Date sent: Thu, 17 Sep 1998 09:24:56 -0700 (PDT)
Send reply to: classiccmp_at_u.washington.edu
From: Uncle Roger <sinasohn_at_ricochet.net>
To: "Discussion re-collecting of classic computers" <classiccmp_at_u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: GUIs 'forced' on people (was Re: Here's something to
consider.)
> Which of course does not mean that the majority of the idiots out there
> don't buy things simply because some guy in a fancy suit says they should.
>
> Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad
> roger_at_sinasohn.com that none but madmen know."
> Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates
> San Francisco, California http://www.sinasohn.com/
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_at_laidbak.com
www.laidbak.com/nerdware
Received on Thu Sep 17 1998 - 22:21:33 BST