28 May
2024
28 May
'24
10:57 a.m.
I still return to.
-->Who bought them?<--
Unless at least 5% (see quibbling below) of new purchases were by private individuals, not
required for their gainful employment, they are "single user computers", not
"personal computers". "Personal" is how they are used, not how they
could be used.
They do not become "personal computers" 40 years later when the only sales,
used, are to private individuals. If I buy a retired electric streetcare, does that make
all streetcars "personal transportation"?
Actually, I'd prefer to say 10% of purchases, where a corporate PO for 2500 computers
in a lot counts as one, and Sally Smith buying one for her kids to play with also counts
as one. Fred Jones buying one to manage his personal stock portfolio counts as personal,
but Sara Perez buying one to manage her paid clients' portfolios does not.
<pre>--Carey</pre>
On 05/28/2024 9:24 AM CDT Sellam Abraham via cctalk
<cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
On Tue, May 28, 2024, 7:16 AM Paul Koning via cctalk <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
wrote:
And that makes sense. Consider that cell phones have always clearly been
personal phones, but the first ones were definitely not priced for the
"average person", not by a long shot.
paul
Are you comparing a telephone, which can and only ever has (until the
speakerphone) been able to be used by one person and one person only?
The term "personal" as we use it for computers does not at all apply to
telephones. Telephones are more akin to toothbrushes in terms of their
use, or in a family situation, the toilet. It's not at all a fitting
analogy.
Sellam
>