I'm Learnding....

In the Beginning There was Apple...and then another giant named IBM joined the fray. In their wake lay a bunch of little insignificant computer companies in the late seventies and early eighties like Commodore, Atari, and the likes. And then there was one little computer that came out called the Coleco Adam...It's biggest claim to fame unfortunately came well after it's demise on an episode of The Simpsons when Gil the Salesman tried to sell a bunch of Coleco's to Principal Skinner after the school came into Oil Money. "Gotta get rust protection...those Coleco's will rust up on you like...awwwww...come on Gil...Make the sale.."

My experience with this little piece of history was more personalized than a TV reference though. Right around the time I started becoming interested in computer (LONG before Al Gore invented the internet, and back in the day when Bill Gates was still stealing Operating Systems to license to IBM for their "PC-DOS" product) my Dad purchased a brand spanking new Adam computer to pique my interest in these new fangled machines. I was elated...this machine could do EVERYTHING...80K of memory, 16 color graphics...could word process AND play Buck Rogers off the high speed tape drive! (Whackly has fond memories of the two of us playing that game for hours in my room).

I guess it could be said that this machine was my gateway to the computer era. It was hard to forsee way back then the influence and dependence computer technology has become on every facet of society. There's hardly a day that goes by that I don't consider myself fortunate to live in the technological era (geez, what would I have done in the stone ages?) of today...So cheers to the Adam...you may be old unimpressive by today's standards, but you will never be forgotten.