Skipware level, late 2012

On 10/15/2012 12:23 PM, Liam Proven wrote: I expect that those are two of the more abundant ones (to tie in with Ethan's "existed abundantly outside of the IBM-compatible PC realm" claim) - but I think that lots of "home computer" manufacturers either gave thought to networking potential right from the start, or did so soon after (e.g. ZNet on RML, ZX Network on Sinclair hardware etc.) At least in the UK, the education sector and the potential for using machines in the classroom seemed to be the main driving force behind it; I'm not sure if that was true elsewhere. There was also a strong "use the right tool for the job" attitude in the UK which saw many "home" machines put into business service (largely on cost/familiarity grounds I think), and that possibly played a part, too. I'm not so sure about the multitasking angle though, at least until the likes of the Amiga came along; there just wasn't the need. You watched video on your TV, you listened to music on your stereo, and you used the computer for whichever computing task was most important :-) cheers Jules