3 Jul
2012
3 Jul
'12
7:46 p.m.
cctalk-request at classiccmp.org wrote:
Date: Tue, 3 Jul 2012 21:07:39 +0100 (BST)
From: ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony Duell)
To: cctalk at classiccmp.org
Subject: Re: Today, in the bus to work...
Message-ID: <m1Sm9Nx-000J4TC at p850ug1>
Content-Type: text/plain
The Mac was the first MASS_MARKETED computer to use a mouse to steer a
pointer on the
screen. Of course, the Xerox Alto was the prototype of that.
As for first PC, how about the Bendix G-15? Vacuum tubes, drum memory, and
it sure only ran one program at a time, sometimes for weeks! Or, IBM 1620.
Then, there was the
LINC, about 50 were built in 1965, 2 K 12-bit words of core memory, discrete
transistors, and a dot-drawing screen for editing online. Reel-to-reel
mag tapes
to serve like disks.
And then the Altair 8080 and SW Tech 6800 machines.
Jon
.. I overheard two teenage girls examining each
other on tech history.
Girl A : "The first PC was ....?"
Girl B : "...the Macintosh !"
Girl A, looking in her textbook : "Correct !"
Sigh.......
ARGH!!!!
Of course "first PC" is open to debate,
but a Mac ?
Can anyone give a resonable justification fo that answer. I actualyl
can';t think of anythign the Mac was 'first' for.