RememberingThatThingsWereOnceNew

Having a young daughter who doesn't understand the concept of a life without instantly rewindable media, or that there was ever a time when there wasn't an internet, reminds me that most of what we take for granted was once new, and that some things that are now commonplace will fade away.

survives on, but try finding someone under 30 who knows that the yellow ring in the upper-right of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Write_protect_ring is.

Remembering that things in my world have a finite lifespan is a challenge when I'm writing. If I'm not careful, my younger readers will react with "huh?" to some example that involves vinyl records. And future readers might react with puzzlement if my examples involves technical specifics like IDE drives. ("Don't you remember? Storage used to have moving parts.")

--DaveSmith 2006.07.15

If you wait long enough, you can present these things a new history. People seem to be interested in hearing that once there was no FORTRAN, and that Bill Gates did not produce (or buy) the world's first operating system. Heck, not only can I remember when there was no color television, but I can remember when there was no television, and no color movies. I cannot, however, remember when there were no movies, but my father used to tell me that his ambition as a child was to grow up and be the piano player at the silent movies. - JerryWeinberg 2006.07.26

Updated: Wednesday, July 26, 2006