6 Jun
2024
6 Jun
'24
1:35 p.m.
On Thu, Jun 6, 2024, 6:19 AM Bill Degnan via cctalk <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org
wrote:
> Ok, now you're back to cost. Your criteria keep changing. You cannot
> give something meaning when the "something" keeps changing. This is why
> you are refuted.
> I refute you, sir!
> Sellam
There's "personal computing" as a verb and "personal computer" as
an object
classification. These are distinct terms. Using a
UNIVAC 1 for personal
computing purposes does not make the UNIVAC 1 a personal computer in so far
as the UNIVAC 1 was not originally classified (such as with the patent
office) as a device intended for the express purpose of personal computing,
as defined as blah blah blah.
There were no classifications of computers when the UNIVAC was built. They
were just "computers" (spoken in the old-timey news voice). Personal use
did not and could not have even been considered until there was 30 more
years of development to bring costs and size down to make them ubiquitous,
for comparisons to begin to be made so categories could be invented by
marketers, and computers categorized into various classifications. But
none of that matters because it comes down to how they're used.
One could argue that the manufacturer as the right to declare what is and
is not the intended personal use of the thing
they're manufacturing, as
represented by the manuals, promotions and marketing, training, etc.
And it is the right of the buyer to use that product in any way they want,
including personally.
So, I think really it's possible to declare anything a personal computer or
not a personal computer if you have some sort of base
definitions for these
things. I think that's the problem we're having, the terms "personal
computer" and personal computing are not really dictionary words.
Bill
Go back to what I said about the context in which the term was used: at the
time, "computers" were primarily a multi-user, time-sharing affair. To
have a computer for one's own exclusive use is what made it personal, and
that's what Ed Roberts had in mind when he implemented the term.
So you are also refuted. I refute you!
Anyone else, before I clear the board of all the pieces, declare myself
winner, and go home?
Sellam