The "FIRST PC" and personal timelines (Was: And what were th

Just a couple of stray thoughts. While a person could possibly have purchased a $300 computer in the 50's, why would they? What could they have done with it? The answer is almost nothing. The only people who might have been interested would have been ham radio or electronics hobbysists, and they would very likely have built there own. I don't even believe there was a viable used market for low cost computers in the 50's, they would all have been enormous mainframes. To make things a bit more difficult, I believe "personal computer" is a term that invites trouble. It seems so simple, but when you look at it, you see that it means ANY computer put to personal use. If you have an old 360 in the garage you use to balqnce your chequebook, this qualifies as a personal computer. The term is very open ended and any attempt to limit it by a specialised definition will likely result in gibberish. A new term will need to be chosen, especially for earlier, small individually used pieces of equipment, which is what we are trying to quantify.