Relive Buying A Computer In 1995 In Silicon Valley. What A Time It Was!

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  • Опубликовано: 5 ноя 2024

Комментарии • 867

  • @DavidHoffmanFilmmaker
    @DavidHoffmanFilmmaker  Год назад +36

    Here is another video with other amazing stuff to see shot the same time in a different store - ruclips.net/video/QHgBSpKV51g/видео.html

    • @oscarosullivan4513
      @oscarosullivan4513 Год назад +1

      Your man the Salesman got children and technology right.
      My grandfather remembers when computers were first introduced to the council he was town/county manager of in Ireland.

    • @TheTanelChannel
      @TheTanelChannel Год назад

      Thank you for your great content :) 95 was the time I first saw computers, a few years later I got my very own Mac Performa 5200 :D I hated it because all my friends who had games was on PC.. that was the day I understood the difference between a MAC and a PC lol, oh well, still loved my Mac!

    • @alphazero6571
      @alphazero6571 Год назад +1

      oh the old times . i got my first computer from my dad, intel x286 around this time when i was 9 and when the internet was born and everything was new and mystic.. those were the times man 😮‍💨

  • @goeyguts
    @goeyguts Год назад +597

    Omfg that dudes face when he learned that he could save movies for later was just awesome

    • @casey_works8279
      @casey_works8279 Год назад +23

      Hahah I think he says 'you're f**kin' with me'

    • @jamespelgam4199
      @jamespelgam4199 Год назад +62

      He later went on to found the Pirate Bay

    • @DarrylTalks
      @DarrylTalks Год назад +39

      I had a video capture card in my PC in 1994, It could record a minute of 330x200 pixel video, and it took several megabytes to save it. My hard drive was 850MB. 20 minutes of video would full it up, then you had to compress, each one minute of video took several minutes. I could plug in a VHS camera or tape recorder. The capture card cost $400 and the computer had a Pentium 60MHz, the first Pentium, 4MB of ram probably a $2000 computer all up.

    • @goeyguts
      @goeyguts Год назад +8

      @@DarrylTalks amazing how far we have come

    • @smallestcat
      @smallestcat Год назад +7

      @@DarrylTalks I don't even want to think about what my parents paid for my computers growing up.

  • @BOBFudge
    @BOBFudge Год назад +117

    Crazy thing is, it's been almost 30 years and still there conversations like this taking place in a best buy somewhere. Some random customer knowing nothing about computers, some kid telling them which one is a better value, and the customer blown away how much it costs.

    • @Janchek1992
      @Janchek1992 Год назад +5

      Haha 😂 history repeats itself

    • @iceswallow7717
      @iceswallow7717 Год назад +2

      i hate it when the price is 1999 and the dude rounds it to 1900. Like really dude?

    • @DJWhylafihya
      @DJWhylafihya Год назад +3

      @@iceswallow7717 nobody does that.

    • @iceswallow7717
      @iceswallow7717 Год назад

      @@DJWhylafihya the guy in the vid literally did

    • @stevejelly3161
      @stevejelly3161 Год назад

      BOB Fudge.... i agree with you 100% !!!
      .
      I accept the adaptations have been fantastic in such things as medicine !!!
      .
      But for all the manual work i did for free for "IT" customers .... every one was a "con merchant"
      .
      THANKS FOR READING

  • @redakdal
    @redakdal Год назад +236

    I wanna give props to the people working there, they were really good at talking with the customers, thats the kind of people you for sure want working for you

    • @rexbanner1560
      @rexbanner1560 Год назад +4

      yeah they really were

    • @mawthome
      @mawthome Год назад +20

      Probably because they were better paid back then.

    • @ChangeOfHearts39
      @ChangeOfHearts39 Год назад +5

      ​@@mawthome probably because this new tech was being rolled out, its a dream to work at such a place with the latest tech, has nothing to do with pay if your passionate, find that job brother

    • @mawthome
      @mawthome Год назад

      @@ChangeOfHearts39 did tech stopped being released?! Absolutely not. Now check out how much they earned back then and what they earn right now.
      Also, someone could have a dream job, but if they don’t earn enough to even pay rent, they’ll be f*cked up in the head.

    • @andrewtyacke1395
      @andrewtyacke1395 Год назад +2

      I was in dick smith drooling over the computers listening to the salesman completely misinforming a customer so he could make a sale. It was lucky I set the customer right or he would have been super pissed off when he got home a found out it would not work.

  • @kaleidoset2569
    @kaleidoset2569 Год назад +292

    I was the class of 1995. I still remember a very small handful of my classmates sitting in the computer lab spending all this time getting on the Internet. That was pretty much the very beginning of everything and wow, do I wish I would have gotten more involved at that time!

    • @kaleidoset2569
      @kaleidoset2569 Год назад +2

      @@ErikThomasMusic yep!😂

    • @collegeman1988
      @collegeman1988 Год назад +14

      What’s funny is only until about 1995, only a select group of kids and adults used computers. The rest of the school population were unaware of them or just didn’t have the need to use them. I graduated from high school in 1987, and I still have a dozen or so 5 1/4 inch floppy disks with files and software I used for my school’s Apple IIe computers.

    • @kaleidoset2569
      @kaleidoset2569 Год назад +16

      @@collegeman1988 yeah, for most of us it was some basic typing and the Oregon Trail😂

    • @collegeman1988
      @collegeman1988 Год назад +6

      @@kaleidoset2569 I’ve heard a lot about the Oregon Trail, but that was AFTER my time in high school. However, we had similar games on the computers we weren’t supposed to be playing, but we did so anyway.

    • @bufordman1976
      @bufordman1976 Год назад +5

      Class of 95 as well. We used mac from 8th grade onward, so 91+

  • @WhyZ_Guy
    @WhyZ_Guy Год назад +86

    I got into computers/IT in 1988, retired in 2019. What a long strange trip it has been.

    • @STSGuitar16
      @STSGuitar16 Год назад +6

      lately it occurs to me how time really flies. I bet you were just feeling like you were truckin' through those years, am I right?

