Re: A Link of note

[Roy and/or Janet Miller <millers@inetnebr.com>]

Rubywand wrote:

>      In any case, the original spark for all of this discussion was Bill
> Gates's use of the term "computer hobbyist" to describe users of BASIC in
> 1977. After reviewing magazines from that period it is more plain than ever
> that he was mistaken. Calling small computer users "hobbyists" was an insult
> which, very likely, meant that most of what he said was ignored.

When Gates wrote that piece, just about the only software available for the Altair,
was his BASIC. So he wasn't using the term to describe BASIC users, but many, if
not nearly all, Altair users who hadn't paid for his BASIC (which wasn't complete,
and still had to be paid for up front... kinda like Windows...)

The reason I quoted Dr. Dobbs Jeff, is that in it's pages, and the pages of Byte,
Kilobaud, Micro, Interface Age, et al, I could search and find similar examples of
people who were still using, properly, the term hobbyist, to refer to the computer
enthusiasts in 1976 and 77. The term did slip away, in time, perhaps because the
hobbyists were swamped by users (there is no date of when this happened, but it
probably started in late 77 or early 78, and was complete by 80) - people who
bought a computer, and it's peripherals, and various kinds of software packages,
and *used* the machines for work or play, but were not in the least interested in
learning about it's "guts", were not in the least enthralled by the beauty of it's
hard/firm/software and never wanted to plumb the depths of the machine itself,
rather users were interested in what it could do for them as a tool, or as
entertainment.

Roy