23 Apr
2002
23 Apr
'02
3:28 a.m.
And thusly Richard Erlacher spake:
Well, what I know is that my kids had a C64 before they were both in
elementary school and had outgrown it by the time they were 10. I didn't make
that choice, having been divorced from their mother, but it was apparent to
her that they needed something more capable. They had PC/AT's when they were
10. Those were not great, but at least they were adequate. Frankly, if one
considers the competition, the Commodore people picked the video toy market to
play in rather than the home computer market, because they couldn't compete
with Apple and Radio Shack, though they attempted to compete with RS' low-end.
That low-end, e.g. COCO wasn't much to compete with. All these were capable
if you were determined to make them into what they weren't, but if you wanted
a home computer, you were better off buying something that was alread a
computer.
I don't understand how you can call the Commodore 64 a "video toy". My C64
was used for games, but it was also used to do spreadsheets and word
processing. Now compare the cost of the 64 to a PC/AT at the time. And if it
wasn't for this "video toy", I would not be where I am today. (Actually, I
started with the PET, but that is pretty close to a 64)
And I believe that the C64 graphics kicked the PC/AT's ass... ;)
Cheers,
Bryan