I remember a day when you could buy software or hardware and be reasonably sure there was nothing malicious in it. And electronics that didn't have retarded burn-out-your-retnia-blue LEDs. Probably bought Microcenter's last motherboard with a real floppy disk controller a while back, and may have bought the last beige case from NewEgg a few years back.
Good lord, don't get me started on that ever-rising (mal)practice by software makers. That's something I'll throw in the rant-tank before too long, that and legitimate websites. Heck, I miss PAPER OWNERS MANUALS!! I loved having a nice bit of documentation I could hold in my hand and access without the need for electricity. That kind of stuff is what my tech skills were built from!
Blue LED's, I think that's all they make now. Heck, even my GUITAR AMP has blue LEDs in it! Usually guitar is the last place to stop using some outdated tech. They're still using body, neck, and pickup designs from the 1950's, and that same blue LED amps - Vacuum Tubes.
I was always the guy to see the phasing out of stuff because I was so poor as a kid/teenager that I got into technology often times "10 years too late".
- My first game console, Atari 2600, I was 8, it was 1990, most kids had an NES. So I pretty much ate up the Opelika/Auburn Kay-Bee Toys remaining stock of Atari games and Periphery that I did not already have. Shoot, I remember when every thirft store had an Atari 2600 or two kicking around, now you're lucky to so much as find the once-oh-so-common Combat CX-2601 cartridge or CX-40 Joystick.
- I bought the last NES games at the Opelika Alabama Wal-MArt in 1997, I still have them - Rocketeer, and Robin Hood Prince of Theives, new in box with shrinkwrap, and a beat up, document-less box of Alien III. I also bought their last supply of DSDD Floppy Diskettes (360K) for my first computer that I had that same year - a 1986 Tandy 1000 SX.
- Radio Shack in Auburn and Opelika STILL had the paper parts books for the old Tandy computers up until 2004. I bought a memory expansion for that same 1000 SX to 640K for $49.99 in 1997. I remember seeing a $4000 ST-506/412 MFM HDD kit on the same page when I bought that. I also bought up the last few Tandy branded Floppies they had - they don't last as well as 3M or Imation branded diskettes do for me though.
- Bought the last Win 3.1 compatible printer at Wal-Mart in 2001 for my Flight 386 SX (Creeping Net 1), I also bought the last 40 Imation Floppies to back up aforementioned computer.
I have a lot more stuff I could add, I might write a blog post on it sometime later.
