Title: Have you ever noticed that... Source:
Old Computers URL Source:http://oldcomputers.net/ Published:May 13, 2010 Author:unknown Post Date:2010-05-13 17:00:21 by Prefrontal Vortex Keywords:None Views:724 Comments:9
Poster Comment:
...old computer ads read EXACTLY like old time radio ads from the 40s and 50s?
I sold every microcomputer BUT the TRS-80 (which was exclusive to Radio Shack) and some were available in kit form or assembled.
The SOL-20's and IMSAI 8080's for instance were about $1,999 as a kit (I built about 12 of them and sold them at assembled prices) and up to $4,500 assembled depending on the supplied RAM.
Those 8080 and Z-80-based (dual phase clock) and 6502 (single phase) chips were obsolete within the first year, and all the computer and memory technology was displaced as "state of the art" every 3 to 6 months for years after.
single sided floppy discs
front panel-addressable in hexadecimal
My boss (a former trumpet player in my band) had a commission schedule all worked out for me for the next several years, detailing my cut if I sold X amount of APPLE II computers, which he believed would be the going micro for the future.
Of course he didn't allow for the quantum leaps in technology that made all of these early "kerosene powered" 'puters obsolete before the proud owners had made 12 installments. (To his credit, he stopped me from buying a Sony Betamax, pointing to VHS as the winning format)
I sold one computer to an Iowa pig farmer and we had to write the software so he could track how many piglets were born, died, laid on and killed by mommy, etc.,. to more easily qualify for his farm loans.
I sold two more to Sandy Hewitt and his mother (son and wife of the prez/CEO of John Deere Corp.-She drove up in a '65 Bentley-one of 25 made that year).
"Yeah, these computers are amazing!" I assured them. "If we only had some software so I could show you what they'll do! Do you have checkbook? How about PONG? Uh, yeah, it's a game....."
______________________
They resembled radio ads because early computers were still aimed at hobbyists-the kind of nerds who built blue boxes and short wave gear, and of course new and improved bomb triggers sought by the disgruntled Ted Kaczynskis out there....We actually sold the computers before there was any practical use for them for the average consumer. But, they were awfully pretty (especially the blue ones) and status conscious consumers with money simply had to have the high end equivalent of the pet rock. The concept of a retail microcomputer store seemed practical in 1977. But now it makes about as much sense as Spatula City.
And, Bill Gates had already made the smartest move of his career-he licensed MS-DOS to IBM instead of selling it outright, a move that (cost him 50K and) made him richer than King Midas. IBM is still kicking themselves for that lack of vision....