    • @coolspot18
      @coolspot18 Год назад +2

      I was exposed to an IBM XT in the early 80s ... still in high tech - 20+ more years before retirement 😭

    • @vine00
      @vine00 Год назад +1

      it's interesting because i was born in the year 2000, yet i focus specifically on AT/XT era computers. don't know why but i love the simplicity of them. they were made to be worked on.
      i did grow up on win 9x and dialup; i own a bunch of computers from that era, but i look specifically for pre i586 era stuff. almost got a zenith XT WITH the dot matrix printer and amber text CRT last year, kicking myself for not just biting the bullet and spending the cash 🤬
      would love to hear your stories as a perspective of someone who worked on them since essentially the start!

    • @monty4336
      @monty4336 Год назад

      In 1987, a friend showed me this video game on his mac. It was slow, lots of typing and waiting. Changing floppy discs. For me, boring. He was becoming a nerd about it, I had no interest. Fast forward to 1997, another friend had a a PC, he had a star trek disc video game and it was way better and faster (compared to the latter) and it was at that moment that I realized.....I was gonna have to learn how to use a home computer. 😄

    • @xgtwb6473
      @xgtwb6473 Год назад

      Also "photorealistic FPS game" that's wild also

  • @snrdos
    @snrdos Год назад +128

    Flashbacks to working in hardware sales at CompUSA in the late-90s. I had all of these conversations at least 1000 times, and you could see how frustrating it could be to people to have to make 30 different decisions about an expensive purchase that they knew nothing about.

    • @Chief-0929
      @Chief-0929 Год назад +7

      Nothing was better than CompUSA

    • @michaelcharach
      @michaelcharach Год назад +5

      Same here. I remember when RAmmemory sold for $50.00/mb and everyone wanted to upgrade their 386s to 486 to run windows 95😅. There were like a million items to sell, now everything you need is on your phone or laptop

    • @strangus
      @strangus Год назад

      @@Chief-0929 Micro Center

    • @TRD_Mike
      @TRD_Mike Год назад +2

      I loved going to CompUSA as a kid. I remember going there to buy PC games, and the shelves would have these massive boxes for the game, and I remember being disappointed when I got home and all that was inside was a CD. Still a great experience and I miss those days.

    • @noahDnewport
      @noahDnewport Год назад +1

      God I loved CompUSA. I remember going during the late 90s. and looking through all the PC games. They had Unreal Tournament demos running on the computers on display. I vividly remember seeing the Jurassic Park Trespasser cover art with the Velociraptor jumping out. I thought it looked awesome and wanted that game so bad but couldn’t get it. Glad I didn’t because that game is terrible. I still went ro CompUSA to buy Bawls soda until it closed. RIP.

  • @RavenNl403
    @RavenNl403 Год назад +82

    I remember my parents buying a computer in the '90's but, I didn't go so this must have been what they went through. Thank you David❤

  • @AdvanceAU
    @AdvanceAU Год назад +39

    Such an interesting spectacle of the 90s. Thank you for uploading this.
    Really puts technological progress into perspective.

  • @bw5530
    @bw5530 Год назад +62

    It would be fun to hop in a time machine, Interrupt the men by showing a smartphone 🤯🤯😂

    • @Nice-sm5hr
      @Nice-sm5hr Год назад +6

      That would’ve made their heads explode.

    • @0dznutz
      @0dznutz Год назад

      ​@@Nice-sm5hr 😂😂😂

    • @Validboy
      @Validboy Год назад

      They just wouldnt believe you.. At the time you had a machine for every job..
      - Calls were done over a large square box with a banana shaped device attached we called the telephone..
      - Texts were done over a fax machine.. Dont get me started on this device..
      - Internet was done with books and dictionaries in every home.. Libraries were packed..
      - Time, everyone wore watches..
      - Recordings of voice or video was done on devices designed for that specifically.. A Dictaphone or videocamera..
      - Games, we used to play boardgames and cards all the time..
      - Music was done by listening to radio or homemade recordings on cassett tapes..
      - TV channels were the only source of TV, we had about 8 channels that stopped broadcasting at night.. You could record manually on VHS tapes on another device..
      If you showed them a smartphone, they would probably think you were scamming them or making fun of them and turn quite hostile.. Check out how confusing 1 device is to kids today and think about how insanely difficult 1 device with 64 functions would be.. ruclips.net/video/oHNEzndgiFI/видео.html

  • @brethilton
    @brethilton Год назад +1

    Thanks! would love to see more of this content. i was stationed at Moffett Field in the 90s and this brings back some great memories. more, more! 😄

  • @bulgingbattery2050
    @bulgingbattery2050 Год назад +31

    I know the feeling!
    I was a kid when my parents got my a gaming computer in 1990s.

  • @AxiomApe
    @AxiomApe Год назад +40

    I must be messed up in the head. This made me burst into tears. I miss the 90s so much. Life has become much different in both good and bad ways. I miss being a kid.

    • @Anurania
      @Anurania Год назад +7

      The thing that disappoints me is that it was just a moment in history, something that was never seen before and will never be seen again. You can go to other countries where certain things are much more primitive and decades behind but you can't experience the past there. Human culture marches forward in lockstep.

    • @AxiomApe
      @AxiomApe Год назад +2

      @@Anurania Very true and well said. A very profound and aware thought.

    • @Optim40
      @Optim40 Год назад +5

      Come on man get a hold of yourself ..loll

    • @fishface6247
      @fishface6247 Год назад +4

      Agree. I miss the simple days. Now 128GB of ram just doesn't make me as happy as when I had 1GB of ram. Man those were the days.

    • @AxiomApe
      @AxiomApe Год назад +4

      @@Optim40 Im alright man 😆 thanks dude. I was just caught off guard at a rough time and the vid reminded me of simpler time. 👍

  • @matthewfarmer2520
    @matthewfarmer2520 Год назад +7

    I graduated highschool that year in 1995. My older brother had the Internet and his first computer his first apartment that was duplex old house. Thanks for sharing David Hoffman film maker. Awesome 😎👍🎞️🎥☺️

  • @DemonKingOFFICIAL
    @DemonKingOFFICIAL Год назад +21

    Man those old ladies seemed like they knew their stuff haha. Definitely more so than any of my grandparents, who would have been around the same age.

