Curators Ignorance - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

19 Jul 1999

In a message dated 7/19/99 7:09:29 AM Eastern Daylight Time, 
Hans.Franke(a)mch20.sbs.de writes:

...
  As we know, TV sets have been a very common display
solution.

  can people forget that fast ?
  Isn't the C64 still (somewhat) around ? Where did these
  museum people live in the past 20 years ? some south sea
  island ? the moon ? or beyond ? 
Oh, probably Mars, which is almost as far away as the Moon ;>)

They can't forget because they never knew.  As has been pointed out here 
before, to most folks "computers" were mysterious, faraway giants controlled 
by trolls -- a totally abstract idea -- until the PC.  So to most people a 
"computer" is a PC, and they have 8 MB SVGA display adapters, 56K modems, 
etc.  What does a TV have to do with that (they ask) ???

Tony Duell wrote:

...
  DOubtless they'd think the same thing about using
audio cassettes/normal 
 cassette recorders for data storage.... 
The first thing people ask me about my old computers is "Where do you put the 
disks in?"  Most people these days would be shocked to learn that the 
original PC could load programs from cassette.

...
  A TV display (US TV) was supported on the IBM PC with
a CGA card. There's 
 an internal connector for an RF modulator, and a composite output on the 
 back. 
Yeah, we've got a junk bin full of those cards at the shop, but who remembers 
that there was an RCA jack in the back of their computer 15 years ago?

Moral of the story: the public knows very little, and has a very short memory.

Glen Goodwin
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