Why is the Coleco Adam so popular?

The Coleco "Adam" was one of the first mass-marketed "home" computers which was sold as a complete unit, i.e. it had a printer and storage device (originally a tape drive of some odd sort), and coming from a relatively popular game maker didn't hurt either. The basic unit IIRC cost very little and, I'm not sure of this, but I do recall a price of <$500 for the entire mess. The price was quite low, so it was quite frequently purchased. People unwilling to admit they couldn't get it to do anything useful simply threw them out and bought a Kaypro or something similar. I saw many of these make the trip from the store to the dumpster in less than a month, though, since they only "sorta" worked. The challenge here was to make them do something useful, which was quite a feat, I guess. Dick -----Original Message----- From: Jim &lt;DD950(a)prodigy.net&gt; To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers &lt;classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu&gt; Date: Tuesday, September 14, 1999 4:37 AM Subject: Why is the Coleco Adam so popular? Sorry for the previous post, it got away from me before I was finished :-( This might be a bit off of at least the current topics, but probably the best place to ask this question. I have to admit I bought one of the Coleco Adam computers in the summer of 1984 (The Adam bomb). I soon found that it really didn't work and like most I returned it to Toys-R-Us for a refund. I bought a KayPro 2X then and was very happy with it. I used the KayPro up until 1993. Recently I searched for information on the Kaypro on the Web and other than some pictures of the old machines I really found very little about the KayPro computers or company. But then tonight I noticed a link to a Web site on the darn Coleco Adam and I found that there are still many devotees of the little system, many Web pages, and even complete systems for sell!! These people are still having conventions!! I would think it would be the other way around. It seems as the Kaypro should still have it's UG's and Web sites and the almost worthless Adam would be long forgotten. Can somebody tell me why the Adam has enjoyed so much loyalty from people 14 years after the two year poduction run ended in bankruptcy? I really am mystified by this. Jim