[cctalk] Re: Experience using an Altair 8800 ("Personal computer" from 70s)

To my mind, there are two things that define a computer as a personal computer. The first is what you say above, affordable by the masses. The second is "intended for" the masses. When the Jan 75 issue of Popular Electronics came out I was 9 years old. I didn't know the magazine existed, nor could I have afforded a subscription if I did. But I knew what computers were, and I knew I wanted one. But they were untouchable to me. I had seen one at my dad's office, and even seen some programmers (up near the same category as seeing an astronaut to me.) But having a computer was a dream, like owning an F-4 Phantom. A couple of years later I saw the TRS-80 in a Radio Shack catalog. That was my first sight of a "personal" computer. The price ($599?) was WELL outside what I could afford, but it was achievable. AND... it was marketed toward "average" people! Until I saw the TRS-80, owning a computer was a dream. After, it was a goal. I strongly suspect that many people felt much the same way when they saw their own first personal computer, whether it was a TRS-80 or an Altair or whatever. But very few had that reaction to, say, A 9830. And the masses didn't get a flyer in the mail advertising a 5100 to them. Just my 1/2 cent worth. Will Grownups never understand anything by themselves and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them, Antoine de Saint-Exupery in The Little Prince