How software was registered “back in the day” [PHOTO]

I was re-installing an old piece of software and ran across this gem after the install…

 

Old School Electronic Registration

Old School Electronic Registration

 

Print for Mailing! Print for Faxing! Send Via MODEM! And most amazing of all, Send Via Internet!

But wait…  Send Via Internet would only work if there was a modem connection! A modem connection that would first dial out to a service portal, and then “bridge” you to the internet!

A direct connection to the internet? Back in those days? Preposterous!

Why, back in the day, we had to use home-phone landlines, find a local access number for the service portal, disable call waiting on the landline, warn everyone in the home NOT TO PICK UP THE @#*$ PHONE, use a picky-and-screechy-as-hell 9,600 (or 28,800!) baud MODEM to connect, and we …. liked it? Well, no. In retrospect, it really sucked. But at the time, that was the thing!

I better quit before I pull out my e*World CDs.

NASA has a free photo-rich ebook : “Dressing for Altitude”

It has been a busy few days for me, but I’m finally back. Hoo-ah!

While I was out, NASA announced they were giving away a free digital book that “details the development and use of the protective clothing worn by test pilots, astronauts and others as they soar high above Earth.”

It’s pretty hefty book at 526 pages, but it’s very well put together, and is filled with great photos like this one…

 

Dressing for Altitude 01

Dressing for Altitude 01

 

Is it me, or does that look a little like Big Daddy from the Bioshock games?

“Dressing for Altitude” has plenty of photos of pressure suits in various stages of development, and also gets into the science and technology of the suit designs themselves.

The book is available for free on NASA’s site in PDF, EPUB or MOBI format, but you can also order a “real” copy of the book from NASA’s information center if you like.

Here’s the official press release about “Dressing for Altitude”…
RELEASE: 12-308

NEW NASA BOOK REVEALS PRESSURE SUITS ARE HEIGHT OF FASHION

WASHINGTON — NASA has published a colorful, picture-filled book that details the development and use of the protective clothing worn by test pilots, astronauts and others as they soar high above Earth.

“Dressing for Altitude: U.S. Aviation Pressure Suits — Wiley Post to Space Shuttle” provides a 526-page survey of the partial- and full-pressure suits designed to keep humans alive at the edge of space since their first use during the years before World War II. Pressure suits are not the spacesuits worn by spacewalking astronauts.

The book explores the challenges the clothiers-turned-engineers faced in designing a garment that could be relatively lightweight, flexible, inflatable, and still keep an ejecting pilot safe at high altitude and in the water.

“This work is designed to provide the history of the technology and explore the lessons learned through the years of research in creating, testing, and utilizing today’s high-altitude suits,” said Tony Springer of NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate at the agency’s headquarters in Washington.

Dennis R. Jenkins, a writer, engineer and manager with 30 years of experience working on NASA programs, including the space shuttle, wrote the book and assembled its photographs and illustrations.

Jenkins said he became interested in the topic especially after studying the work and dedication of Goodrich and David Clark Company, the two major companies responsible for most of the pressure suit’s development through the years.

“I knew little about pressure suits going into the book, so the entire process was a learning exercise to me,” Jenkins said.

To order printed copies of the coffee-table-style book from NASA’s Information Center, visit:

http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/hqlibrary/ic/ic2.htm

To download an e-book version of the book in PDF format at no charge, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/connect/ebooks/

For more information about aeronautics research at NASA, visit:

http://www.aeronautics.nasa.gov