The generational gap can be wider than it seems, and if there's one field where this is confirmed, it's computing. The folks at Fine Brothers (who are still not out of a certain media storm that has trapped them for a month) published a new video in the React series, and this time, they put teenagers between 16 and 19 years old in front of a Pentium 133 computer with Windows 95 installed. In short: kids today want everything served on a silver platter.
Back to 1995
August 24, 1995. Windows 95 made its worldwide debut, and back then I was rocking an Intel 486 DX2 with 4 megabytes of RAM. LAN gaming sessions in Doom 2 were glorious, and the general feeling led us to think we were truly living in the future. Today, Windows 95 is a museum piece… and a joke for a group of teenagers younger than the operating system itself. This happens thanks to a new installment of the React series by Fine Brothers. If the name sounds familiar, it's because the company went through a real hell during the last month when it tried to license the term React and the format of its videos. The web 'reacted' with fury, and we can still observe the effects in the 'dislikes' on their videos, but that doesn't change the fact that the content is interesting:
First, some of the young people didn't even know how to turn on the computer, an old and yellowish Dell with what seems to be a Pentium 133 processor and 32 megabytes of RAM (a spaceship in its time). Then they encountered Windows 95 itself, and although they managed to recognize some elements (the Recycle Bin, the Start button, and Internet Explorer), the rest was completely strange to them. The experience got even worse when they tried to connect to the Internet (I guess they expected WiFi?). Several didn't know what a telephone modem was, and when mentioning the fact that we had to type every command in MS-DOS, the idea seemed horrendous to them.
They didn't have too many problems when turning off the computer, however, one of the participants said she was scared by the message "Now you can safely turn off your computer." Let's grant her that it's a bit threatening. In fact, let's grant that "all" of Windows 95 is threatening. Personally, I'm convinced I could disassemble that computer with a kitchen knife, reassemble it, and even apply a little overclocking, but the only reason for that is that I'm old, and I grew up with these systems. In 20 years, I guess the next generation will say the same about the first iPad or Windows 10...
