GUIs 'forced' on people (was Re: Here's something to consider.)

Date sent: Thu, 17 Sep 1998 09:24:56 -0700 (PDT) Send reply to: classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu From: Uncle Roger <sinasohn(a)ricochet.net> To: "Discussion re-collecting of classic computers" <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Subject: Re: GUIs 'forced' on people (was Re: Here's something to consider.) Then why did peple think that pc's were "toys" until IBM told them it was ok to have one? Engineers were doing great things with Apple II's, but the front office refused to buy them because they weren't "real computers." Then IBM came along with the 5150, and suddenly everyone said, "Oh. It's from IBM. It must be a real computer and now we must buy one." I feel that people also dismissed the first Mac for the same reason. (I know, it had limited apps to start with, but wider initial acceptance would've possibly changed that.) If they had gone on ease of use, elegance of interface, and technological superiority, they wouldn't have bought slow, clunky DOS-based XT's instead. The Amiga suffered the same fate. Drastically superior technically, but perceived by the business world as only a toy. Multimedia was for games and kids until Gates and IBM told them that this new "multimedia" thing they came up with was going to be the wave of the future. Likewise, GUI's were scorned by the business world until MS brought out Windows and told them it was OK to use a mouse. Paul Braun NerdWare -- The History of the PC and the Nerds who brought it to you. nerdware(a)laidbak.com www.laidbak.com/nerdware