Aren’t computers and internet wonderful? Most certainly!

I can’t really remember when exactly I first saw a computer, or when I began my relationship with them. What I do remember is when we bought our first computer. It was an Apple, way back in 1987. We were living in Sri Lanka and were, proudly said, one of the first expats to acquire such advanced machinery.

Back then, it was a black and white 14’’ screen machine. Our oldest son was already an expert. He studied computers at age 5 and took over the job of ‘teaching’ his younger brother. Understand teaching as the act of executing actions, while allowing the other one to ‘learn’ by observation.

It took me a couple of days of indirect participation in those ‘learning sessions’ before I took the initiative to start on some of the games: Apeiron, the Wall and PacMan.These were my entertainment during the hours that my husband Han and our two children were away and it was too hot for an advanced pregnant woman to venture alone in the streets of Colombo.

Several fascinating Apple models passed through our hands before we decided to make the ‘strategic move’ to Windows: our experts (by now three) resolutely advised that Apple did not have the adequate ‘video capabilities’. We needed a system with a better ’video card’, absolutely necessary to run high demanding video games.

Furthermore, Apple was having troubles of their own, losing market to emerging Bill Gates. Friends at school and people out there were running Windows system, quite different from ours. All in all, we needed to be able to be ‘compatible’ with the rest of the world.

Before we totally yielded to Windows, my husband’s work Windows laptop was the most wanted item at home. Every evening turns were taken after dinner to experiment, play and investigate the artifact. Actually, the decision to seriously take the concept of PC (Personal Computer, with accent on Personal) was made one evening, when we returned late (too late) from a dinner party. Han discovered that a great deal (not to say most) of his hard disk and documents had been deleted. The young ones explained: ‘we needed more space for our game’.

In shock and on the border of a brain infarct, we faced the first great system crash. After hours of disk recovery and system and programs reinstalling, the laptop was up and running again. Now it was just a matter of (hopefully) getting copies of some of Han’s documents and presentations.

Needless to say what, at this point, the general mood was at home. But as usual in life, there are always positive things emerging from disaster situations: as a result all five members of the family got their own PC.

This was a great chance for me to get well acquainted with Word, Excel and PowerPoint. A few months later a modem was installed and Oh! Internet made its arrival! I entered the fascinating world of the web.

Gradually a new world began for me: navigation browsers, emails and that wonderful invention called Messenger. First I had to open an account with Hotmail (an account that did not cost any money!) Same thing with Yahoo, a search engine that also offered web-based email (Yahoo sounded more like a cowboy’s yell on a horse to me). Within a matter of minutes, I received my first email! How exciting! It was from Hotmail (or Yahoo?), welcoming me to this world. It was like being born into the cyber world, like a delivery into the IT era.

With MSN messenger, a chat program, I re-established contact with so many people; old friends, family and colleagues. Communicating with the world became as easy as typing a few lines on a small window. I learned to send ‘files’, pictures, and programs. All of this just by hitting an “enter” key.

Sharing information across the world was so simple. Even more exciting was learning how to ‘download’, edit, improve, zoom (in or out) and enlarge photos. Not to forget downloading music, which enabled me to collect all my favorite songs, controversially at no cost. The data was compressed in MP3 format, which practically speaking meant that it occupied virtually no space in the hard disk.

In those days my biological clock was already upset. It was ‘computering’ in the evening and sleeping only a few hours way deep in the early morning. I became an Internet junkie!

When I started working again, I thought and said to myself: “Things have to change now!” I had to sleep in order to wake up early the next morning.

How far from the truth! How could I ever foresee that our glorious return to the Mac World was about to take place in our family? (Things became even worse when Skype and VoIP came into the picture. Long distance telephoning, WOW! and free local telephoning! I realized I would never ever sleep again. Between the conversations with Vancouver (9 hours difference), New York and my family in Peru (6-7 hours difference depending winter or summer time) there was no time to sleep.

I now have an iBook G4 running Tiger version and I am looking forward to the Leopard version about to be launched. Apple’s operating system has always been 500% better than Windows. Vista? Just tries to copy Apple and makes a very poor attempt at it. I know I will probably end up needing a computer detox… but wherever I end, let it be with a broadband high-speed Internet connection please!

PS. Before the end of this year the iPhone, (the latest gadget of Apple yet), will be in Europe! Can Detox wait until after I manage to get one?

By Ana Maria Juch-Calero

Ana Maria Juch Calero is an expat from Peru and has been living in Maastricht since 1999. She has a degree in Business and has also managed to be a loving and dedicated mother who raised two boys and a girl. She enjoys life with her family, friends and has re-discovered passion for computers, technology and gadgets. Although the latter are not directly associated with someone of ‘her generation’, she proves that age and technology are not negatively correlated or a problem.