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Micromania: The Whole Truth about Home Computers (1984)

27 points by sohkamyung 5mo ago

MoonWalk 5mo ago
"My second computer is a Commodore 64, which I use for developing game programs. This machine was my software publisher’s choice; I would have preferred an Atari." Now I know the author was legit.
- jnaina 5mo ago
  Asolutely. Atari 800 > Commodore 64.
bartread 5mo ago
I’ve still got a copy of this on a shelf somewhere in the house. Mine is the paperback edition with the funky comic style artwork of a dishevelled guy hunching over a computer in the middle of a tip of a room though. I can’t remember whether I bought it or was given it, but it would have been some time around 1988 or 1989, because I think I still had my ZX Spectrum at that point. Or I might have picked it up on a choir tour in the early summer of 1990 - by which time I was into a relatively brief ownership of a C64 - because I have distinct memories of reading it on a narrow boat. I enjoyed it quite a lot but, even then, its somewhat satirical take on microcomputers and the culture around them already felt quite outdated in many ways, so it was like a slightly jaded insider’s view into a past I hadn’t quite experienced - especially user groups. At any rate it obviously made an impression because 36 years later I still own it - even though I probably haven’t read it in 35 years (though I did read it several times) - which I cannot say for a lot of books I had from my childhood and teen years.
saulpw 5mo ago
> This leads us to Platt’s Second Law of Computers: People like computers because computers do what they’re told. The job they actually perform is less important than their obedience in doing it. This is why I loved computers as a kid. The adults and systems around me were capricious but computers had reproducible behavior.
- smackeyacky 5mo ago
  This is interesting. I became enamoured of computers in the 8 bit age because those blinking cursors seemed to offer endless possibilities. I don’t think I ever looked at one as obedient, more a willing but strict companion. In a lot of ways the LLM era seems like a culmination of that illusion.
someone_old 5mo ago
I thought you were talking about the spanish "micromania" magazine: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microman%C3%ADa https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microman%C3%ADa

27 points by sohkamyung 5mo ago

"My second computer is a Commodore 64, which I use for developing game programs. This machine was my software publisher’s choice; I would have preferred an Atari." Now I know the author was legit.

jnaina 5mo ago
Asolutely. Atari 800 > Commodore 64.

bartread 5mo ago

I’ve still got a copy of this on a shelf somewhere in the house. Mine is the paperback edition with the funky comic style artwork of a dishevelled guy hunching over a computer in the middle of a tip of a room though. I can’t remember whether I bought it or was given it, but it would have been some time around 1988 or 1989, because I think I still had my ZX Spectrum at that point. Or I might have picked it up on a choir tour in the early summer of 1990 - by which time I was into a relatively brief ownership of a C64 - because I have distinct memories of reading it on a narrow boat. I enjoyed it quite a lot but, even then, its somewhat satirical take on microcomputers and the culture around them already felt quite outdated in many ways, so it was like a slightly jaded insider’s view into a past I hadn’t quite experienced - especially user groups. At any rate it obviously made an impression because 36 years later I still own it - even though I probably haven’t read it in 35 years (though I did read it several times) - which I cannot say for a lot of books I had from my childhood and teen years.

saulpw 5mo ago

> This leads us to Platt’s Second Law of Computers: People like computers because computers do what they’re told. The job they actually perform is less important than their obedience in doing it. This is why I loved computers as a kid. The adults and systems around me were capricious but computers had reproducible behavior.

smackeyacky 5mo ago
This is interesting. I became enamoured of computers in the 8 bit age because those blinking cursors seemed to offer endless possibilities. I don’t think I ever looked at one as obedient, more a willing but strict companion. In a lot of ways the LLM era seems like a culmination of that illusion.

someone_old 5mo ago

I thought you were talking about the spanish "micromania" magazine: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microman%C3%ADa https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microman%C3%ADa