Re: Computing Editorial (please read)

[Eric Smith <eric-no-spam-for-me@brouhaha.com>]

Lee Hart <leeahart@earthlink.net> writes:
> Certainly, most manufacturers intended their products for people with a
> technical background. However, a very large number of people who bought
> and used them were rank amateurs. I was a high school student, for
> example.

Yes, but they were rank amateurs who were willing to learn how to use
a product that was designed for *professionals*.  They weren't some toy
educational MCUs, which is what you seemed to be asking for.  The vendors
did provide some educational materials for them, but only for the purpose
of training people who already had an engineering background.  They
certainly weren't aiming the products at hobbyists.  If hobbyists wanted
to buy them through distributors, that was fine, they were happy to
get the business [*].  But they didn't go out of their way for it.

Eric



[*]  No longer true of many semiconductor vendors, unfortunately.  For
many parts you can't even get a real datasheet if the vendor doesn't
believe you'll buy 100K parts per year.