Helping My Dad: An Amusing Mix of Nostalgia and Outdated Technology

M

mls1995

Guest
Hi all,

I wasn't sure where to post this but I thought you guys might get a kick out of it. My Dad runs a small business. I have been trying to get him to retire for a while and sell his business but I also kept telling him he'll have to get a little more modern with his equipment. This year I finally convinced him to buy a laptop for his work files (a Fujitsu $400 AR on slickdeals) and I got him an Office 2013 key for $10 via a deal in the hotdeals forum. I told him I'd figure out how to get those files converted to a modern format no matter what.

Anyway, I knew the equipment and software he was using was very old and pathetic but I had forgotten exactly what what he was using. When I saw the actual computer, I had a hard time not laughing. It was a cheap HP Intel celeron that I bought in college and gave him for free (I also gave him the monitor so all he paid for was a printer, mouse and keyboard). The program he was using was MS Works (also free). I got the files converted over the weekend to Excel although they are a little rough. I had a hard time finding a USB port but there were 2 buried in the back next to outdated ports.

I took pics of the software as I figured that you guys would get a kick out of them. ENJOY!

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Oh my god, MS Works... Windows Me, even!

Wow, nostalgia all the way. Before I even started using Office, Works was the one software I used for typing my papers up in class.
 
dBASE!!! I will poke my eyes out if I ever have to manage that on a modern system again.
 
Did you ask him if the computer crashed a lot? I remember when my dad's desktop came with Windows ME it crashed during the initial setup lol.
 
Your poor father. I feel like its that reality show where some random family gets a house built for them by a group of individuals. Well, I want to randomly build this man a computer.
 
If it works, don't fix it.

Microsoft Works 4.5 is a fine piece of software for the problems it was meant to solve. And it solves them as well today as eighteen years ago.

Sometimes, a computer is a tool to get a job done, and not a toy to get a game finished.
 
foxtrotniner said:
Did you ask him if the computer crashed a lot? I remember when my dad's desktop came with Windows ME it crashed during the initial setup lol.
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It ran perfectly. Not that he did much of anything with it. I AM his tech support, so if there was a problem then I would be the first to hear about it.
 
Liger88 said:
Your poor father. I feel like its that reality show where some random family gets a house built for them by a group of individuals. Well, I want to randomly build this man a computer.
Click to expand...

Great post, I like it!
 
athlon1.2 said:
dBASE!!! I will poke my eyes out if I ever have to manage that on a modern system again.
Click to expand...

I got his files transferred to Excel via text and commas (CVS) but there remains a lot of cleaning up. I spent 2+ hours over the weekend cleaning up his files last week. It's in his hands now, but at least when he's done it will be MODERN!
 
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