As Ali and Kevin have blogged about social networks and “techstalgia,” I sometimes find myself feeling, well, sort of out-of-date.

My first confession - I do remember punch cards. My first statistics class involved the use of punch cards in population samples. Trust me when I tell you that we thought that that was unbelievably cool. I also banged out many a term paper on my Sears electric typewriter, with auto-correct, no less!

My first job, however, introduced me to the world of desktop computing. My first key strokes were on an IBM 360 dumb terminal, and I was enthralled. How cool was it to have all this information right at your fingertips? I do know how to perform a Stand Alone Dump to reset the mainframe.

That thirst for knowledge led me to a role as a trainer when my company introduced the first PC-based hotel front office management system. Those of you who love your laptops will get a kick out of this — I used to fly around the country with an IBM XT packed into three footlocker size cases for system training and demos. The tape drive backup was as big as a shoebox. Sometimes I had to drive more than 300 miles with the equipment in a rented van because airline commuter carriers wouldn’t take such large luggage. I had one of our systems at home, and my friends thought that it was just the best thing. I could play Centipede right in my living room!

Soon, home PCs became common and mandatory in schools as well. My first home PC was an Epson, with a 6GB hard drive. The first thing I did was load Lotus and Word Perfect on it so I could work at home. I cranked out a number of budgets on that antique.

Meanwhile, my children were becoming proficient in the use of the computer. Like so many folks, they can’t remember NOT having a computer in their life.

Shortly, two things occurred that changed the way we use computers. The first was the introduction of Windows software. I was never in my life more frustrated. Me, the master of simple DOS commands, sitting in front of a PC with a mouse! I remember banging the mouse on the desk, holding my breath and turning blue, screaming, “I want my keyboard!” Luckily, I got over it.

Of course, the Internet has changed the way everyone in the world does business. At an early seminar, I remember the NutraSweet folks showing off their Web site. It had cool graphics, lots of games, dietary tips and all kinds of bells and whistles. Their attitude was, “we’ll get the customers to look at our site, so that we have name recognition, but darned if we know how to make money from this thing.” We all knew that the Internet was the wave of the future, but how do you use it to increase profits?

Now, of course, the Internet has changed the way we move data, the way we store data, the way we buy things, listen to music, read the newspaper. The list goes on and on.

In thinking about being a “Tech-A-Saurus,” I had to compare myself to Gen Y’ers. What’s the difference? I have an iPod, three e-mail accounts and rely solely on my desktop at work. For Gen Y’ers, they did their homework on a laptop, have always had a cell phone, and know what BRB and OMG means. I have to think that the biggest difference is availability and speed of change. Gen Y grew up with PCs in the classroom. In fact, 40 years ago this month, Texas Instruments introduced the first pocket calculator to add, subtract, multiply and divide.

PCs and software that sometimes seems limited only by the imagination are second nature to folks born in the last quarter of the 20th century. The speed of change is natural to people who are used to and have always relied on the tools that drive that change. The next new thing is just part of the evolution of their tools, be it You Tube, Facebook or accessing the library catalog from the comfort of home.

My learning and experience with computers have almost exclusively been tied to tools that I have been given through job. Because of the availability and growth of functionality, Gen Y has always had these tools available to them.

As a Tech-A-Saurus, thinking about the speed of change in the last 25 years boggles the mind. I really can’t wait for the next iPod or the next big Internet sensation. Of course, Gen Y will probably know about it first!

-John

Do you ever get nostalgic about your quaint start in the world of technology? Whether you flash back to using punch cards to program a computer the size of a small country or you recall the rush of talking to someone at the low cost of $34 per minute on your “car phone” for the first time (and you can eloquently explain the difference between a “car phone” and a “cell phone), technology’s evolution has certainly been interesting to watch. If you don’t mind, I’d like to take a trip down memory lane to reminisce about “the good ol’ days.”

As a member of Generation Y, I can vaguely recall life before the Internet as it is widely understood today, but to give you a little more perspective, I never used a typewriter for any school papers or projects though I have used a few purely for their “novelty” (ironic, no?). A few of my key events might resonate with you, a few might make you laugh and a few might completely surprise you.

First Computer Interaction

The first computer I remember using was an Apple IIe in “Computer Class” in elementary school. Computer Class was edutainment at its best: Learning Math in Number Munchers, learning Geography in Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? and learning about Dysentery in Oregon Trail.

Class Projects

My first computer-created “project” was a clip-art laden biography of John Adams in 5^th grade. Why was it laden with clip art? (1) Because it was a whole new world of expression, and (2) because it was a lot easier to fill pages with semi-relevant pictures than it was with words. I don’t actually recall the process of making the project, but I ran across the fruit of those labors as I moved back to Texas … A+ and a smiley face, thank you very much.

Card Catalogs

I actually learned to use physical card catalogs in libraries, but I was in one of the last classes to learn how to manually look up books (in my school at least). I used the school library through my first year or two of high school, but I didn’t really find a need for it toward the end of my high school career or at all in college.

