23 Apr
1999
23 Apr
'99
5:37 p.m.
On 22 Apr 99 at 20:02, Richard Erlacher wrote:
I suspect that few of the readers of this list
remember the early '50's as I
do. I wasn't trying to compare or contrast the prices of the antique
computers which were under discussion, but rather point out that few people
would put out a month's pay (gross) for a personal computer, even today. In
the early '50's there were more people, including some professionals, with
less than $300 after taxes (and they were MUCH lower then) than there were
people earning more. There wasn't yet a minimum wage of $1.00 per hour,
and, in fact, when I had a minimum wage job in '60, I earned <$5.00 per
8-hour day. Naturally a $300 computer wasn't on my list of things to buy.
Dick
I think you're understating wages a bit in the early 50s . I remember getting
$125 for a 55 hr week working as a construction laborer on a summer job in
52, and getting $1.75 an hour as a derrickman in the admittedly highpaying
oil-patch in 53. On the other hand I worked as a jr. IBM operator in 55
starting at $35 a week. Office jobs unless you were in management were
notoriously underpaid. I was paying $18 a week for rent. At this time the
Can $ was equivalent or more than the US$ . I took out a loan from the credit
union in order to buy a $125 trumpet. So otherwise your reference to the
high price of "hobby " computers is valid. Of course the larger computers (data
processors) could only be leased, not bought from companies like IBM and
Univac, so even the concept of "owning" a computer would be somewhat ludicrous
unless you were an academic with a liberal budget.
ciao larry
lwalker(a)interlog.com
Let us know of your upcoming computer events for our Events Page.
t3c(a)xoommail.com
Collectors List and info http://members.xoom.com/T3C