Mouse pads were the best way to show a little personality around the office. You’re in a cubicle with gray walls, a gray chair, a gray desk, and BAM a bright red mousepad with cool race-cars, Marvin the Martian, or maybe the San Francisco 49ers.

Whoever manufactured mouse pads must have been raking in the dough, it was like $10 for a tiny piece of foam and plastic.

But like so many technology icons of the 90′s, mousepads had a very limited time in the sun. Up until around 2004, people needed mousepads. After all, what else was the mouse-ball supposed to drag on?

However, these days everyone and their Grandma has a laser mouse, and no ball means no mouse pad. Except grannie probably still uses that one you got printed for her of your family’s Christmas card.

This guy probably thought he had the coolest invention ever. How much you want to bet he had a calculator watch in the late 80′s?

Remember the commercials with the kid who always said “Dude you’re getting a Dell”?

Ben Curtis was that lovable stoner from all the Dell commercials in the late 90′s / early 2000′s. It was no small task: Curtis had to be lovable enough to both appeal to kids and get your parents to buy you a “school computer” (that was really only going to be used for Napster and porn).

Unfortunately, the Dell Dude met his end in the worst way possible: he got fired for smoking pot. What bullshit right? I mean they obviously hired him because he was a pothead. They only fired him because he got caught.

What’s the Dell Dude up to now? He’s a bartender in NYC, Dude get me a drink.

Watch a Dell Dude commercial

Don’t you miss dial-up modem noise? EEEEEEEE-OOOOOO-EEEEEE-GHGHGHGHGHGHHGHGHGHG

Did you ever wonder why they made it sound like that? (It was coming out of a speaker after all) It’s like they picked the most annoying sounds possible and played them at random. And at max volume.

Listen to some dial-up modem noise

(Sound clip thanks to Jlew)