14 Oct
2007
14 Oct
'07
2:41 a.m.
Jim Leonard wrote:
I didn't either. 808x had about as long a run of
usefulness as the
other popular/surviving home computers at the time (I'm thinking Apple
II, C64, Mac classic here), which was about 8 years. As to why that is,
I'm still trying to hammer out theories (additional ones are welcome),
such as "the home computer software industry moved at a slower pace back
then" or "computers cost so much back then that people expected them to
last", etc.
I suspect the driving force was peoples' expectations; back then nobody
expected new hardware and software to come out so frequently, and so it just
didn't happen - the computer was a tool, not a status symbol, and purchased
based on whether it filled a need.
I'm not sure if expense comes into it - look how many gadgets people buy these
days (it all adds up!) or how many people change their car each year etc.
Then: "It's a bit clunky, but it does pretty much what I need it to do. Why
should I change?"
Now: "Oh look, new shiny thing!"