8 Oct
2016
8 Oct
'16
2:17 p.m.
On 10/08/2016 09:46 AM, js at cimmeri.com wrote:
I think the people who complain about "Altairs
just sitting on
desks" might be doing so for at least one reason being because a
particular purpose seems to violate the original spirit, intent, and
purpose behind the creation. I hear that a lot eg. "it's a shame
it's just sitting there, not being used."
It's when other purposes come in, and begin to make this hobby
purpose more difficult to engage in and "unobtainium", that the
hobbyists lament. If there were enough for everyone, then there'd be
no complaining.
I have to confess to a certain amount of bemusement when I witness the
phenomenon of game-obsession with early PCs. With the exception of
"home" systems, such as Commodore and perhaps Apple and the like, I knew
very few people who *purchased* a PC for game playing. Did people play
games on PCs? Sure--but that was rarely the reason that anyone ponied
up for a 1970s or 80s multiple-kilobuck system. Mind you, this was
around the time that one could purchase a Porsche 914 for little more
than $3000.
Most of the people I knew purchased a PC to do business applications
(AR, AP, GL, inventory, payroll or word processing) or worked with
spreadsheets. Yet, very little of this is ever discussed on fora such
as the Vintage Computer Federation site.
Indeed, I think it's safe to speculate that the bulk of Intel Inboard
cards were sold to those running Lotus 1-2-3.
After we're all gone, what will future generations think of us? That we
developed new hardware and software solely to play games?
Wow.
--Chuck