3 ms·

Do you remember the people who thought the CD ROM drive of a computer was actually a cup holder?

by jb1991 3y ago

Anthony-G 3y ago
I wouldn’t have thought that there were many people using computers who weren’t already familiar with audio CDs. While most portable players were top-loading, I remember the majority of home stereos having the slide-out tray. I would have thought anyone using computers at the time would also have been familiar with home stereo/hi-fi systems (even if they didn’t own one).
- ShadowBanThis01 3y ago
  I agree. The cup-holder thing was a joke, not a real claim.
  - Anthony-G 3y ago
    Ah OK. I’ve come across some strange beliefs about computers and other technology so it’s not completely implausible. Poe's law strikes again.
    - ShadowBanThis01 3y ago
      Hey, that's not to say that NOBODY believed this. Back in the day I was in a programming class with a bunch of non-tech people (at the Accenture training center). In those days you could impersonate anyone with the Novell networks' "net send" command, because you could enter the originating user ID by hand. So I would find out the number of one of my classmates' workstations and send a message from the admin: "Keyboard unbalanced. Please adjust." Sure enough, I look over and she's quizzically lifting her keyboard and tilting it around.
lproven 3y ago
I do. But it was about 30 years later when I discovered that "cup holders" were a real thing that are a standard fixture on American cars. European cars are tiny things by comparison and there isn't room to drink while driving, and we didn't have drive-through food or drink places in the 20th century, either. Also, they are all manual gearshift, so your hand is too busy to drink. Some cars have a recess by the gear stick for a bottle or a can of soft drink, but most people use it for small items like garage door zappers or coins for meters instead. Thus is was about 2015 or 2020 when I first saw a picture of a pop-out cup holder and realised that this was a Thing, a Thing that Americans would recognise, and that optical drive trays do look similar. Nobody ever bothered to explain that, because Americans tend to assume that the whole world is like America.

Do you remember the people who thought the CD ROM drive of a computer was actually a cup holder?

by jb1991 3y ago

Do you remember the people who thought the CD ROM drive of a computer was actually a cup holder?

I wouldn’t have thought that there were many people using computers who weren’t already familiar with audio CDs. While most portable players were top-loading, I remember the majority of home stereos having the slide-out tray. I would have thought anyone using computers at the time would also have been familiar with home stereo/hi-fi systems (even if they didn’t own one).

ShadowBanThis01 3y ago
I agree. The cup-holder thing was a joke, not a real claim.
- Anthony-G 3y ago
  Ah OK. I’ve come across some strange beliefs about computers and other technology so it’s not completely implausible. Poe's law strikes again.
  - ShadowBanThis01 3y ago
    Hey, that's not to say that NOBODY believed this. Back in the day I was in a programming class with a bunch of non-tech people (at the Accenture training center). In those days you could impersonate anyone with the Novell networks' "net send" command, because you could enter the originating user ID by hand. So I would find out the number of one of my classmates' workstations and send a message from the admin: "Keyboard unbalanced. Please adjust." Sure enough, I look over and she's quizzically lifting her keyboard and tilting it around.

lproven 3y ago

I do. But it was about 30 years later when I discovered that "cup holders" were a real thing that are a standard fixture on American cars. European cars are tiny things by comparison and there isn't room to drink while driving, and we didn't have drive-through food or drink places in the 20th century, either. Also, they are all manual gearshift, so your hand is too busy to drink. Some cars have a recess by the gear stick for a bottle or a can of soft drink, but most people use it for small items like garage door zappers or coins for meters instead. Thus is was about 2015 or 2020 when I first saw a picture of a pop-out cup holder and realised that this was a Thing, a Thing that Americans would recognise, and that optical drive trays do look similar. Nobody ever bothered to explain that, because Americans tend to assume that the whole world is like America.