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"Sure, I had a C64 when I got 8 years old and my first PC with 11, but until I got my PC I knew basically nobody in any age group that had a computer." Wild. W

"Sure, I had a C64 when I got 8 years old and my first PC with 11, but until I got my PC I knew basically nobody in any age group that had a computer." Wild. Where did you grow up? I ask because I was born in 1970, and by the time I got a computer (a TRS-80 Color Computer 2; 16K of RAM, baby!) in about 1982, I was far from the first kid I knew to have one (though I definitely was on the leading edge). I wrote all my high school papers on it, and by the time I graduated in 1988 I'd say at least half the papers being turned in had those tell-tale rough edges from tractor-feed paper run through dot-matrix printers. By then, several friends had moved up from CoCo/C64/Apple II style machines to PCs (or, in one case, an early Mac). My family was firmly middle/upper-middle class, but we were in a very poor state (Mississippi). Now, most of these were household computers, shared by everyone in the house, but still: the upshot was "lots of PC penetration in homes in south Mississippi by 1988."

irremediable 7y ago
AFAIK the US got computers earlier than most places, even other First World countries. Large disposable incomes and a large, relatively homogeneous market. My family were middle class (teachers) in the UK, and moderately early adopters; we still only got our first PC in the mid-90s.
- ubermonkey 7y ago
  I guess I knew that. UK also had some pre-PC home computers that were homegrown, right? Acorn, et. al.?
  - dep_b 7y ago
    The UK seemed to have all of the good stuff in spades. I wouldn't be surprised if a larger percentage of people had computers at home in the UK than the US in the 80's, so much software and hardware was made there, lots of publications like Amiga Format and Commodore User. When you look at the total market the US probably was bigger back then and probably nothing would compare to larger hubs like SV, NY or even Seattle.
k__ 7y ago
I grew up in Germany. Yes, the C64 was an old bin then already, but many of my friends had one and "it hass all the games (TM)". When I got into a new school with 10 (1995), I met a bunch of people who had PCs, but they only had them because their parents were working in IT. I grew up in a small town. My family is all working class. I was the first who studied at university and nobody in my family, even in my generation, got out of working class.

irremediable 7y ago

AFAIK the US got computers earlier than most places, even other First World countries. Large disposable incomes and a large, relatively homogeneous market. My family were middle class (teachers) in the UK, and moderately early adopters; we still only got our first PC in the mid-90s.

ubermonkey 7y ago
I guess I knew that. UK also had some pre-PC home computers that were homegrown, right? Acorn, et. al.?
- dep_b 7y ago
  The UK seemed to have all of the good stuff in spades. I wouldn't be surprised if a larger percentage of people had computers at home in the UK than the US in the 80's, so much software and hardware was made there, lots of publications like Amiga Format and Commodore User. When you look at the total market the US probably was bigger back then and probably nothing would compare to larger hubs like SV, NY or even Seattle.

k__ 7y ago

I grew up in Germany. Yes, the C64 was an old bin then already, but many of my friends had one and "it hass all the games (TM)". When I got into a new school with 10 (1995), I met a bunch of people who had PCs, but they only had them because their parents were working in IT. I grew up in a small town. My family is all working class. I was the first who studied at university and nobody in my family, even in my generation, got out of working class.