A chat with my old foreman about the first time I ran a program from a floppy disk

Ran into my old foreman, Jerry, at the hardware store last week. We got talking about the old shop I started at back in '99. He asked if I remembered the first part I ever ran off a floppy, a simple aluminum bracket. I told him I was sweating bullets waiting for that machine to read the disk. He laughed and said, 'Kid, you had more faith in that piece of plastic than you did in your own two hands.' It hit me how much we used to babysit every single line of code, checking the screen against the paper tape printout. Now I just drag and drop a file from the network and hit cycle start. The trust is totally different. Makes you wonder what the new guys starting today will be nostalgic for in 20 years. What's the oldest piece of tech you still kinda miss using on the floor?

2 comments

2 Comments

eric_murphy361mo ago

Nostalgia for floppy disks is a bit much. It was just a clunky step in the process.

phoenixh741mo ago

They saved my butt when the cloud went down.