    • @drlca6601
      @drlca6601 Год назад +1

      the novelty aspect had them so invested, and I respect that. Now whether they could actually work the damn things was another story entirely. I find you really have to be younger to embrace new mediums, but there're always exceptions to the rule, IE Skyrim Granny.

    • @squintspalladorous9119
      @squintspalladorous9119 Год назад +1

      When she said more user friendly I died. I also love seeing how Apple has just been ripping people off the whole time. Its nothing new but people still back it. Crazy, just an opinion about the company not attacking users ..so settle down apple gang.

  • @miltonpessa4930
    @miltonpessa4930 Год назад +16

    I first got my first computer in 1995 at the age of 13. It was a 486 and it took me to a whole new world back then. Today I'm an IT professional, and it's crazy to see how far we went, with AI taking the world by storm. Great video!

    • @trueneutral3092
      @trueneutral3092 Год назад

      same here. i had used Windows 3.1 on a friends PC before in short spurts, but seeing everything that could be on Prodigy back then was everything I needed to know that I was eventually going to not only get a PC, but find my way online, as well. My parents wouldn't let me do the latter, but I got my PC (Windows 95) and was greeted by Weezer and the Buddy Holly video. Never made it onto the MSN Network trial. Somehow, someway I managed to sneak my way into the AOL scene though ;)

    • @GodofStories
      @GodofStories Год назад +1

      man you still look 13 haha , as a compliment

  • @D9Beats
    @D9Beats Год назад +9

    I love those old electronics stores. What an experience

  • @waydel4
    @waydel4 Год назад +52

    In 1986 our office manager paid $6,000 for a state of the art IBM computer with a 20 MG hard drive and two floppy disk drives. This came with a laser printer, that worked every other day, a scanner, it worked once and something else. He then bought a DOS program for figuring insurance premiums.

    • @simpdefendmlady6579
      @simpdefendmlady6579 Год назад +2

      Could it run video games?

    • @waydel4
      @waydel4 Год назад +7

      @@simpdefendmlady6579 Yes, I had a number of games, wish I still had them. Pac man and pong were the first games.

    • @coolmonkey5269
      @coolmonkey5269 Год назад

      dave 😂

    • @fungo6631
      @fungo6631 Год назад +2

      Your office manager was ripped off very, VERY badly.

    • @waydel4
      @waydel4 Год назад +2

      @@fungo6631 Computers were expensive then. An Apple business computer was even more.

  • @staciethomas2689
    @staciethomas2689 Год назад +64

    My grandma bought me a gateway computer in 1998. I think she paid almost $2000. I was in my early 20s with young son. He played alot of games on there. Good memories 😊

    • @RussellD11
      @RussellD11 Год назад +3

      DOOM LMAO... Remember

    • @vasiovasio
      @vasiovasio Год назад +3

      Definitely Good times! Calculate the inflation and the sum is close to $4k today! How she has the money back then for this living Standard and how, how horrible is today are Questions that I plan to ask God if sh!t like this even exist, after my death! 😂

    • @cIeetz
      @cIeetz Год назад

      the pinball game was huge that came preinstalled on the old Compaqs . Playing Quake was amazing, then when You could finally start playing games like Runescape , Starcraft, Diablo, Counter strike online with other people. So revolutionary. So beautiful... what memories.

    • @lanthanumlanthanium6373
      @lanthanumlanthanium6373 Год назад

      @@RussellD11 No way, Half Life was where it was at.

    • @ToniTruthArt
      @ToniTruthArt Год назад

      Better things come to those who wait.

  • @MomentsInTrading
    @MomentsInTrading Год назад +34

    I went to computer tech school in 1991. I remember how everything was a separate cost then- You had to buy windows separate, word, a cd drive, an email program, an internet browser- all separate costs.
    I paid over $500 for my first cd drive and sound card.

    • @learnbytrying
      @learnbytrying Год назад +5

      And now you're forced to pay subscriptions for most software

    • @armeddeafboi7276
      @armeddeafboi7276 Год назад +1

      Yeah at least when you bought something you actually owned it

    • @jamespelgam4199
      @jamespelgam4199 Год назад +2

      @@learnbytrying you mean you can't just pirate Photoshop anymore?

    • @arthurwintersight7868
      @arthurwintersight7868 Год назад

      @@jamespelgam4199 - The GNU Image Manipulation Program is free and open source. You can modify it, copy it, give it to your friends, and the only requirement is that if you give it to anyone you've gotta be willing to share the modifications you made to the source code.

    • @ADarnSmore
      @ADarnSmore Год назад

      you had to buy a browser???

  • @fratercontenduntocculta8161
    @fratercontenduntocculta8161 Год назад +7

    I'm so happy I got to live through this era and witness the technology explode into what we now call the internet. Thanks David!

    • @alphazero6571
      @alphazero6571 Год назад

      couldnt agree more. most important inventions in order is probably fire,semiconductors and internet

    • @cesar_onada
      @cesar_onada Год назад

      @@alphazero6571 You're missing quite a few: Gutemberg's printing press, electric light, automobile, telephone, radio, television, vaccination, agricultural mechanization, anesthesia...

  • @MyLifeThai371
    @MyLifeThai371 Год назад +1

    My Mom and most of the people I know bought their first computer in 1998. Mom paid $2500 for her Windows 98 computer. That was a lot of money back then, but boy was it fun playing PC games on it.

  • @Karim-ik5ij
    @Karim-ik5ij Год назад +1

    What a great time to live in. People actually touched grass and spoke with each other

  • @derekdauzat
    @derekdauzat Год назад +1

    when i was like 5 years old i wanted a IBM Thinkpad for my birthday.. i got a abc vtech 😢 im still devastated till this day.

