[Info-vax] Fwd: Apple says company co-founder Steve Jobs has died

[david miller]

On 10/11/2011 04:43 PM, Rich Jordan wrote:
> On Oct 11, 4:41 pm, MG<marcog... at SPAMxs4all.nl>  wrote:
>> On 11-10-2011 23:24, Bob Eager wrote:
>>
>>> They weren't that bad...people still pay vast sums for Apples, after all.
>>
>> That's a good point.
>>
>> I do remember that the very first were even more expensive than Macs
>> are today, even without taking inflation into consideration.  I read
>> a while ago that the first, or first generation, IBM PC was in the
>> price range of thousands of dollars (thus similar to that of a new
>> car, or a VAXstation at introduction).
>>
>> Though, I must admit, I don't remember those days too well; I was
>> still very young back then, after all.  Were IBM PCs hyped in the
>> same way as Apple Macs are today?
>>
>>    - MG
>
> IBM PC was the second coming.  It was hyped the way Windows 95 and NT
> were hyped for years before release.  They were going to change the
> world, bring computing to everyone, destroy Unix and VMS and all other
> comers well before anyone actually saw them or used them.  I used to
> have a stack of unix magazines that were 20% about the coming of NT
> before it came... the pc mags might as well have been the rantings of
> the ayatollah about the impending worldwide takeover for all their
> objectivity.
>
> Of course it became in part a self fulfilling prophecy.
>
> People forget how expensive things were back then.  I paid $1200 for
> my first 48K Apple ][+ and another $400 for a third party floppy and
> controller (the Apple unit was $700 or so in 1981).  EVERY
> manufacturer charged tons for their named parts, and third party
> options were legion.  FWIW the Apple still works, as does the Disk ]
> [... the third party Lobo drive and controller died a long time ago.
>
> I could pull out a late 1980s DECdirect for a really scary number of
> digits in a price, or my early Byte and Creative Computings but they
> are well packed in the back of storage, so sorry, not now.
>
>> From the IBM website the original 1981 base cost was $1565 for a bare
> unit:
>
> "The $1,565 price bought a system unit, a keyboard and a color/
> graphics capability. Options included a display, a printer, two
> diskette drives, extra memory, communications, game adapter and
> application packages — including one for text processing."
>
> I don't have prices for the 'options' that made the system usable.
>
> The first Mac in 1984 was $2495 'complete' with monitor, floppy, and
> base application software.  Limited but entirely usable.
>
> Some comparison: from a 1982 Advanced Computer Products catalog ( so
> discounted, not retail); it didn't have IBM PCs or clones yet, but I
> know our college had a clone by late 1982 so they were out there (and
> a damn site cheaper than the real thing).  Unfortunately my Computer
> Shopper magazines from the time are long since gone, so the catalog is
> all I have left.
>
> Loaded Apple ][+, 48K, Disk II with controller (floppy), Sanyo 12"
> green monitor, game paddles, 10 floppies (and DOS):  $2165.
>
> Apple ][+ 48K base system  $1530 -  Disk ][ Floppy and controller:
> $645
>
> Epson MX70 printer (revolutionary for the low price)  $405
>
> Visicalc: $199
>
> Xerox 820 DTC1, dual floppy display terminal, one commercial s/w
> package:  $2995
>
> Atari 800, 16K base unit: $799    (floppy disk drive $499, dual floppy
> $1350)
>
> Cheapest floppy drive:  Shugart SA400: $299 (bare drive)
>
> Cheapest video terminal:  Soroc IQ120: $749.00
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>
What?  You've left out the HP 150!  A 12" green "touch" screen that 
almost emulated IBM's PC.  But that was before clones and nobody, not 
even HP, wanted to go toe-to-toe with IBM's patents.  I had a modem and 
FORTRAN for that little beasty but no hard drive.  HP was the first, 
iirc, to use 3.5" floppies.  I don't even want to think about the cost.

David.