Re: Rewriting computing history...

["Stephen Shaw" <bottrawler@junkbuster.zzn.com>]

On Wed, 18 Dec 2002 08:32:58 +0000, Paul Schlyter wrote:

> In article <3DFFFC10.20500@noneofyourbusiness.com>, Exegete 
> <millers@noneofyourbusiness.com> wrote:
>  
>> Byron Q. Desnoyers Winill wrote:
>>>>At the bottom of their webpages and announcements they always refer to
>>>>the II.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Ah yes, the "Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the
>>> 1970s with the Apple II."  That is rewriting history in its own right. 
>>> My research suggests that a lot of people were coming up with similar
>>> ideas at the time.  Apple was simply the darling of the 'revolution'
>>> because they met with tremendous success.
>> 
>> But that's the point. They were successful, and thus, did "ignite" the
>> personal computer revolution.
>  
> Nah, the company that did "ignite" the personal computer revolution was
> Intel, who created the very first microprocessor, and then several other
> microprocessors after that.  Without the microprocessor, there would have
> been no personal computers at all....
>  
>> Sure, there were other machines, and other companies, but it was Apple's
>> success that convinced IBM that here was a market that they needed to
>> get into.
>  
> Both Apple's and IBM's computers were too pricey for the average person to
> buy -- those who bought these machines were either enthusiasts or
> businesses.  Only when the cheap clones later arrived did the perconal
> comuter become cheap enough for the average person.

Yeah and what did the 'average' person do with the gift of personal
computing? Played the computer equivalent of "Dallas" on it. What a waste!