Back in the late ’80’s folks would explore other peoples computers using dial up. That means, your computer was connected to a phone line, with a phone number, and you could use a modem to call someone else’s computer and explore what they had to share. It was a very new concept to this old gal, and I was intrigued, having only discovered computers at my husbands office, where I was the one to fire up the first in the place, figure out how to use it, and what it could do. There, we were not connecting to anything at all. Just software, and work.
However, the old Washington Post had a story about computer bulletin board systems, and modems, and calling around to other computers to see what they had. They posted a list of about six or so local BBS systems, with the phone numbers, and I recall how excited I was by that! Imagine, what kind of thing could I find on someone else’s computer? That they would be willing to share?
Well, I told my husband, I wanted one of those things, a modem, for Christmas, and wanted it hooked up to my basement computer. Well, it came, and my daughter and I started to call other computers to see what we could discover and learn. An adventure had begun. Such an exciting time!
