Rumors

My first computer was an Atari 1200XL that I received from my parents for Christmas in the early 80′s on my 12th or 13th birthday.? Sadly, the black and silver 1200XL did not make the list.? Only the Atari 400/800′s were included in the article.

A few years later, in 1984, my brother bought our first IBM PC XT and I helped setup the family business on ACCPAC Accounting software around 1989.? I remember many hours sitting in a cold office punching numbers in from hand written books and making sure everything balanced.

I bought my first 286/PC in 1989 and my first 486/33 in 1992.? Right around this time is when I started selling PC hardware, and I had many machines during this time until 1995, when I pretty much was out of hardware.?

I started selling internet email and limited access in 1992 via my BBS.? In 1994, my brother and I started one of Indiana’s first ISP’s and my focus shifted from PC’s and hardware to all things Internet.? I’ve always kept a fond place in my heart for computer hardware, but find myself less and less interested in the latest/greatest PC only innovation.

As a good friend of mine use to say, “It’s all about the software” when he compared the old PC’s, Amiga’s and Mac’s.?? How right he was.? It is all about the software.? Be it from my workstation running OS X up to the latest dual-core, multiprocessor servers running Linux…?? The vast functionality differences between different “layers” of hardware today lies in the software, not in the minute genetic differences in most of the hardware.

All in all, this is a very informing read and brought back a ton of memories.

Total share: 30 years of personal computer market share figures : Page 1]]>