I'm always amazed at what Laurent de Vilmorin wrote in the first issue of the french magazine L'Ordinateur individuel in 1978, he nailed many important topics https://t.co/uvZAzuIHus
"Personal computing is therefore a rapidly evolving world, affecting those who produce it, those who sell it, and those who buy and use it. Where is this evolution leading?
We will start with the current situation, which could be described as "fun personal microcomputing." It seems to us that this will continue to develop steadily, but not spectacularly. Small systems are sold like science toys: for the fun of assembling and programming components.
But it's likely that one day many more truly useful applications will be developed. These will undoubtedly lead to a transformation of the market, as buyers' motivations will become different and stronger. This will likely push developers to create even more powerful and user-friendly software.
The sales pitch will increasingly focus on usability, rather than on the quality and intellectual appeal of the product, as is often the case today. We will then enter a phase of "useful personal computing."
As software becomes increasingly valuable, the issue of its protection will arise, particularly against competition. Perhaps the most effective protection will be to abandon the concept of the universal computer and to specialize the hardware (which will then cost even less than it does now) around a specific application. We will then have entered a third phase that we could call "specific personal computing."
Finally, we mustn't forget the upheavals that will certainly occur in this field when major telecommunications companies offer remote databases, nor the upheavals that giants like IBM, Japanese companies, and others will undoubtedly cause when they enter this market.
Finally, components of personal computing that are not often discussed will one day play a leading role: these are all the encoders, micro-sensors, and microcontrollers through which personal information systems (PIS) will be able to penetrate the daily lives of people in their homes.
Will personal computing exist in the form of domestic robots? Luxury toys for inventive adults? Will it be a mass medium with software interspersed with advertising messages? Will it be an extension in every home of an information system manipulated by the Big Brother of 1984?"
@MeitinerBrian Will do, thanks! One more 🙏 do you recall why certain units were distributed as Diablo Brothers? Was it anything to do with the ALG lawsuit?
@MeitinerBrian Im afraid to date we have only found copies of the Spanish laserdisc. Any clues as to the whereabouts of a disc with such dual language release?
@OUTTA__LINE@historydefined@grok Nice but buying the phones outperformed the stock. Nowadays a sealed 2007 iPhone sells at around $70k, so 100k / $499 = 200 iPhones x $70k = $14 million (x140 return) 💥