C-64 vs the world (vintage flamebait) (was Re: Micro$oft Biz'droid Lusers)

From: r. 'bear' stricklin <red_at_bears.org>
Date: Wed Apr 24 01:27:23 2002

On Tue, 23 Apr 2002, Richard Erlacher wrote:

> Waidaminnute, waiddaminute ...

I think you need to wait a minute, there, speedy.

> The year I got my first PC/AT (I used 'em at work all the time, but didn't get
> one at home for a while.) I bought a 25 MHz clone (NEAT architecture) with 8
> MB RAM and a pair of 700 MB ESDI drives for $1080. That was with a 1kx768x16
> VGA display board. I hacked it to work with a fixed-frequency (sync-on-green)
> monitor I had sitting around. It was WONDERFUL. That was in early '89.

This struck me as being blatantly wrong, since it seemed to me (if I
recalled) that in early 1989 your 8 MB of RAM would've run nearly $1k by
itself.

So I checked the January 1990 issue of "Byte". These are directly from the
cheap ads at the back, and representative of prices a year (loosely)
after your conjectured purchase date:

Imprimis "766 MB" $3126 (p.303)
Maxtor 8760 2579 (p.303)
Micropolis 1558 1695 (p.311)
ST4144R 605 (p.303)

1Mx9, 30-pin SIMM $ 99 (p.312)

Base 25 MHz 80386 $ 850 (p.311)


I also supposed, being the bargain-conscious person you are, that you
might have been speaking of a 25 MHz 80286. I didn't offer a price because
nobody was selling them, in 1989, OR in 1990. Harris did eventually manage
to push the 80286 to 25 MHz, but I don't believe it happened until at
least 1992.

I admit some margin of error is to be expected, but these prices---sampled
fully eight or nine months after your stated date---do not come close to
corroborating your statements. In consideration of this, I must humbly
submit that you are totally full of shit, or at the very least have made a
grave typographical error.

As for the rest of you honking geese, here's an excerpt from a letter
printed in the "Chaos Manner Mail" column, from the same issue of "Byte":

"Dear Jerry,"

"Over the years I've read several of your philippics against Unix.
Today I have time to write a letter, so I'm going to put my two bits in.

"Most Unix debates, when parsed, are recognizable as religious disputes
between cult insiders and cult outsiders. The position of the insiders is,
'If you would only believe in Unix, you would be saved from the twin
demons of low productivity and ugliness.' The position of the outsiders
is, 'I can manage my productivity a damned sight better than you can, and
I spit on your aesthetic pretensions---get lost.' Such conversations get
really boring fast.

[typos my responsibility]

Can we please move on?

ok
r.
Received on Wed Apr 24 2002 - 01:27:23 BST