How were home PCs used in 1996?

bob bobato · Apr 10, 2012, 12:27 PM

Let's say its 1996, you're 40 years old and have 3 kids. You just bought a state of the art windows 95 machine which doesn't have internet access. The kids use it to play game and write school papers. But how do you use it? (let's assume your job doesn't require you to work at home).
I'm wondering this after seeing a Simpsons episode from 1996 where someone comments that Homer "doesn't even have a computer". Well, why would he evenneed one? From my own experience, I remember that my father used to use the home PC to fill out tax forms and to use Microsoft Word and Excel for work (he was a consular worker), but I don't think that was typical for the time.

Cutlass · Apr 10, 2012, 06:14 PM

I had internet then. And Civ

Mise · Apr 11, 2012, 05:20 AM

Games.

warpus · Apr 11, 2012, 10:53 AM

Back then I was playing games on my PC, drawing ANSI art, and calling BBS's.

In fact, I even ran a couple BBS' - Mystic Fork, Premature Ejac, Warpig's Lair

I wasn't 40 back then though

illram · Apr 11, 2012, 01:09 PM

There was a large online community back then, relatively speaking to what preceded it. (Tiny compared to now, obviously). Prodigy, Compuserve, AOL, BBS systems. Relative to the time, that was a pretty big leap from, say, late 80s or early 90s connectivity.

Why would a 40 year old not play games?

Mise · Apr 11, 2012, 01:17 PM

I got the internet in 1997, when I was 12. AOL. I used it to have cybersex with girls.

Maniacal · Apr 11, 2012, 01:18 PM

I used it for Sim City, KidPix, Oregon Trail, Yukon Trail, Capture the Flag, and a bunch of other games. My dad used it for typing and printing. I don't remember when we got internet, but we definitely had it by the time we got a Win98 computer.

ParadigmShifter · Apr 11, 2012, 04:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mise

I got the internet in 1997, when I was 12. AOL. I used it to have cybersex with girls.

You thought it was girls, anyway. Girls didn't get into internets until shoes&realitytv.com came online.

Mise · Apr 12, 2012, 03:17 AM

I started chatting to one of them once, and it slowly became apparent that she went to my school, in my year, and in some of my lessons as well. She was one of the popular/attractive girls, too...

illram · Apr 12, 2012, 11:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mise

I got the internet in 1997, when I was 12. AOL. I used it to have cybersex with girls.

I played in the Compuserve Doom I & II ladders and argued in the Compuserve and Prodigy forums about politics and religion....

When I google my name some of my Doom maps and mods still come up

Furiey · Apr 13, 2012, 01:16 PM

I had internet back then but didn't use it much for that. Mostly used it for games, photoshop and office apps. My dad used his for office apps and CAD work but he didn't have internet.

edit: I was 33 in 1996.

mdwh · Apr 13, 2012, 03:41 PM

Whilst computers back then had incredibly low amounts of processing power and memory even compared to Android and Nokia smartphones today, they were still useful.

For starters, why right off games? Adults can play games too, even if it was less common then.

Being able to write/print letters would be useful. There were plenty of creative uses. In 1996 I used my Amiga do all of these things.

Not to mention that home Internet access (or non-Internet dial-up systems) existed in 1996 too.

Of course for a lot of people who don't play games, and don't want to doing any work, and don't want to use computers creatively, the Internet is the one significant thing that's made almost every household get one (it's the reason my parents finally got their first computer a few years ago). So yes, I wouldn't sneer at someone in 1996 for not having a computer. But then The Simpsons probably isn't meant to be serious

Padma · Apr 16, 2012, 07:44 PM

I was over 40 in 1996, and that's when my wife bought our first Windows computer. We'd had home computers for about 16 years by then.

We used it to play games, write letters, kept a recipe database, and maintain records for the junior bowling leagues we ran.

Quintillus · Apr 16, 2012, 10:03 PM

This would be a better question for my dad than me. I mostly used it for games and occasionally writing things in Lotus Notes, as well as drawing in Microsoft Paint. The funny thing about the Paint drawings is they're almost all stored as .bmp files. I don't seem to have any of those documents today, but I'm sure they're still on the small hard drives we had, or the floppies we backed them up on.

I know my dad occasionally wrote documents and kept spreadsheets on the 1996 computer, and designed model railroads. I don't know if he ever actually programmed on that computer or not, though he had some software for it. Maybe I should ask this question for real.

Disgustipated · Apr 17, 2012, 01:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mise

Games.

this

I bought my first PC in 1995 (although in the late 80's I had a Commodore 64). Although I got internet access (if you can call a very slow dial up access) several months later.

Some of my first games were X-com, Master of Magic, and Civilization 2.