  • @JWF99
    @JWF99 Год назад +6

    I saved up and bought a new pc that same year around Christmas time, of course my wife handled all of it, but I do remember it being around $2000. I also recall seeing "Windows 95" paraphernalia, we always kept the pc in our living room (right next to our tv) so we could monitor exactly what the kids were doing on it, I regularly watched them playing on it in total amazement, but I sure as heck never had a clue of how to even turn it on back in those days, I was probably looking for a pull rope to fire it up! Lol😆😂 The wife & kids loved it though we still had to upgrade every few years, and eventually we would have to go buy another new one!😭 we've all come a long ways since then, but (Imho) the technology unfolding back then was just as exciting as it is today! This outtake video is great David (warts & all) Thank you, it sure brings back some very fond memories! ✌

  • @AnonMemSoc
    @AnonMemSoc Год назад +1

    Thanks Dave for this gem

  • @Stacie-XO
    @Stacie-XO Год назад +32

    Who remembers dial up 😂 pick up the phone to use it and it be crackling 😅

    • @matthewfarmer2520
      @matthewfarmer2520 Год назад +1

      I do lol 😊

    • @yellowblanka6058
      @yellowblanka6058 Год назад +2

      Yeah, I remember the squeal of our US Robotics 56K modem all too well, and having to spend the better part of an evening to download a single SNES etc. ROM when emulation was in its nascent stages.

    • @BRExteriorPro
      @BRExteriorPro Год назад +1

      Sure do! Lol you get the damn AOL trial cd in mail also

    • @yellowblanka6058
      @yellowblanka6058 Год назад +1

      @@BRExteriorPro Oh yeah, people of a certain age remember those CDs, I'm just old enough to remember when they sent out floppy disks.

    • @Jerombeze
      @Jerombeze Год назад +1

      Yup and I also remember it taking me an entire evening to download 8 songs to burn onto a CD. Circa 1997. If my mom picked up the phone to call someone I was so upset.

  • @Mattribute
    @Mattribute Год назад +1

    That last salesman was excellent!

  • @theghostofmaximumvolume3414
    @theghostofmaximumvolume3414 Год назад +4

    This video just gave me some sad nostalgic memories. My brother-in-law worked at this company back in 1995, he was a manager at Incredible Universe. I recognized the uniform he used to wear, and now that he has passed, I can see some of our family's history on record here.

  • @ct6852
    @ct6852 Год назад +1

    Windows 95 felt like the biggest game changer ever in tech.

  • @ladyofthecentury
    @ladyofthecentury Год назад +87

    I bought my 1st computer in 1997 in Los Angeles for $1300. I had a custom build, IBM compatible clone. I couldn't wait to pick it up and had to wait 72 hours to pick it up because they had to do a 72 hour burn it test. It was a very fast and powerful computer for that time. I was so exited. I choose to get a computer over a car and it was the best decision ever.

    • @chasehubner
      @chasehubner Год назад +12

      Forward thinking investment, there

    • @ladyofthecentury
      @ladyofthecentury Год назад +31

      @@chasehubner it really was. With a computer I was able to use the built-in tutorials for Microsoft Word, excel and the rest of the Microsoft suite and self teach myself, which allowed me to get higher paying jobs that I would’ve never been qualified for because I had no way of getting those skills for free.
      I started selling on eBay shortly after because of my computer. It was the best choice I ever made. I learned to make money online with my first computer in the 90s because I had access to the Internet and more information at the tip of my fingers!

    • @Prometheushighaf
      @Prometheushighaf Год назад +3

      ​@@ladyofthecentury what's a burn test?

    • @nothinghere615
      @nothinghere615 Год назад +8

      ​@@Prometheushighaf aka stress test. It's like running a car engine hard, checking for imperfections.

    • @CheaddakerT.Snodgrass
      @CheaddakerT.Snodgrass Год назад +4

      Similar experience. I remember the burn in. Then the second computer I got I wanted to build it myself. It was soon clear that the computer shop sold me garbage and claimed I messed it up.

  • @nelsonartemio4218
    @nelsonartemio4218 Год назад +28

    Wow, I remember thinking of all these things. I was 10 at the time and felt very knowledgeable compared to my parents. We eventually bought an IBM via People's PC after our first one. We got Net Zero internet and we went through a few free AOL CDs. The computer had Windows ME. An upgrade from our Win95 (in theory). Lol. "Comes with a keyboard and mouse!"

    • @zl5464
      @zl5464 Год назад +3

      Those trial AOL disks kept me in free internet for years lol.

    • @travtotheworld
      @travtotheworld Год назад +6

      You know that guy thought he was getting nickel and dimed by having to buy the peripherals.

    • @jamespelgam4199
      @jamespelgam4199 Год назад +3

      @@travtotheworld he was onto Apple nickel and diming before anyone else! 🤣

    • @williamsmiler184
      @williamsmiler184 Год назад

      Net Zero means something entirely different nowadays though 😢

    • @PraveenSrJ01
      @PraveenSrJ01 Год назад

      I was 11 going on 12 years old in the year 1995

  • @VexylObby
    @VexylObby Год назад +5

    It’s wild to think that I am still young, witnessed this stuff, and am now talking about it on a touchscreen in one of my hands. Technology…

  • @EEZYEEEE
    @EEZYEEEE Год назад +4

    “In twenty years you’ll be able to look at naked girls for free!”

  • @LaurenOliviArt
    @LaurenOliviArt Год назад +3

    I love the sales guy !!

  • @bigtorrisi
    @bigtorrisi Год назад +2

    The beginning of the end.

  • @dizzynixx3033
    @dizzynixx3033 Год назад +1

    I can’t get enough of you and your videos David! Keep ‘em coming!

    • @DavidHoffmanFilmmaker
      @DavidHoffmanFilmmaker  Год назад

      Dizzy: Thank you for your comment. If your resources allow, I would sure appreciate your using the THANKS button under any of my videos including the one you have commented on. It is something new that RUclips is beta testing and would mean a great deal for my continuing efforts.
      David Hoffman filmmaker

  • @nodadchad
    @nodadchad Год назад

    This is beautifully shot and edited. Thank you for sharing.

  • @zekeiyf2003
    @zekeiyf2003 Год назад +5

    Oh God the memories!

