On 6/5/2024 9:33 AM, Bill Degnan via cctalk wrote:
On Wed, Jun 5, 2024 at 9:03 AM Will Cooke via cctalk <cctalk@classiccmp.org>
wrote:
On 06/05/2024 7:17 AM CDT Liam Proven via cctalk <cctalk@classiccmp.org>
wrote:
It isn't personal if an ordinary person can't afford it.
That isn't _the people_. The People means hoi polloi. It means
ordinary people. It means the masses. A personal computer is only
personal if the person in question is an ordinary Joe.
To my mind, there are two things that define a computer as a personal
computer. The first is what you say above, affordable by the masses. The
second is "intended for" the masses.
So if a computer was built to be used by a single operator for general
purpose use, open to any application development but cost more than the
masses could afford, even if it was clear in the manual that the machine
was manufactured and intended to be used for general purpose computing,
it's not a "personal computer"?
I think the term "personal computer" is impossible to define. Its
meaning will mean something different to just about anybody. Kinda
like "intelligence". Some accept IQ as a measurement. Some accept
membership in Mensa as a measure of very high IQ. I, on the other
hand, I see membership in Mensa a a factor requiring the subtraction
of at least 50 points from IQ because they were stupid enough to pay
someone for it. :-)
bill
