I first started using the internet back in 1996 when my mum brought a Compaq Presario with it’s built-in 28.8BPS modem and that lovely electronic dial sound when you connected to the internet.

Some of the first things I remember was connecting to Compuserve, a group of forums to connect, chat, exchange idea’s. I also had one game called Panzer General which had this option play by mail. Sending details of your movements to friends over email. Waiting hours for the counter attack!

Then came the webpages! In the web browser there was an option where you can view the source code of how the webpages were created, this is how I learned HTML and it was a pretty easy computer language to learn. Then I learned CSS and after that I found adobe plugins. This is where I was able to do web animation, I didn’t do a lot, but some fun stuff and Flash Player could play that. All the way back in 1996.

So recently when I saw that Adobe were ending the life cycle of the Flash Player, I actually felt somewhat sad to hear this. This little piece of software has been a mainstay for a long time. Adobe arrived with the boom, and survived the burst. It most likely played videos from 30 seconds of animation to 30 minutes or more of a documentary. You will be missed Flash Player, but you will not be forgotten.