TRS-80 Model 1 (was: Arty computers (was: Re: PDP-11/70 inYates Center, KS)

[Jay West]

Jim wrote...
>> The apple was a flop, yes.  The Commodore also was a flop.  Just look at 
>> the
>> numbers.  The apple was a flop because it was marketed as entertainment 
>> and
>> drawing pictures (which it excelled at)
Uh, most definitely not. The C64 and Apple were both fantastically 
successful.

> while the TRS-80 was a scientific machine that crunched numbers.
I disagree. The TRS-80 was originally sold and marketed as a home system - 
certainly not a number cruncher. They sold it with game tapes & home recipe 
tapes after all. It wasn't until later models that Tandy started 
representing it as a business machine.

>>  Yes, today the tables are reversed, but back
>> then, those of us who were into computers (I had been in computers since
>> 1960 on the IBM 7070) were looking for computing power for serious work.
>> The Apple was just not that.  The Commodore didnt make it because it was
>> under powered and again was marketed toward using it for games not 
>> serious
>> work.
You may have been looking for a microcomputer for serious work back then, 
but 99.9% of the market was not. They were looking for a home system. 
Otherwise, all of the early systems would have been a commercial flop. 
Retail sales to home users is what made the market grow initially IMHO.

Jay