Stefano Marinelli<p>"How it all began" </p><p>I saw an ad for this CD set at a very low price in a computer magazine. I decided to give it a try, enticed by the low cost and this 'alternative solution to Windows', and in late 1996 I ordered this set. <br>When it arrived, I was fascinated (having never used a Unix or Unix-like system before) but a bit daunted by the lack of support for the main applications I knew. A few months later, though, I decided to give it another go and from that point, I never looked back. Whether it was Linux, one of the BSDs, or something similar (but Unix or Unix-like), I was not going back to systems like Windows. </p><p>My <a href="https://mastodon.bsd.cafe/tags/ThrowbackThursday" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>ThrowbackThursday</span></a> today is probably one of the most significant in my computing life.</p><p><a href="https://mastodon.bsd.cafe/tags/Linux" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Linux</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.bsd.cafe/tags/TechHistory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>TechHistory</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.bsd.cafe/tags/OpenSource" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>OpenSource</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.bsd.cafe/tags/Unix" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Unix</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.bsd.cafe/tags/TechNostalgia" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>TechNostalgia</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.bsd.cafe/tags/ComputingMemories" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>ComputingMemories</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.bsd.cafe/tags/BSD" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>BSD</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.bsd.cafe/tags/TechnologyEvolution" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>TechnologyEvolution</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.bsd.cafe/tags/OldSchoolComputing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>OldSchoolComputing</span></a> #1996 <a href="https://mastodon.bsd.cafe/tags/ITLife" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>ITLife</span></a></p>