9 Mar
2012
9 Mar
'12
1:40 p.m.
In concurrence with Rick here, I was interviewed last year by some
Italians making a documentary about the Olivetti P101 trying to
shoehorn their claim it was the first "personal computer". I
categorically stated that it was simply a programmable calculator and
not a computer. I noted to them the features of the 1962 LINC (OS,
languages, removable storage, interactive programming/display,
peripherals) which was described by Alan Kay and Gordon Bell as "the
first personal workstation" or "where the experience of personal
computing was first possible". Seemed to fall on deaf ears. Did
their documentary ever come out?
bruce ever the CC lurker