Author: Tim Enwall / Source: The Next Web
The most visionary programmers today dream of what a robot could do, just like their counterparts in 1976 dreamed of what personal computers could do.
In 1976, if you had a creative idea for software or dreamed of writing your own computer programs to earn money, you were screwed.
At that time, there were only three choices for the independent programmer:
- Beg your corporation, school, or bank to allow you to program the mainframe for your pet project.
- Program a limited-use processor like a calculator.
- Build your own computer.
i.e., screwed.
Then in 1977 something miraculous emerged: The “Trinity”. The Apple II, the Commodore PET 2001, and the Tandy TRS-80 (affectionately known as the Trash 80) all were released, as if out of nowhere. And all of a sudden, developers who had been quietly dreaming of what computers could do for their jobs, their personal business, and their incomes were in seventh heaven.
For the first 3 or 4 years, pretty much the only buyers of these three computers were programmers because these limited machines just didn’t DO anything that a consumer might want. Yet they unleashed the untapped creative dreams of thousands of ordinary women and men, who in turn enticed the rest of us onboard.
Commodore PET 2001 Series Personal Computer (1977); Photo: Tomislav Medak from Flickr / Editing: Bill Bertram (Pixel8)
The Trinity came out with a very simple — and powerful — value proposition for programmers.
These computers were:- Complete. These were the first personal computers that were sold as fully integrated solutions — the monitorless Apple II being the least so, though most people just hooked it up to their televisions. All featured expansion ports, keyboards, and cassette tape recorders for storage. The TRS-80 even came with a disk drive. This was a huge contrast to the build-it-yourself “Homebrew” systems that preceded them.
- Affordable. The TRS-80 and PET both had configurations available for well under $1000. The Apple II, with groundbreaking color support, was a bit over $1000, but you can see where that concern with visual details got them.
- Super easy to program. All at one point licensed Microsoft BASIC, which is how that company got its effective start.
- General-use and flexible, like “real” (mainframe) computers. These were not calculators or adding machines or Pong consoles. These were general-purpose computers that you could use to program whatever you wanted.
True, they didn’t have vector graphics or much memory, but to have your own computer (that you could take with you in your car!) that did actual computing— it was truly a miracle.
Suddenly, tens of thousands of inventors unleashed their creative ambitions upon the world. In a relatively short time, these men, women, and kids invented all of the modern uses we know and love for personal computers — games, word processors, art tools, spreadsheets, and databases.
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