Do you remember where you were when this happened?

Sometimes when you look at the calendar, well, it's better not to look in the first place.

Boy, a lot has changed since then

(Credit: IBM)

So it is that today marks an anniversary guaranteed to freak out a good percentage of you who remember this event: Twenty-seven years ago today IBM introduced its first personal computer. Twenty-seven years! Take a deep breath and say thanks for the memories, I guess. (Hey, it's better than the alternative!)

And in the wake of IBM's entry? Oh, a few developments of note:

Apple debuts the Mac
PC clone makers become all the rage
PC mail order
Steve Jobs leaves Apple
IBM, stumbles and is given up for dead
Bill Gates becomes a gajillionaire
Steve Jobs returns to Apple
Bye bye, floppies; hello hard drives
Windows
The Internet changes everything
Here comes the iPod
CD ROMs
E-mail
Larry and Sergey go through puberty
Seinfeld
E-commerce
Instant messaging
The dotcom boom
The dotcom bust
Mobile phones
PDAs
Notebook computers
Digital cameras
Computer viruses
LCDs
Larry and Sergey pass puberty with flying colors
GPS
Google
Larry and Sergey become gajillionaires
Social networking
IBM is resurgent
IBM drops out of the PC business
Web 2.0
Cloud computing
Twitter
YouTube
Loren Feldman

(This stroll down memory lane, obviously, is not a comprehensive list, so post any of your faves in the Talkback section below. And raise a glass of bubbly while you're at it.)

[Penguinisto]

AOL (...otherwise known as: the day that USENET began to die).

Yahoo! was born (back when you had to manually enter your own damned website entries instead of waiting for a spider to find you).

Quake and the advent of online 3d gaming

[dapakapa]

You're chronology of events is all whacked out... After 25 years of writing technology Charles, you might be getting alzheimer's...

[g8crapachino]

The list wasn't meant to be chronologically accurate. But if you're going to be anal retentive enough to make a big deal about accuracy why don't you provide the corrections rather then leave an otherwise vague and useless post?

[gerrrg]

I wasn't waiting in line, that's for sure. But I did eventually get to use these, and learned to program in Basic. :D

Can you say, TRS-80?

[iceman91737]

You left out modems. And not the nice internal ones still made today. I'm talking about the external box with the big red button that I had to hit after I heard a carrier on the phone I dial manually. Oh yeah, that reminds me. You forgot BBSs. Most software was freeware back then too. Heck, it wasn't even complied. ;-)

Can you say TRS-80 Color Computer?

[christieng777]

And what about the famous Commodore: Vic-20, C-64 C-128, the Amiga?

We had a C-64 and it still amazes me what could be done with 64K of RAM!

[dapakapa]

When Larry and Sergey were dressed in their Buster Browns and scratching out their future plans of world domination on the Etch-a-Scetches, I was buying my first computer: a Mac 512, 8mhz with no hard drive; you had to load the system each time you powered up, with single sided floppies. But 20 minutes later it was well worth it... the graphical UI was revolutionary and Windows was no where in sight. Steve Jobs wore a bow tie back then and smiled a lot more. And as time has proven, even back then, he was still the smartest guy in the room.

[Lastly]

I wa sitting @ Bernie's and all of those people were talking to me :)

[ewelch]

Where was I during this time?

Iowa, Oregon, Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Oregon, Arizona, Oregon, Missouri, Oregon, Missouri, California.

:-D

[GlennAllen]

Everything on the first Mac came from Xerox PARC... mouse, GUI, and all.

[mrobmsu]

iPhone? ;)

[slaphost]

bulletin boards ? Internet 0.0 :D

[Galaxy5]

Working on my Apple //c and Apple ///.

[Galaxy5]

Correction: i was playing Flight Simulator on my Apple //c and writing school papers in AppleWorks.

[alchemistmuffin]

The invention of the iPhone......

The day that changed the mobile industry forever....

I was at school when they announced it.....

[TWNZ]

http://www.thoughtware.co.nz/pages/1982.htm

[CindyFW]

This list sounds like possible lyrics to the Billy Joel song "We Didn't Start the Fire". I'm sure someone creative can come up with something...or send it to Billy!

[Stephen Russell]

Compuserve before the internet. BBS, The menu as a program, dialup, broadband, wifi

[benjaminstraight]

I was two. So I was probably eating cheerios.

[debjouette]

I was one month and three days away from conceiving my oldest son. He' 26 now. Married with a beautiful wife and Grandson My husband (R.I.P.) has passed away since then but before his grandson was conceived. My Grandson turned 3 on Aug. 4th 08'. My 26 years old son has his own computer business. ty / dj41308

[dustinsoftware]

how the hell did ipods come before cd-roms?