On Thursday 14 February 2008 00:25, Harold Fuchs wrote: > On 13/02/2008 23:27, Lisi Reisz wrote: > > On Wednesday 13 February 2008 23:00, Bob K. wrote: > >> I've been using desktop PCs for over 30 years > > > > Sorry to quibble, but the first PC wasn't launched until August 12, 1981. > > So it can't be _over_ 30 years!! > > > > My ability to _remember_ the history of computers is very distressing. > > Well, at least I can say that I don't remember Colossus, tho' I do > > ante-date it. :-( > > > > Lisi > > Like many other things, IBM arrogated unto themselves the term "PC" for > Personal Computer. In fact, at the time, IBM had a very similar > reputation [for monopolistic practices] to Microsoft's today. There were > several personal computers available years before IBM's came on the > scene. I entered the field late (1982) with a BBC micro. One of the > things available with that system was that the BBC broadcast source code > (BASIC) over the airwaves which you could record onto tape (via a > cassette radio) and then "play" into the micro. Many programs were > distributed this way, all freeware :-)
Harold et al. I said that I was quibbling. :-( I read "PC" too literally as being the desktop computer that first had the name "PC", and its later clones. This is the meaning I took to be what the OP meant, tho' on rereading after your replies I feel that a less semantically purist interpretation is almost certainly what the OP intended. (Just as "Hoover" often means "vacuum cleaner" and "biro" any pen of the same type.) But I myself would still not apply the term "PC" to a Mac. Perhaps I ought to relax more. :-( Lisi --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
