It was a
memorable day. We had worked all summer, the summer of 1985, 1986 or
1987 (I truly don’t remember), saved money and we were ready to buy our
first homecomputer at the local mall. We had no idea what to buy. I
don’t remember why we chose to buy a Philips NMS 8245. Why would
anybody buy an MSX-2 compatible computer? Why didn’t we go for the ZX
Spectrum? Or the Commodore 64? Was it in our budget?
The magic word was most likely, compatibility. The other word was
MicroSoft. MicroSoft had written the MSX’s operating system and the
programming language called MSX Basic: both were loaded from ROM,
instantly available. Naturally, the MSX-2 was technologically advanced
and way ahead of the other competitors: Z-80, an onboard integrated
video processor, a 3 channel music chip. We could go anywhere with this
computer. Not to mention that data files on the MSX were (practically)
exchangable with the MS-DOS powered PC.
The rest is history: we outgrew our home computer to buy our first
286 AT PC (and I frequently hit myself on the head for daring to
propose to buy an inferior XT those days: that extra money was well
spent). We learned programming with Borland. We laughed when they
bought out Ashton-Tate. We watched the demise of DR-DOS, the rise of
Windows, the fall of Borland, trademarked slogans (Push button
spreadsheet power, Crash Protection), copyrighted buzzwords and all
that. We saw Peter Norton literally grow older (and grey) every year he
appeared on a box-cover, always his arms folded.
The best thing I can remember? The bold prediction that computers
would change our world to become a prominent place in the living room.
Once a nerd. Always a nerd.