Nowadays, our computers have instant access to an uncountable amount of storage, information, and software through the Internet, and even local storage is enormous. Back then, the world was much smaller; the software and data you had in your small hard disk and boxes of floppy disks (and perhaps tape, etc.) was all that you had, and you didn't have a constantly online network to distract you with an unlimited fire hose of nonstop information.
That led to a closer relationship between you and the software on your computer. You had time to explore each and every corner of the software, and to read its manual (be it in the form of an online help or a paper book) from cover to cover. The software stayed the same; there was no automatic online update, no security scare blaming you for staying on a release that's more than a day old. You knew your software and hardware limitations, and adapted to them; they would stay the same until you bought more hardware, or new software (which came in colorful physical boxes, that you could put on a shelf).
We have gained much since, but lost some of that sense of wonder, of making the most of memory and storage measured in megabytes or even kilobytes, processors with speeds measured in megahertz or even kilohertz, and displays with few lines and columns of characters and little color.