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Aucbvax.1695 fa.apollo utzoo!duke!decvax!ucbvax!FJW@MIT-MC Sat Jun 13 01:51:51 1981 The nature of personal workstations. It seems that how a manufacturer meant for a machine to be used and what the customers ended up doing can be widely divergent.

Case in point: the SEL 32/xx is a 32-bit mini meant to be used in OEM Real-Time control applications. Many customers found that they had a real computer on their hands and started demanding a more human-oriented program development environment and they are slowly getting their way.

Other cases: Commodore, Tandy, and Apple all came out with less than adequate (in one way or another), but very inexpensive micros. Their users were fortunately saved by a thriving after-market cottage industry. OSI (and others), on the other hand, produce products for which software is mainly available from the manufacturer. Their users are floundering due to the scarcity of software and lack of freedom of choice. (My bet is that the Osborne 1 will eventually fade for the same reasons.)

I just spent the majority of this past week helping a financial type window shop for a micro package that will give him the flexibilty to "program" his needs, but without having to be a programmer or to hire one.

The points: let's not watch this OI industry repeat the same mistakes (again!), and let's not underestimate the non-programmer's desire to make a machine work the way *S/HE* wants.

--Frank

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