Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!rutgers!ucsd!ucsdhub!hp-sdd!hplabs!hpda!hptsug2!taylor From: nat@bales.UUCP (Nathaniel Stitt) Newsgroups: comp.society Subject: Re: "Personal" Computers Message-ID: <551@hptsug2.HP.COM> Date: 28 Sep 88 17:26:18 GMT Sender: taylor@hptsug2.HP.COM Organization: Bales Scientific Inc., Walnut Creek, CA Lines: 31 Approved: taylor@hplabs I don't want to jump into the middle of a flame war over what seems to me to be a subjective definition of what a "personal computer" is. Let's just say that each person has their own "personal definition" of "personal computer". Here's mine: For me the main thing that makes a computer "personal" is *OWNERSHIP*. If I own a computer and can do with it as I will then that is a personal computer no matter if it is a TRS-80 or a VAX 8600. As it happens I own a 386 AT clone running multi-user unix. My roommate has an account, I have a dial in modem and many of my friends have accounts, but this is *my* *personal* *computer*. If I want to erase all my friends files and trash the hard disk, well, that is my right. If I want to take out the motherboard and break it into 100 pieces I could do that to. I could even go so far as to erase unix from my hard disk and only use MS-DOS from now on :-> The point is that I get to make all the decisions with respect to my own personal computer. On the other hand, the IBM-XT at work is NOT a personal computer because it belongs to my boss and I have no right to trash all the files, or use it as a boat anchor, or try to run unix instead of MS-DOS even though I am the only one who uses it, because it is *not* *mine*. The fact that computers are getting cheaper does not mean personal computers will disapear, only that they will become more powerful. 15 years from now my personal computer will probably have more CPU and mass storage and remote users than the network of suns where I work today but it will still be my personal computer. I can hardly wait. Nathaniel Stitt