  • @cherylcallahan5402
    @cherylcallahan5402 Год назад +2

    David Hoffman 1995 buying Cnomputer complicated purchase Blessings for everyone ♥ Thank you David

  • @whurdoondees
    @whurdoondees Год назад +2

    What a piece of history. The 90's camera work is too funny also, zooming in on the guys hat and random pans

  • @robertviragh6527
    @robertviragh6527 Год назад +3

    Great video! I was struck by the prices, additional peripherals, and the surprising comment about compatibility:
    1) Prices. At first, I thought, "it's amazing to think about how much prices have come down!" Sometimes I end up pinching myself and saying "wake up Robert! Stop living in a world where stuff costs money. Computers, like houses and cars, are cheap and ubiquitous now, you don't need to save up or work hard if you want one" Then I quickly check to see if we're down to $6 houses, Teslas - or computers - yet, but, somehow, every time I check the prices it seems that $6 just doesn't buy much more than a postcard of one that I could send to dad to show him I've made it (if he were still alive).
    2) Additional peripherals. No comments on this but it was an interesting point. I keep thinking about buying a proper brother laser printer, I know from reviews that it would last the rest of my life but then I keep thinking "Well okay but am I really running a print shop here?" Then I realize that I don't really need to create that much paper waste, if it's really important it'll be in an email somewhere.
    3) Compatibility. Regarding the point at the end about compatibility and different technologies working together, I guess those people didn't imagine that here I am watching RUclips videos at 3:16 a.m. from any device any browser anywhere in the world. The web brings a level of compatibility and devices working together that was never dreamed of in those days. I feel guilty when I spend the last four hours playing video games. It makes me wish we had anything better to do with all the power of connections and compatibility that we do have than spend it on mindless games.
    Speaking of compatibility, in the video it alludes to productivity suites running on Microsoft. Whatever happened to Bill Gates' vision of "business at the speed of thought" published around that time?

  • @Barrymccockiner41
    @Barrymccockiner41 Год назад +1

    I love how he zooms in on his hat for no reason.

    • @DavidHoffmanFilmmaker
      @DavidHoffmanFilmmaker  Год назад +1

      Not no reason Mr. Wonderful. This clip includes the outtakes where you can see the cameraman zooming into focus. That was a real problem back then and usually the editor (me) would cut those movements out immediately. But I left them in to give viewers the feeling even if the camera work was mediocre at that moment.
      David Hoffman filmmaker

  • @madashell7224
    @madashell7224 Год назад +1

    I remember this clip!! Amazing how expensive PC set up was back then.

  • @RearviewMirror-ij2pr
    @RearviewMirror-ij2pr Год назад

    This was cutting edge technology then! Thanks for sharing this David.

  • @jaex9617
    @jaex9617 Год назад +23

    As a veteran tech person, I still cringe when I see a simple shopping app that somehow takes up almost 300 MB, even without app data or cache. People barely program today. I know I sound like a fossil, but it's become completely ridiculous.

    • @yellowblanka6058
      @yellowblanka6058 Год назад +5

      The problem is that there are so many more software layers you have to go through to do something simple like display a window with text on the screen, so developers end up including a lot of necessary extra function libraries etc. that bloats the size of apps.

    • @rustynails68
      @rustynails68 Год назад +2

      Explorer 4.0 was like 40M and took all night to download over the modem. There is no effort for efficiency today.

    • @Hellefleur
      @Hellefleur Год назад +2

      *Looks at modern RGB control software on Windows*

    • @yellowblanka6058
      @yellowblanka6058 Год назад +2

      @@rustynails68 To be fair...compare the functions/features/plug-ins supported by a modern browser versus IE 4.0 - the web was/your average website were comparatively much simpler/less sophisticated back then.

    • @amentco8445
      @amentco8445 Год назад +5

      @@yellowblanka6058 And in many ways it was far better for it.

  • @askjdog
    @askjdog Год назад +3

    In 1995 we used Silicon Graphics workstations for high level engineering tasks, such as radio frequency planning and GIS. Also lots of excel, visual basic and DOS scripts on PCs for in-field data collection and analysis. I started out maybe 11yrs old typing up code from computer mags, then using a modem pre-internet to connect to servers who's number were published in computer and hacker magazines. Around 1990/91 was on the internet and coding in the computer science lab, and one of the first things I remember finding was a website about the moon landing conspiracies and UFO's 😂. Chatted with random people across the world at other universities in computer science labs, don't remember how. One guy told me about how he was using lots of Matlab.

  • @knelson3484
    @knelson3484 Год назад +1

    👋😁👍Thank you David! ❤

  • @ronaldmcdonald3965
    @ronaldmcdonald3965 Год назад +33

    That was the Frye's on Portage Drive in Palo Alto. Unfortunately, the entire Frye's chain went bankrupt a few years ago. It was kind of sad to see them go. The shelves got progressively emptier, as they could not longer afford to stock the huge inventories and selection that you see in your video. Frye's used to be where families took their kids on weekends. A wild selection of computer games but they added a bunch of fun non-computer products. (Fryes was originally a grocery chain, and they applied their merchandising skill to this new Category - The Computer Store!. ) in the late 70s and early 80s. They had festive themes for their stores. The original first generation small store on Lawrence/Arques was a Western Theme. The Frye's building on Arques is now just a big building (3rd generation store) with a huge parking lot, overgrown with weeds surrounded by a chain link fence. I now go to Central Computers....much smaller stores with vastly smaller selection but reminds me of the early days of the original small Frye's store. But enough parts so you can still build your own from components, but not much stuff for building circuit boards. My office used to be across the street from General Magic.

    • @Sashazur
      @Sashazur Год назад +1

      Not all Fry’s were themed, such as the one south or Portland Ore. It was a fun place to go but shopping there could be a pain; there were often returned items on the shelves, some items could be found in multiple areas of the store (e.g. generic HDMI cables vs gold plated overpriced ones in two different departments), and if you wanted to return something, it meant lining up for half an hour and being treated like a suspected criminal! They were definitely killed off slowly by e-commerce and that was inevitable, but they didn’t seem to try too hard to improve customer service to try to compete.

    • @ronaldmcdonald3965
      @ronaldmcdonald3965 Год назад

      @@SashazurHa Ha.Yeah, those customer service lines were a real pain and kinda weird.

    • @bluerainbug
      @bluerainbug Год назад +1

      I used to work at the Frys branch in San Diego back in 2014. It already seemed like it was a sinking ship
      and everyone was in denial. Lack of items, empty shelves, grocery items instead of electronics, better choices at bestbuy,
      ultimately covid sealed the coffin. Good times though.

    • @JakeRoot
      @JakeRoot Год назад +4

      At that time, it was actually Incredible Universe. I think it wasn’t until the late 1990s that Fry’s bought a bunch of them after Incredible Universe went bankrupt.

