>> Their hands trembled as they touched the keyboard; several later reported that they had been afraid of breaking the entire system as they typed. This brough

>> Their hands trembled as they touched the keyboard; several later reported that they had been afraid of breaking the entire system as they typed. This brought back memories. I was introduced to computers back in the 80's, as a child. Naturally, once familiar, I would look to share that experience with other children, and adults. I learned early that re-enforcing the fact that you "can do no harm" [1] was key to getting people to relax, which improved both their enthusiasm and enjoyment. [2] I guess for adults it was something like learning to drive , and so there was a fear if "breaking it". Computers were expensive, and rare enough, that people approached them with done trepidation. Now if you drop it in the toilet you just get another one. [1] the machines of that era only had floppy disks, so any damage at all would be limited to the disk. And copying/ formatting disks was, dare I say it, childs play. [2] some of the early computers -could- be physically damaged with specific instructions, but it wasn't possible (probable) that you could do that accidentally as a new user.