Sam Ismail wrote:
>
> Check out Tandy's version of history from their web page:
>
> "1977 TRS-80 Model I Personal Computer introduced.
> (First mass-marketed personal computer. In contrast to
> build-it-yourself computers available at the time, the TRS-80
> was fully-wired and tested. Sold at a breakthrough price of
> $599. More than 200,000 TRS-80 computers were sold from
> 1977 to 1981.)"
>
> Ok, let's conveniently forget about the Apple ][. This is the most
> blatant denial of reality and outright lie I've ever seen a company
> publicly endorse.
Well, I've seen companies publicly endorse far bigger lies. It is
true that the Model One shipped to _end users_ in quantity before
either the Apple II or the Pet, despite those systems being
announced and advertised months earlier -- since the TRS-80 wasn't
announced until 5000 of them had actually been built. Beyond that
it depends on the definition of "mass-marketed" -- since Tandy had
a large retail chain, and Apples and Pets were sold through mostly
smaller outlets.
> "1980 TRS-80 Model 100 Portable Computer introduced.
> (First computer ever to feature five programs and a
> telephone modem built-in. Used by journalists throughout
> the world.)"
>
> First I question the year (I know it was later than 1980). This claim is
> dubious at best. Mostly its broad and irrelevant. It seems they're
> trying so hard to make this seem like a breakthrough (it was) that they
> forgot to mention the real reasons why.
It was 1983 and I personally addressed several hundred of them to
the Los Angeles Times.
>
> "1984 Tandy 1000 Personal Computer introduced.
> (First PC-compatible personal computer. Within one year,
> the Tandy 1000 became the best-selling PC-compatible
> computer.)"
>
> God, what a load of chicken turds. I think they missed this distinction
> by 3 years and umpteen other companies. I'd like to kick the guy who
> wrote all this crap in the nuts.
There I can agree, it wasn't even Tandy's first PC compatible, which
was the Tandon-built Tandy 1200 piece of crap. It _was_ outselling
either IBM or Compaq within a year despite my best efforts.
--
Ward Griffiths
They say that politics makes strange bedfellows.
Of course, the main reason they cuddle up is to screw somebody else.
Michael Flynn, _Rogue Star_
Received on Mon May 25 1998 - 19:17:46 BST