    • @m8x425
      @m8x425 Год назад +2

      Fry's, not Frye's..... The chain was toast by 2019 which was apparent b/c they had nothing in stock. Word has it they weren't paying back their suppliers so they got cut off. Then they tried a consignment model but the vendors wanted nothing to do with that because the store wouldn't take liability over stolen or damaged items. Most people try to say Fry's was done in by online shopping.... but if that's true then why's Microcenter thriving?
      As a long time shopper of Fry's, the slow decline began somewhere around 2009. Not long after that bargain motherboard/CPU combo scandal was exposed. Every time I was there I would hit up the Graphics card and motherboard sections, and stock wasn't always consistent. Fry's would somehow manage to put their best foot forward during the holidays though.
      The Fry's stores that were built after the year 2002 did not have a theme. What the store did was post large pictures of the local area from around 100 years ago and called that a theme.

  • @emzudemde8283
    @emzudemde8283 Год назад

    The high quality of this video makes everything so surreal

  • @DemolitionRepublic
    @DemolitionRepublic Год назад

    Good old days! Those pixelated movies looked a million times better than today's 4k content.

  • @towerofresonance4877
    @towerofresonance4877 Год назад +4

    Freddie Mercury and Archie Bunker bringing back my dreams and Passion. I remember buying computers with my mother back in 1995.

  • @MrBigShotFancyPants
    @MrBigShotFancyPants Год назад +5

    Went to college 1992-96 after getting GED in 1970. Wow school changed.
    Cut & Paste was new and became my friend until a professor conversed with me about plagiarism.

  • @HereBeRabbit
    @HereBeRabbit Год назад +13

    I remember growing up and the first computer we ever got was a poverty eMachine back in like 2001...and it didn't even come with a free trial of AOL... Instead we got Compuserve...🙄

    • @tomf5823
      @tomf5823 Год назад

      holy shit i totally forgot about emachine!

  • @Evil_Ghandi13
    @Evil_Ghandi13 Год назад +4

    I was in like 5th or 6th grade in '95 and computers were big at the school I attended. I was from a low income family and couldn't afford a PC or Macintosh. But the school was for gifted school kids, and they taught us MS-DOS and Basic and how to create and use all kinds of files. I got really good at it, and loved it. I was the only Hispanic kid in the class and they invited me to a BBQ, my mom didn't want to go cause she thought that they wouldn't like us. She was embarrassed of the car we had, it was a '72 Impala 2 door, shiny blue with a four barrel carb, so it was loud. My mom and I made friends with the family that was hosting the BBQ, their son was very intelligent and aloof around others, but he was always nice and went out of his way to say 'Hello" to me.

  • @ereceeme
    @ereceeme Год назад +1

    It was an exciting time. I bought my first computer a Tandy a radio shack with a dot matrix printer. not many programs but I learned to code and have fun with it

    • @temporarybackup5077
      @temporarybackup5077 Год назад

      Gosh I remember the Tandy, they were competitively priced too and they also carried Packard Bell .
      RIP Radio Shack.

  • @d3vilm4ster
    @d3vilm4ster Год назад

    This is awesome content! Just thank you sir!

  • @robertcollins7515
    @robertcollins7515 Год назад +2

    How far we have come.
    I bought my first in 1994 or 95. With windows 95.
    I had my first trash 80 in 1985.

  • @--Voltz--
    @--Voltz-- Год назад +3

    *Imagine telling that guy ( **_the guy who was so impressed you could put a movie on the HD and watch it at a later time, that guy with the big smile_** ) that you can now put a movie on something that looks like a finger nail and watch thousands of movies whenever ~ whereever you wanted too, so along as you had a computer to put this finger nail into which is actually a thumb drive*

  • @ConstantThrowing
    @ConstantThrowing Год назад +1

    The older ladies at the end seemed pretty knowledgeable/ intuitive about the operation.

  • @franklinpeck177
    @franklinpeck177 Год назад +1

    Thank you, David. Those certainly were the days! 😂❤

  • @MrSilk13642
    @MrSilk13642 Год назад +4

    I remember in 2000, my father went to the Gateway store (an old prebuilt computer brand) and bought a $2000 PC with Windows Millennium and 32gb hard drive, a really big amount of storage back then. It also came with three years of AOL web portal. I have really fond memories helping him set it up and getting the internet to work for the very first time in our home ever.

    • @chacehart7286
      @chacehart7286 Год назад +1

      The fact that you have explain Gateway makes me feel fucking ancient.

    • @MrSilk13642
      @MrSilk13642 Год назад

      @@chacehart7286 Yeah pretty scary huh? I remember it like it was yesterday because the inside of the store was all barn/cow themed haha

  • @3800TType
    @3800TType Год назад +3

    This is actually fascinating especially the farmer guy

  • @DarkGT
    @DarkGT Год назад

    Great time machine is your channel Mr. Hoffman. It's interesting to see elderly people buying a computer and actually know what they look for and asking the right questions.

  • @CristobalRuiz
    @CristobalRuiz Год назад

    I love how the hook is "it comes with the keyboard and the mouse". Amazing time vault video.

  • @drlca6601
    @drlca6601 Год назад +1

    My photographer/design parents had all Macintosh equipment from the late-80s onwards, and while we kept upgrading, we had all these relics lying around. I remember playing Asteroids or something on a typewriter-looking computer circa '98-99. We had two desktops for business, and one in the basement for the kids. When my brother and I got that colourful iMac in 2000, I remember being completely blown away and chomping at the bit to play AoE with the expansion. To this day I think fondly of those see-through electronics, which kind of died out after I got my see-through XB classic in 2005. Good times. Unfortunately, I've been priced out of getting a decent computer for years now, but back then I remember computers actually being even more expensive, when you consider inflation.

  • @j.patricklindor6828
    @j.patricklindor6828 Год назад +1

    1:28 ...and so, a pirate was born.

  • @JeffVoss
    @JeffVoss Год назад

    Love this stuff! Thanks for uploading.

  • @carsilk2492
    @carsilk2492 Год назад +1

    I'll always remember the dial up modem sound. It usually meant that a couple minutes later, my dad would be yelling at me for getting emails from my teachers about one thing or another... good times! I love your videos man, what a blast from the past!