Le Sage · Apr 30, 2012, 04:07 PM

1996 was a golden year for PC gaming. It wasn't surpassed in my book until last year. I played a lot of Daggerfall (Elder Scrolls 2), Tomb Raider 1 and Grand Theft Auto 1 back in -96/-97. I had a state-of-the-art machine, a 133 MhZ Pentium. That machine lived for ten years.

I had internet too, actually, although I live on the Siberian tundra. Whenever I wanted to "surf online", as we called it back then, I had to call through the modem and it made a terrible noise. It was slow. Downloading the demo of Grand Theft Auto took me over an hour. It was 5 mb's large. Yes, five megabytes. The phone bills were also astronomical because of this.

I discovered a file format called MP3. Up until then, most sound files found online were either .wav or .mid. Midi was terrible. MP3 ruled and I downloaded songs and enjoyed them and played them to my friends. I couldn't for the world understand why so few knew about this file format. I was probably one of the very first people in my town/area to make use of MP3 files. Yeah! I was a pioneer back in the late nineties.

I chatted a lot. With people in America. Once I even met a Norwegian woman, but it sadly didn't lead to anything. I was too messed up at the time. I created a homepage on something called Geocities and it looked absolutely terrible, but I was really proud of it. It was an early form of MySpace/Facebook and everyone's pages looked crappy. I also frequented historical forums, like the one on the Napoleon Series, and learned that there were other people out there who enjoyed reading about Napoleon, and that I was not alone. Wonderful.

I met so many memorable characters online and I loved them all! I met a Canadian gentleman who thought he was Jesus, and I met a Communist from the United States and a Catholic schoolgirl from the US East Coast who was named "Satan" on the chat. IRC was the in-thing back in -96, by the way.

It was Clinton and Yeltsin, X-Files and Spicegirls. What a great time it was!

AlpsStranger · May 03, 2012, 11:36 PM

Games, ofc.

What did you think computers were for

CivGeneral · May 05, 2012, 07:19 PM

Mainly used for PC games.

innonimatu · May 06, 2012, 09:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Disgustipated

Some of my first games were X-com, Master of Magic, and Civilization 2.

Great games, all of those.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Le Sage

1996 was a golden year for PC gaming. It wasn't surpassed in my book until last year. I played a lot of Daggerfall (Elder Scrolls 2), Tomb Raider 1 and Grand Theft Auto 1 back in -96/-97. I had a state-of-the-art machine, a 133 MhZ Pentium. That machine lived for ten years.

I had internet too, actually, although I live on the Siberian tundra. Whenever I wanted to "surf online", as we called it back then, I had to call through the modem and it made a terrible noise. It was slow. Downloading the demo of Grand Theft Auto took me over an hour. It was 5 mb's large. Yes, five megabytes. The phone bills were also astronomical because of this.

I discovered a file format called MP3. Up until then, most sound files found online were either .wav or .mid. Midi was terrible. MP3 ruled and I downloaded songs and enjoyed them and played them to my friends. I couldn't for the world understand why so few knew about this file format. I was probably one of the very first people in my town/area to make use of MP3 files. Yeah! I was a pioneer back in the late nineties.

I chatted a lot. With people in America. Once I even met a Norwegian woman, but it sadly didn't lead to anything. I was too messed up at the time. I created a homepage on something called Geocities and it looked absolutely terrible, but I was really proud of it. It was an early form of MySpace/Facebook and everyone's pages looked crappy. I also frequented historical forums, like the one on the Napoleon Series, and learned that there were other people out there who enjoyed reading about Napoleon, and that I was not alone. Wonderful.

I met so many memorable characters online and I loved them all! I met a Canadian gentleman who thought he was Jesus, and I met a Communist from the United States and a Catholic schoolgirl from the US East Coast who was named "Satan" on the chat. IRC was the in-thing back in -96, by the way.

IRC, the last days of the newsgroups, and the first of the web forums... oh, damn you both, not I'm getting all nostalgic and feeling old!

Zelig · May 10, 2012, 05:23 PM

Newsgroups are still going strong, mostly for piracy.

Apr 10, 2012, 12:27 PM	#1
bob bobato L'imparfait Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Montreal Posts: 1,010 Images: 3	How were home PCs used in 1996? Let's say its 1996, you're 40 years old and have 3 kids. You just bought a state of the art windows 95 machine which doesn't have internet access. The kids use it to play game and write school papers. But how do you use it? (let's assume your job doesn't require you to work at home). I'm wondering this after seeing a Simpsons episode from 1996 where someone comments that Homer "doesn't even have a computer". Well, why would he evenneed one? From my own experience, I remember that my father used to use the home PC to fill out tax forms and to use Microsoft Word and Excel for work (he was a consular worker), but I don't think that was typical for the time. __________________ Un-Signed.

