The oldest receipt I can locate was from 2009. I think that was my second. The first ssd being from before my son was born. He’s about to graduate high school. I remember when trim came out it was a big deal and I remember vaguely having issues with getting it to work on that first drive.

All that said, you’re probably right that 2002 was way too early of a guesstimate. Say 2006 or even 2010. What have people been doing all these years. Just waiting to boot up? There is a whole generation that should never have had to deal with hdd’s for anything but data hoarding.