25th Anniversary of the Personal Computer" 4193

Eh, I think it was almost so *at the time*

I remember all the magazines falling all over themselves about the new IBM PC, and going "why? what's the big deal?". Only Betsy Staples at Creative Computing had the guts to say "technically it's underwhelming, but it's got the magic three letters on it"

I remember in my neck of the woods that Apples, Ataris, Amigas, PETs, C-64s and TRS-80s were all considered toys or game machines, if people knew of them at all. People sure as hell didn't know what an S-100 box or an IMSAI was.

They were nothing that would be a business-critical piece of equipment. Sure there was the guys (and I was one of them) running businesses on a CompuPro S-100 and Peachtree, but they were rare.

And it seems (I don't know why) that it had to be something found in the office before Joe Schmoe will buy one for home.

"Technically underwhelming" proved to be an important point, as that made easy for the clone industry to spawn.

-gc

-- Remember, don't worry about the bullet with your name on it. Worry about all the other bullets simply marked "Occupant"