The “Internet”

Somewhere around the end of elementary school, we got a modem and an AOL account. I didn’t know what the World Wide Web was, but I knew that email, instant messaging and the AOL keyword pages were amazing. I didn’t really consider the Internet an information resource at the time, but I do remember the go-to site I used to find something: www.webcrawler.com. It certainly didn’t own the market like Google does now, but it had my market share for quite a while.

Excessively Connected

Enter 7^th grade. And the pager. Why did I need a need a pager when I wasn’t old enough drive anywhere and never actually had change to call from a pay phone if someone actually paged me? I don’t know … I just did. It was a huge ordeal to “deserve” a pager, but once I convinced my parents that I was not actually a drug dealer and that a pager could be helpful to them, I was “connected.”

The Music Landscape

Some might reminisce about the fall of eight-tracks or 45’s, but I can only look back at the way CDs and digital music changed the music landscape. “Record” stores began the slow transitions from cassette tapes to CDs to “Going out of business” signs around this time, though the “Going out of business” signs didn’t seem to crop up for a few years while the digital music revolution was forming. I won my first MP3 player in an 8^th grade class raffle: an iRiver something-or-other with a whopping 32MB of memory, but since then, I’ve had four different MP3 players … all iPods.

More Excessively Connected

In 8^th grade, I also got a cell phone. I had no real need for a cell phone at the time, but I knew that I had to have one. As I reached driving age, it made a little more sense, but for about a year, it was an egregious status symbol. Cell phones are one area of technology where I find myself especially cynical … “Are you serious? Your 9-year-old needs his/her own cell phone?” … But I would have been that 9-year-old if cell phones were as readily available as they are now, so I can’t really blame those parents.

My Computer

Under the guise of needing a computer to do my homework, I was given my own desktop computer. We were one of the first houses in the neighborhood to get cable Internet, so needless to say, I was cool … in the nerdiest sense of the word. At this point, Windows ME was “new,” so I got to experience the rush of restarting a locked-up systems and reading a lot of error messages in white text on blue backgrounds. My primary mode of internet communication evolved from predominantly IM and chat conversations to predominantly AOL email. Around this time, CD writers became available, so it wasn’t long before everyone started “ripping” and “burning” CDs (both words being used with brand new vernacular definitions).

Silicon Valley-ized

I went to college in the heart of Silicon Valley, so any remnant technological naivety was quickly alleviated. By graduation, I regularly used six different email addresses (none of which involved America Online), four computers, two cell phones, a PDA, and a VOIP phone. I built my desktop computers component-by-component, took notes on my laptop in class (and scoffed at the “pen and paper” folks), worked for two different Web-based tech companies, and plugged into the social side of the Internet as it was emerging … to this day, I will still type “thefacebook.com” to access my Facebook account since I joined before their purchase of “facebook.com,” and the old URL makes me feel original.

Now some people may read those tech highlights and think they are completely commonplace while others will be floored at how all of these new-fangled technologies are corrupting the good ol’ fashioned hard work mentality. And I’m not even in the “Internet Generation.” I’d be really interested to hear how this level of technological-involvement compares to that of an older … err, more experienced person.

-Kevin

Before I started writing this blog post, I re-read the previous entries. Just for the record, I work with a bunch of geeks. But that’s ok, because I’m a geek myself.

I’ve invested 32 percent of my life at The Planet. Nine out of my 28 years for those who prefer hard numbers.

Having been at The Planet since day one, I often refer to myself as The Planet’s official historian. I’ve been here to experience the great success and witnessed our tremendous progress.

Back in 1998, we were seven employees strong trying to figure out a business plan and method of execution from within the confines of our 1,500 square foot office. At the time we were known as NT Access. Microsoft later gave us a gentle nudge to show their disapproval of our NT reference. Apparently they didn’t believe our story that NT referred to North Texas at an all Windows (at the time) hosting facility in Dallas.

So we became Sector 12, a reference to Toy Story, since Buzz Lightyear’s destination was Sector 12.

We kept a Buzz Lightyear action figure at the front desk as a conversation piece. Nine years later, I guess it’s still effective if I’m bringing it up. I have always liked the Sector 12 logo. Here’s a sneak peak. I’d venture to guess that only 10 of the current 500 employees have ever seen or even remember this logo.

When we first started out, I’ll be the first to admit that we didn’t have formal policies and rules in place. In fact, I still remember when we had to tell employees, “Don’t break rule #1.” I guess it didn’t matter that rule #2 and beyond didn’t exist at the time.

Thinking back through the years, it’s amazing how far the dedicated server hosting industry has come. In writing this entry, I looked in my archives for a copy of our original business plan from 1998. The biggest bandwidth option at the time was 2,500 GB/month at a rate of $12,995. The same option goes for $175 now. Just for the record, that’s 1.3% of our asking price. Wow. It’ll be interesting to see where things go from here.

In re-reading this entry, I realize it’s unfair for me to call myself The Planet’s historian. I only know half of the story. Because of our merger with EV1Servers last year, we can’t ignore the rich history of my fellow colleagues. I’ve relocated to Houston since the merger, so it sounds like I need to go in search of a fellow geek/storyteller to fill me in on the rest of the story.

-Thanh