Re: Seeking reverse-engineers - Apple II VisiCalc

["Michael J. Mahon" <mjmahon@aol.com>]

nem wrote:
> "Michael J. Mahon" <mjmahon@aol.com> wrote in news:
>
> > So the market for personal computers was primed long before
> > computers could be bought for under several thousand dollars.
>
> And yet, there was the (in)famous statement by an IBM executive around 
> 1970 that went something like "I think there's a home market for about 
> five computers."

A typical statement from a non-software engineer or marketing type.

I worked at a mainframe company at the time, and there was *lots* of
interest among the software staff, particularly the younger ones.

It was a bit of a cognitive leap to imagine a useful computer that
didn't require kilowatts of power, raised floor, and a small army
of people to keep it working, and younger people found it easier
to make that leap.  ;-)

Among this group, it wasn't so much rebellion as wanting to have a
cool toy to play with.

-michael

******** Note new website URL ********

NadaNet and AppleCrate II for Apple II parallel computing!
Home page:  http://home.comcast.net/~mjmahon/

"The wastebasket is our most important design
tool--and it's seriously underused."