At least in pop culture in the late '80s and early '90s, being into computers was for asocial dorks and other unflattering nerd stereotypes. It was really the

At least in pop culture in the late '80s and early '90s, being into computers was for asocial dorks and other unflattering nerd stereotypes. It was really the rise of the Internet and dotcom boom in the late 90s where [EDIT] owning a computer became unavoidable and the first of the software industry billionaires started seeping into the public consciousness that being a computer nerd became respectable.