  • @Dozenfury88
    @Dozenfury88 Год назад +3

    Computer Shopper magazine was glorious back in the day too. Almost as big as a phone book, same type of cheap paper, and hours spent trying combing through them to find the best prices. Or hours spent calling and driving around to local shops hoping to find a particular part. The pre-built systems had a lot more margin back then, but sometimes you could get lucky and get a deal.

    • @richr161
      @richr161 Год назад

      Micro center is pretty good now in days. Its harder running a computer store now that basic pc's are commodity items.

    • @brethilton
      @brethilton Год назад +1

      Computer Shopper was da bomb. so much fun to thumb through.

  • @elainecampbell4277
    @elainecampbell4277 Год назад +1

    Then and now, it's still no fun trying to make those decisions with any new tech that comes along.

  • @lukecwolf
    @lukecwolf Год назад

    Oh man, this is a classic, i always love revisiting this video!

  • @nsxdarin
    @nsxdarin Год назад +1

    I remember my first PC a Dell 486DX2 with like 8MB of RAM lol. right before Pentium came out.

  • @althor9997
    @althor9997 Год назад +3

    I remember being a little kid, circa 1990-92 and sitting at our computer trying to figure out how to install this firetruck game with my dad that he had gotten me, and I actually figured out the dos command myself.
    Here I am 30 years later, a senior information systems analyst

    • @althor9997
      @althor9997 Год назад

      And here it is!
      ruclips.net/video/-ZI37BUt5N8/видео.html

  • @owydiu
    @owydiu Год назад +3

    How typical of that printer to not work then suddenly prints out another test sample.

  • @StrideWarrior
    @StrideWarrior Год назад +2

    My first computer was a Vic 20 in 1982... eventually led to the 64, 128, Amiga, and then of course the rest is history.... For me, amazement took over when you can talk to people online anywhere in the world over a 300 baud modem and see them typing in real time - and watch them backspace and correct in real time as well. What a time it was.... My father and I ended up running a BBS and made alot of friends all over the world.

  • @otonomimusic
    @otonomimusic Год назад +1

    That’s wild. I’m a programmer and producer and this made me think how I’d literally be nothing without todays conputers, all my skills revolve around computers

    • @NihilNovi
      @NihilNovi Год назад +1

      Same here, working in FinTech and producing music in my free time. I do start to get a little sore over the dependency on computers tho. To a point where I want to quit my job and rather would work in an area that has nothing to do with them at all. But not quite there yet.

    • @morbidmanmusic
      @morbidmanmusic Год назад

      time to consider doing some analog work then. change is healthy and inspiring, this from some one who has done both.

    • @otonomimusic
      @otonomimusic Год назад

      @@morbidmanmusic I've done lots and lots of analog jobs, from dishwashing to traffic directing to therapy, etc. I'll stick to computers haha

  • @Odinoian
    @Odinoian Год назад +6

    In the short time-span when the handymen were just as confused about tech as the grandmas. It must have been so strange to experience this era - the jump into the digital age

    • @xgoatface2359
      @xgoatface2359 Год назад

      That was when Area 51 started converting their films into digital hard drives, that’s what cause the alien interview video to leak.

    • @ampersignia
      @ampersignia Год назад

      Maybe not so awkward for these for these grandmas. If they were 70 in 1995, they would’ve been born in 1925 and 18 years old in 1943. They grew up when you had to adapt to all the BS life and world war put them through, and were adults through a ton of new invention and technology adoption. A 70 year old in 2023 was born in 1953, still exposed for sure but not as exposed to wildly new technology that multiplied human output.

  • @PeterKontor
    @PeterKontor Год назад +1

    Epic. I'm in IT space. Love to go back and contemplate on the progress and how we change as humans.

  • @greyeyed123
    @greyeyed123 Год назад +6

    I just had one of my high school seniors ask if I had heard of Weezer. I explained about that music video on Windows '95, and how incredible it was to play video on your computer for the first time, yada yada yada. They really didn't seem to understand how neat that was at the time, even with me explaining that there was no youtube, no video on computers at all, really. (So at that point I cut my losses and didn't bother trying to explain Happy Days...and Buddy Holly...and the layers of nostalgia that was being used at the time to appeal to a couple of different generations of computer buyers.)

    • @rankcrush4374
      @rankcrush4374 Год назад +3

      Painful feeling old but i love the comment

    • @greyeyed123
      @greyeyed123 Год назад +1

      @@fibonacho I think it's a bit different in that today, the kids have access to EVERYTHING '80s--music, movies, television, etc (not to mention all the shows set in the '80s in the last few years). I can remember when I was in high school and a history teacher got angry with us for not recognizing a picture of Eisenhower. But we were born in '74. Unless we literally saw his picture in a book with a caption, or a teacher pointed out the picture and explained who he was...we were not going to know. There was no google, and my household, at least, had only 3 channels of television. (Our band teacher also got mad at us for not knowing "Ticket to Ride". We had literally never heard the song before. It literally was never played on the radio in the years we were alive. Why be mad at us?)
      ...
      With the kids today, they are swimming in a SEA of music, movies, television, EVERYTHING, from previous eras that are all mixing together. They actually thought it was cool that they had discovered Weezer on their own, and I knew who they were. They just weren't that interested in Windows '95, and who can blame them given the technology they've grown up with.

    • @easystreet123
      @easystreet123 Год назад +3

      It was an exciting time in Computing. I bought a Micron 133 megahertz computer. I remember how excited I was to watch Weezer's Buddy Holly music video. Edie Brickell had a video on the installation disc also called Good Times. They really were good times.

    • @greyeyed123
      @greyeyed123 Год назад +1

      @@easystreet123 Indeed. I remember I wasn't able to get dial up until '97 or '98. It felt like FOREVER before I could get my computer connected to the damned internet.

  • @CurtisAutery
    @CurtisAutery Год назад +3

    Was that a Fry's or an Incredible Universe? An IU opened in Columbus Ohio near one of the office buildings that the online service CompuServe had some tech support people (myself included) working out of. The consumer internet boom was in full swing back then, and we would commonly poach the IU sales people who knew what they were talking about to get bodies on the phone.
    Anyway, I really like the sales guy at the end. He had empathy, and was worried about the older ladies buying a more expensive Mac that wouldn't give them any value over a plain old Windows 3 machine. Good on ya, son.

