My I.T. Interests

Sometimes, I can’t help but feel nostalgic. I can’t help detail my computing history.  And in this regard, people can definitely guess my age through the technologies I have already used.  I started computing during the days of IBM PC Clone era.  However, I am not old enough to have been part of any pioneering acts post the hacker-era.

Towards the end of my 2nd year in High School, I have had my first computer, a PC AT (286).  During the same period I have informally played around XT machines through friends.  These were the days where bootleg software copies where not considered alarming and were not called "software piracy" yet.  These were the days were viruses were either infecting MBRs or files or command.com.  Most of them were TSRs.  During these period, the king of the hill in office apps were WordStar and dBase.  I had created simple anymations using PC StoryBoard.  I played with the likes of digdug, bomberman and the more complex ones; Prince of Persia 1, GODs, StarControl 1 and II.  I had a colored monitor, albeit, in 4 colors only.  Yes, it’s a CGA monitor.  THe next machine I had as a 386 (powered by AMD’s 80386 DX40).  I couldn’t fathom then on how to use up all my 10MB harddisk and my 1024 KB memory.

I have mastered DOS command and batch scripting during these days.  My first programming language were in BASIC.  I have used BASICA, GW-BASIC, (even ROM BASIC) and lastly, Borland’s Turbo BASIC.  *I am not young enough and have evolved quickly so I was not into Visual Basic*.  I have both several copies of PsyCom (yeah, this is not your typical Psychology journal, it was a computer magazine).

In high school, I have "hacked" a primitive basketball game called Lakers vs Celtics (bball) using Norton Utilities.  I have removed the password mechanism and put in my name.  Moving on after several years, I had encountered the same hacked game, proliferated beyond my little neighborhood and circle of friends in school.  I can vividly remember possessed virus by a cool dude from Adamson Univeristy.  With this, I have created a file-finder tool, TSRed, self-replicating trojan which mimics the graphical display by the said virus.  I ensured it never got out except to the few 5.25 and 3.5 inch discs that I owned before.

I had the opportunity to play with Wolfenstein 3D and Doom, the precursors of 1st person shooter games.  I had played Dune 1 and 2, yes, the predecessor of RTS games. 

Towards my third year in high school, I have sold my first software.  Yeah, it was primitive user id – password authentication software written in BASIC.  It was for a measly PHP 10.00.  Nevertheless, it was a break through in my career, wherein, for the first time I realized a career in Medicine was not for me.  I was going to have an IT career, big time.

I was one of early adopters of Windows 3.11 for Workgroups (bootlegged of course).  I didn’t like it.  I was more into using DOS (from DOS 2 up until the DOS 5 era) plus using tools like PCTools/PCShell.  I used Norton Commander as my default operatin shell.  Yes Virginia, this is the classic predecessor of things like Servant Salamander, Krusader and the likes.  I have played MIDI and MOD files way before MP3 became prevalent.

I was a BBS user before.  I downloaded and uploaded files into the local Manila BBS scene.  Once in a while, chatting with the SysOps.  Once in a while, playing with online gaming L.O.R.D via 14.4 Kbps modem.

I had used Linux before, not the Linux that everyone knows now I bet.

In my college days, I had easy times in doing my machine problems and case studies.  I have represented my school in various programming competition, whose climax was me emerging the national champion for Assembly Language.  I had the rare distinction (of course, not a unique case, but indeed rare) of having scored a perfect grade for my Thesis.  My thesis defence was impecabble.

Post college is now the internet era that you know.  I won’t detail much into this as the technologies that I am using is probably known to most in one way or another, nothing fancy.

Fast forward to current time, I am a working for an asset manager, having multiplied my tech domain multiple times over…