Computers

The past ten years have brought much change to the world of computers, communications, and consumer products. Let’s review how far we’ve come. In 1980, personal computers were Apple IIs, Radio Shack TRS80s, Commodore Pets, and perhaps lesser known SOL20s and Exidy Sorcerers. Mini-computers were PDP 11/70 and VAX 11/780. Remarkably, punch cards were still around for those “big jobs.” The Commodore 64 appeared in 1981 and eventually won the home computer war against the likes of game machines such as the Atari 2600 VCS and Atari 5200, Mattel Intellivision, and others because it was a “real” computer instead of just a game machine. The C64 and its successor, the C128, also won over other similar home computers such as the Atari 400/800 and the various flavors of Radio Shack TRS80 models. This was a crazy time for the birth of the home computer. Many companies came and went in an attempt to provide the next hot consumer product.
In 1988, Sharp introduced an electronic organiser call the Wizard. With application programs on solid-state “credit cards”, the Wizard was basically an electronic address book and appointment scheduler. Palmtop computers were introduced in 1990 by Atari with the Portfolio and in 1991 by Hewlett-Packard with the 95LX. There were intended to take the Wizard concept one step further by adding a bigger display, a mini-QWERTY keyboard, and MS-DOS compatibility. Also in 1993 Hewlett-Packard upped the ante with a newer palmtop called 100LX and a subnotebook called the Omnibook 300.
The Newton and CD-I concepts are the first generation of the new convergence of computers, communications, and consumer products. They are not traditional televisions or phones or computers, but a hybrid of each. As new technologies become available, the fine line between these products gets even fuzzier.