I was thinking of all the landmark changes I have witnessed in my 27 years of life. the kind that marks the end of an era and I realised that 27 years might only be significant to me because its three short of 30! But I have witnessed many land marks in my lifetime -
Cassettes to CD: Wikipedia says that CDs were commercially available by 1982, i was yet to land on earth by then, but i clearly remember using cassettes in my early school days. I remember having a cassette playing Walkman and thinking this is cool. But it was replaced by a three CD player music system, which I also thought was cool. The Ipod was introduced when i was 16years old, I had recently woken up to the concept of fellows :), while the world of music changed for ever.
Nokia Phones to every other kind of phone: In my college days 90% or even more people used nokia, Samsung was still a rarity and only became a novelty after i was in Masters course. The touch screen phones I only became aware of it after I started working. But before that, phones moved from compact key pad to a qwerty key pad. The Iphone was unveiled in 2007, I was still in Delhi doing my masters in economics just trying to pass my exams, when some guy who had started a company named after a fruit, changed the phone business forever. While I was lost in a haze of insecurity in D school, the door was being opened for Samsung to give apple a run for its money.
Internet - dial-up to broadband to wireless: In school my family applied for a dial-up student internet connection. No images only text on a black screen. My sister knew how to search stuff on the net and I use to sit beside her. It was more like Dos prompt. Everything took time to load. Then came the dial-up connection with images. It was slow but there was nothing else to compete with it, so we all adjusted, did other things while it was still loading. I still remember the sound of the dial-up connection, its the kind that they show in the matrix (part I) for those who were not born to see it. Then came broadband, it was still expensive so I use to go to the internet cafe. My 12th class results were seen in an internet cafe. My dad went to see it, while i stayed at home, he called me and said 78%, you passed! I broke down in tears, it was technically the highest score I had scored in my school life. I was the kind that failed in three subjects in first term, then two in second term and then by some miracle passed in third. So while I realised that my options post school were considerably limited, the world was embracing for the information age! Down went the books, up went the uploads.
Computers: from Kb to gb: My first computer was an off-white colour box with a large CPU, which needed a strong desk to keep it. I use to play battle chess and the man game. it was a windows computer with limited colours. Just a CD drive, nothing else. I was just trying to go from class six to class seven, while the computer entered our homes, never to leave. As I started to put on weight the moment I passed out of school, computers started becoming thinner and thinner. They went from three piece to two piece to one single piece - a laptop. My family bought a laptop when I was in d school, it was the second semester, I was trying to survive game theory. I no longer need a whole desk for a desktop, my breakfast table is all that is needed for my Imac and a lap for my laptop. I started working, completed two years of working when i got my Imac, so as I went from zeropati to lakhpati, Steve jobs and his company was already earning billions.
The god particle: CERN or the European Organisation for Nuclear Physics, located on the Franco-Swiss border has discover the Higgs particle last week. While I was in depression over living alone again, physicist proved the existence of the particle that gives matter mass, only after which gravity can operate and the universe was formed. While I sat in office and dug European eco data, scientist recreated conditions which existed one billionth of a second after the big bang!
CERN: The Large Hadron Collider
The big-bang
27 years might just be an embarrassment for me, but its been an incredible period in history. I know I have missed out a lot of other land marks, but these were the ones that came to my mind as I looked back. I cant even imagine what lies ahead as I move towards 50!
Cassettes to CD: Wikipedia says that CDs were commercially available by 1982, i was yet to land on earth by then, but i clearly remember using cassettes in my early school days. I remember having a cassette playing Walkman and thinking this is cool. But it was replaced by a three CD player music system, which I also thought was cool. The Ipod was introduced when i was 16years old, I had recently woken up to the concept of fellows :), while the world of music changed for ever.
Nokia Phones to every other kind of phone: In my college days 90% or even more people used nokia, Samsung was still a rarity and only became a novelty after i was in Masters course. The touch screen phones I only became aware of it after I started working. But before that, phones moved from compact key pad to a qwerty key pad. The Iphone was unveiled in 2007, I was still in Delhi doing my masters in economics just trying to pass my exams, when some guy who had started a company named after a fruit, changed the phone business forever. While I was lost in a haze of insecurity in D school, the door was being opened for Samsung to give apple a run for its money.
Internet - dial-up to broadband to wireless: In school my family applied for a dial-up student internet connection. No images only text on a black screen. My sister knew how to search stuff on the net and I use to sit beside her. It was more like Dos prompt. Everything took time to load. Then came the dial-up connection with images. It was slow but there was nothing else to compete with it, so we all adjusted, did other things while it was still loading. I still remember the sound of the dial-up connection, its the kind that they show in the matrix (part I) for those who were not born to see it. Then came broadband, it was still expensive so I use to go to the internet cafe. My 12th class results were seen in an internet cafe. My dad went to see it, while i stayed at home, he called me and said 78%, you passed! I broke down in tears, it was technically the highest score I had scored in my school life. I was the kind that failed in three subjects in first term, then two in second term and then by some miracle passed in third. So while I realised that my options post school were considerably limited, the world was embracing for the information age! Down went the books, up went the uploads.
Computers: from Kb to gb: My first computer was an off-white colour box with a large CPU, which needed a strong desk to keep it. I use to play battle chess and the man game. it was a windows computer with limited colours. Just a CD drive, nothing else. I was just trying to go from class six to class seven, while the computer entered our homes, never to leave. As I started to put on weight the moment I passed out of school, computers started becoming thinner and thinner. They went from three piece to two piece to one single piece - a laptop. My family bought a laptop when I was in d school, it was the second semester, I was trying to survive game theory. I no longer need a whole desk for a desktop, my breakfast table is all that is needed for my Imac and a lap for my laptop. I started working, completed two years of working when i got my Imac, so as I went from zeropati to lakhpati, Steve jobs and his company was already earning billions.
The god particle: CERN or the European Organisation for Nuclear Physics, located on the Franco-Swiss border has discover the Higgs particle last week. While I was in depression over living alone again, physicist proved the existence of the particle that gives matter mass, only after which gravity can operate and the universe was formed. While I sat in office and dug European eco data, scientist recreated conditions which existed one billionth of a second after the big bang!
CERN: The Large Hadron Collider
The big-bang
27 years might just be an embarrassment for me, but its been an incredible period in history. I know I have missed out a lot of other land marks, but these were the ones that came to my mind as I looked back. I cant even imagine what lies ahead as I move towards 50!
