and write school reports.  It was awesome!

Fast forward to today.  I have probably gone through a dozen computers in my life.  Currently (considering computers, laptops, and tablets) there are 6 working computers in my home all far more powerful than that Apple IIc was. Can you imagine telling Isaac Asimov in 1960 that 50 years from then, multiple computers in homes would be common?  He would laugh at you as if you were talking poppycock (I had a book about the using the slide rule that he wrote where he specifically states that there would never be computers in people's homes and that was one of the reasons to learn to use the slide rule).

Currently, three of my machines run Windows 7, one runs Windows XP, one runs Android Ice Cream Sandwich, and one runs Android Honeycomb. Four different operating systems.  But I have had more there was one time for about 6 months that I had 6 different operating systems in my home. That can get confusing as to where everything is.

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