8 Dec
1998
8 Dec
'98
9:41 a.m.
cswiger wrote:
Hmmm.... Fascinating.
After reading some of the sentiments posted recently, what I'm
hearing is that the price of Altair's is a bubble without
underlying value, that is, they may be somewhat rare but aren't
really great machines, like a Ferarri or whatever, and that
the BASIC software for it wasn't very innovative.
I dunno, maybe there wouldn't be such interest if Micro-soft
hadn't become the juggernaught it is today, and MITS would have
been relegated to the dustbin of history.
However - I do see it as the 'Model-T' of PERSONAL computing -
sure everything had been done before but was usually priced
out of the average joe/jane's reach unless they worked in a
research institute or business, in which case they weren't
always allowed free reign to do whatever they wanted.
The Model-T systems of computers were the TRS-80, the Apple-2 and
(hate to say it) the Pet. Something that could be bought by a
common citizen and made to work -- the computer buyer didn't have
to be a serious programmer, the buyer of a Ford T didn't have to
be a full-time mechanic. While I know there were MITS-equivalent
automobile projects published a century ago, none of the names
seem to stand out. Thinking on it, the Ford Model A was the
equivalent of a TRS-80 Model One, the Model T was the equivalent
of a Model 3. The Volkswagen was the equivalent of an IBM PC,
right down to the fascist overseers of the design. (For Ferarri
parallels, go for Cromemco or Xerox).
--
Ward Griffiths <mailto:gram@cnct.com> <http://www.cnct.com/home/gram/>
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