Apr 10, 2012, 06:14 PM	#2
Cutlass Ideas are Like Stars Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: US of A Posts: 32,185 Images: 6	I had internet then. And Civ __________________ Ideas Are Like Stars. Come visit us again! Learn the Basics of Money HERE More Money has been Lost Because of Four Words than at the Point of a Gun. Those words are "This Time is Different." Taking from the poor and giving to the rich is Why Nations Fail In American we call that Reaganomics.

Apr 11, 2012, 05:20 AM	#3
Mise isle of lucy Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: London, UK Posts: 25,099	Games. __________________ Come to fiftychat! It's where downtown hangs out!

Apr 11, 2012, 10:53 AM	#4
warpus pork strike force Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Stamford Bridge Posts: 30,764	Back then I was playing games on my PC, drawing ANSI art, and calling BBS's. In fact, I even ran a couple BBS' - Mystic Fork, Premature Ejac, Warpig's Lair I wasn't 40 back then though __________________ My New Zealand thread with photos of New Zealand

Apr 11, 2012, 01:17 PM	#6
Mise isle of lucy Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: London, UK Posts: 25,099	I got the internet in 1997, when I was 12. AOL. I used it to have cybersex with girls. __________________ Come to fiftychat! It's where downtown hangs out!

Apr 11, 2012, 01:09 PM	#5
illram Moderator Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: San Francisco Posts: 6,720	There was a large online community back then, relatively speaking to what preceded it. (Tiny compared to now, obviously). Prodigy, Compuserve, AOL, BBS systems. Relative to the time, that was a pretty big leap from, say, late 80s or early 90s connectivity. Why would a 40 year old not play games?

Apr 11, 2012, 01:18 PM	#7
Maniacal the green Napoleon Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: British Columbia, Canada Posts: 17,214	I used it for Sim City, KidPix, Oregon Trail, Yukon Trail, Capture the Flag, and a bunch of other games. My dad used it for typing and printing. I don't remember when we got internet, but we definitely had it by the time we got a Win98 computer. __________________ Civilization Fanatics Steam Usergroup (I am) Fresh Prince of Buckingham \| Game Sales & Bargains Thread Insults are the last refuge of the out-argued.

Apr 12, 2012, 03:17 AM	#9
Mise isle of lucy Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: London, UK Posts: 25,099	I started chatting to one of them once, and it slowly became apparent that she went to my school, in my year, and in some of my lessons as well. She was one of the popular/attractive girls, too... __________________ Come to fiftychat! It's where downtown hangs out!

Apr 13, 2012, 01:16 PM	#11
Furiey No Longer Just Lurking Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Bedfordshire UK Posts: 6,289	I had internet back then but didn't use it much for that. Mostly used it for games, photoshop and office apps. My dad used his for office apps and CAD work but he didn't have internet. edit: I was 33 in 1996. __________________ (NoAIPatrol=0) SGOTM o0O0o SGOTM 0 MTDG II: Team CDZ o0O0o Fold for CFC and help cure disease! UK CFC Meetup: London, 2 October 2010 Last edited by Furiey; May 06, 2012 at 05:06 PM.

Apr 13, 2012, 03:41 PM	#12
mdwh Deity Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 3,565	Whilst computers back then had incredibly low amounts of processing power and memory even compared to Android and Nokia smartphones today, they were still useful. For starters, why right off games? Adults can play games too, even if it was less common then. Being able to write/print letters would be useful. There were plenty of creative uses. In 1996 I used my Amiga do all of these things. Not to mention that home Internet access (or non-Internet dial-up systems) existed in 1996 too. Of course for a lot of people who don't play games, and don't want to doing any work, and don't want to use computers creatively, the Internet is the one significant thing that's made almost every household get one (it's the reason my parents finally got their first computer a few years ago). So yes, I wouldn't sneer at someone in 1996 for not having a computer. But then The Simpsons probably isn't meant to be serious __________________ Conquests - open source Civ-like game for Windows/Linux PCs. Gigalomania - open source Mega Lo Mania-like game for PCs, tablets and smartphones. Remote Control for Android and Nokia Symbian smartphones/tablets

Apr 16, 2012, 07:44 PM	#13
Padma the InBond Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Omaha, Nebraska USA Posts: 13,997	I was over 40 in 1996, and that's when my wife bought our first Windows computer. We'd had home computers for about 16 years by then. We used it to play games, write letters, kept a recipe database, and maintain records for the junior bowling leagues we ran. __________________ 1st Lieutenant, USAF (Retired) Registered Linux User #233241 My View Ramblings of a Professional Computer Geek-- My Blogs.

