Jeff Pack, Brown University '99 (English 112, 1996)
The second semester of my freshman year of high school, my parents caved in again and replaced our clunker of a PC with a much faster 20 megahertz 386. The biggest difference between these computers was not speed, though; it was the inclusion of Microsoft Windows 3.0. Windows was my first encounter with a system-wide graphical user interface (as opposed to program interfaces, such as the one in Express Publisher). It also came with a few other nifty programs such as the Windows version of Microsoft Works and a few productivity-slashing games.
This computer went through more upgrading than any computer I'd previously owned: during the four years I used it, I added more RAM, a modem, a sound card, and a CD-ROM player. Of course, this only delayed the machine's obsolescence; when I went off to Brown, I once again took with me a new computer.