  • @KomradZX1989
    @KomradZX1989 Год назад

    Oh I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS! I was born in 1989 and I was 2 when my family got our first hand-me-down computer, a Macintosh with a BLACK AND WHITE screen 😂
    Your videos are so special! You always know just how to keep me coming back 🥰Have a great day David!!!

  • @ecu8r
    @ecu8r Год назад +2

    "If you're going to do a lot of DOS I don't recommend the Apple" 🤣🤣

  • @oddersisadog
    @oddersisadog Год назад +2

    That poor guy selling that stuff had to deal with people who had no clue and where like "Uh huh..uh huh...uh huuh...I HAVE TO SPEND HOW MUCH!!!!?...UH huh..."

  • @M4TALMAN
    @M4TALMAN Год назад +1

    Clear footage for 1995!

  • @masteraus66
    @masteraus66 Год назад

    Crazy to see footage from close to when I was born and compare it to today. I love it amazing.

  • @JamesMCrutchley
    @JamesMCrutchley Год назад +1

    I graduated in 1994 from high school. I was the only kid in the school with a laptop. I had a 386sx 25 Mhz with a greyscale lcd monitor. It had a floppy drive and I honestly don't remember how much ram or hdd space. It was super useful. I also had a dot matrix printer and an external modem for connecting to BBS and AOL online. I was probably one of the only kids in foster care who ever had there own computer and laptop that I know of at the time. No one I knew had one and It cost me like around 3000 dollars Cad at the time. The gov bought it for me when the desktop I had purchased with my inheritance was stolen while the police were responding to a hostage situation in the house I was living in. I was absolutely flabbergasted when my social worker handed me a check to replace it. Asking me to bring back a receipt. I bought it at a store like that. Not an apple but an pc store. So very similar in looks at the time.

  • @Kai-p6b5r
    @Kai-p6b5r Год назад

    Wow what a fantastic footage.

  • @JakeRoot
    @JakeRoot Год назад

    Incredible Universe! What an awesome store. I was born in 1995 and technically went into the Auburn, WA location a few times before it closed.

  • @RonHelton
    @RonHelton Год назад +31

    Thank goodness there is competition in the market place or we would still be paying ridiculously high prices for these devices. 😉

    • @JM00237
      @JM00237 Год назад +2

      😂

    • @RonHelton
      @RonHelton Год назад +2

      @@agy234 Not a fan of Apple. I have an Ipad now that I can't open that is full of photos.

    • @intello8953
      @intello8953 Год назад

      @@RonHelton you can’t open photos on your iPad?

    • @Funkteon
      @Funkteon Год назад

      @@intello8953 With a boomer name like Ron, he probably forgot his pin and lost access to the email to reset it...

    • @lanthanumlanthanium6373
      @lanthanumlanthanium6373 Год назад

      @@Funkteon I'd rather have boomers around than you gen-z tards.

  • @aquariandawn4750
    @aquariandawn4750 Год назад +1

    Insane prices, but the sales staff actually know their products. That's something I miss. I don't even bother asking for help anymore.

  • @debboyea9567
    @debboyea9567 Год назад +2

    It was so confusing and scary back then. When someone would try to explain it to me my mind would just freeze up!

  • @mamasquatch
    @mamasquatch Год назад

    Wow... I sold those in the late 90s and this takes me back! Good times.

  • @Unknown_Artist2.7182
    @Unknown_Artist2.7182 Год назад

    I still remember the smell of PC World back in 1995. My dad use to take me there at weekends when I was a kid.

  • @markrossow6303
    @markrossow6303 Год назад +2

    Hah ! while in H.S, we had a TI-99 with a cassette player for data storage
    in college, my Great Uncle who owned an office equipment store in Union Gap WA gave me his Kaypro 10 "portable"
    (built in a steel box with a suitcase handle
    10 meg harddrive, partioned to 2x5 meg & Dual 8-inch floppies
    CPM operating system
    came with a dot matrix printer

    • @rustynails68
      @rustynails68 Год назад

      You, know what it is, man.

    • @SullyOrange
      @SullyOrange Год назад

      I had a silver TI-994A in 1982, with just the cassette and a couple games.
      I finally got rid of my TI in ‘93, and by that time I had EVERY peripheral and program, even the TI monitor. I even had it hacked for extra memory, and had a dual fan base under it because it ran so hot.
      Why’d I get rid of it? - Got married, and got a 386 machine. Sad though.

  • @aribpm
    @aribpm Год назад +2

    I remember in 97 mom dropped 5k on and IBM Aptiva setup for us. It had 3 hard drives and collectively maybe 5 gigabytes of memory. That’s was a lot of money. It came with so many games. Windows 95 and netscape navigator. Chat rooms and free AOL online disks, you got mail. Oh man the memories are coming back.

    • @stargazerlaurent6780
      @stargazerlaurent6780 Год назад

      Bro, NOBODY at the consumer level had 5 gigs of anything back then. 720 megs alone was a BIG DEAL

    • @aribpm
      @aribpm Год назад

      @@stargazerlaurent6780 not sure we are talking about the same thing here but it most certainly had c:/ e:/ and F:/ drives that had collectively 5 gigs of storage. You can look the specs up online. It also cost $5000 and was the top of the line consumer model for IBM at the time.

  • @ChrisBChronisterJr92
    @ChrisBChronisterJr92 Год назад

    This is so gas!! I love the 90s!!!

  • @lowtiertactical7701
    @lowtiertactical7701 Год назад

    I loved buying computers then. Browsing all the software in the cases. It was actually pretty awesome.

  • @PraveenSrJ01
    @PraveenSrJ01 Год назад

    This really brings back a lot of nostalgia since I was in the 6th grade back in 1995 and got my first computer 💻 for our house in 1993.

  • @HaleyMary
    @HaleyMary Год назад +2

    I remember when my dad bought the family our first computer. It was an IBM Aptiva in 1993. It was an exciting time! I even said to my dad, "Can we afford that?"