Apr 16, 2012, 10:03 PM	#14
Quintillus Deity Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 3,946	This would be a better question for my dad than me. I mostly used it for games and occasionally writing things in Lotus Notes, as well as drawing in Microsoft Paint. The funny thing about the Paint drawings is they're almost all stored as .bmp files. I don't seem to have any of those documents today, but I'm sure they're still on the small hard drives we had, or the floppies we backed them up on. I know my dad occasionally wrote documents and kept spreadsheets on the 1996 computer, and designed model railroads. I don't know if he ever actually programmed on that computer or not, though he had some software for it. Maybe I should ask this question for real. __________________ Read Conquest of the World, the 2nd most viewed Civ III story of all time! C3C Cross-Platform Editor Version 0.84 - April, 2013 Congress is the opposite of Progress

Apr 30, 2012, 04:07 PM	#16
Le Sage Emperor Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Digging up your garden Posts: 1,409 Images: 2	1996 was a golden year for PC gaming. It wasn't surpassed in my book until last year. I played a lot of Daggerfall (Elder Scrolls 2), Tomb Raider 1 and Grand Theft Auto 1 back in -96/-97. I had a state-of-the-art machine, a 133 MhZ Pentium. That machine lived for ten years. I had internet too, actually, although I live on the Siberian tundra. Whenever I wanted to "surf online", as we called it back then, I had to call through the modem and it made a terrible noise. It was slow. Downloading the demo of Grand Theft Auto took me over an hour. It was 5 mb's large. Yes, five megabytes. The phone bills were also astronomical because of this. I discovered a file format called MP3. Up until then, most sound files found online were either .wav or .mid. Midi was terrible. MP3 ruled and I downloaded songs and enjoyed them and played them to my friends. I couldn't for the world understand why so few knew about this file format. I was probably one of the very first people in my town/area to make use of MP3 files. Yeah! I was a pioneer back in the late nineties. I chatted a lot. With people in America. Once I even met a Norwegian woman, but it sadly didn't lead to anything. I was too messed up at the time. I created a homepage on something called Geocities and it looked absolutely terrible, but I was really proud of it. It was an early form of MySpace/Facebook and everyone's pages looked crappy. I also frequented historical forums, like the one on the Napoleon Series, and learned that there were other people out there who enjoyed reading about Napoleon, and that I was not alone. Wonderful. I met so many memorable characters online and I loved them all! I met a Canadian gentleman who thought he was Jesus, and I met a Communist from the United States and a Catholic schoolgirl from the US East Coast who was named "Satan" on the chat. IRC was the in-thing back in -96, by the way. It was Clinton and Yeltsin, X-Files and Spicegirls. What a great time it was! __________________ Fairy Tale - Play Civilization IV in a detailed Medieval Fairy Tale/Fantasy world!

May 03, 2012, 11:36 PM	#17
AlpsStranger Security breeeeeaaaach! Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 4,611	Games, ofc. What did you think computers were for

May 05, 2012, 07:19 PM	#18
CivGeneral Space Ninja Ayane Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Coruscant Posts: 39,113 Images: 4	Mainly used for PC games. __________________ (伝統、統一、名誉、知識)* \| "Stranger in a Strange land" a Fallout 3 AAR "When you worry about what others think of you, you never get to think for yourself." - Sean Stephenson "We adventure better with arrows in our knees" - Coestar \| "Did you see the darkness of Hajin Mon?" - Ayane, DoA

May 10, 2012, 05:23 PM	#20
Zelig DUKE OF MAGDEBURG, OF BRE Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Canada Posts: 10,114	Newsgroups are still going strong, mostly for piracy. __________________ Dritarja mbi mjaft pluto, përveç tokës anije rritje shortit duket na e diel drejtuar me vlerë të barabartë me shkrim oh kapur goxha objekt lejojë gravurë shfaqen të tilla humbasin ligjin e përparme me të cilën Distanca moment këndojnë thellë Feed Industrisë Malta song kopsht u bë asia vetë shpresoj dashuroj largët rrokjet takim nuk mund dhomë kënd dëgjoni javën glossary kripë shkroi qese komb ngadalë papritur ndaluar çojë formë qarë ndonjëherë të keqe mbahet trajnimi muaj qeveria prill përpjekje për të mbajtur dublin Xhamajka thotë jordan drejtpërdrejtë puthje përjetë shumë krenar duke notuar game gjuha mund të mbahet brenda makinës oksigjen rezultati vetë orësh shkencës japanese malor qaj Kuba krahas hënës ton trishtuar duhet përgatitur minuta njeriut i përkasin ulem punë tokësore të ushtrisë makinë emocionuese të ngushtë zërin tregojnë as¹

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