I love documentaries and documentaries about the early PC revolution are near and dear to my heart because I remember those days. I got my first computer, a Kaypro 4, in 1984. It was a suitcase-sized all-in-one “transportable” that ran CP/M, a command-line based operating system, just like described in the video. I studied every computer magazine I could get a hold of and the Kaypro looked perfect because my primary need was to replace my trusty manual typewriter.

I don’t remember if it was before or after I’d bought my bought my Kaypro, but I remember seeing my first Apple Lisa in a computer store in Brea. The $10,000 price tag, in 1984 dollars, was a lot more than I could imagine spending on anything. Which is funny when I think that I ended up spending $2,000 on my Kaypro and then followed it up with another $2,000 a couple years later when I bought my Kaypro 10… it had a 10MB hard drive… crazy! And I’ve been on this unfortunate technology upgrade cycle ever since. Here’s a link to an article I wrote about the future of the IBM XT for a journalism class I took in 1987. 

Sometimes I wish I’d have kept some of these old computers. I don’t know what I’d do with them. Things were generally beginning to fail or not live up to expectations before I’d start searching for the next latest and greatest. And as good as I got using my Phillips screwdriver to open these beasties up and swap out circuit boards, etc., I had no interest in soldiering things when they began to fail. So if I had kept any of them it would be because they would be nice to look at but would have no practical value. Remember, I got into this mess so that I could write. 

Being from the old days, I’m not looking forward to the demise of the desktop/folders metaphor. That’s one reason why I still have a desktop computer and haven’t completely switch over to a tablet, I need more control of the thousands of images and hundreds of videos and documents that I produce. I enjoy thinking about the good ol’ days, but I don’t want to go back to the limitations they demanded. I’ve been doing this long enough to know that technology does better when users, like moi, are part of what pushes how the technology is used, beyond what the engineers could have even imagined. 

I hope you enjoy the video and I look forward to the Verge’s expended presentation of this material. Enjoy.