The year 1977, as it turns out, was revolutionary. As decades fly by, we may not remember it as the year punk broke through, the year skateboarders got vertical. Instead, history may be more likely to mark it as the epoch-changing moment when the computer came home.
Until 1977, computers were mega-massive fearsome things, punch-card spewing titans that sprawled across huge laboratories, reels reeling, demanding air-conditioning and dust-proofing. They were tempestuous beasts with an appetite for electricity, tended by tiny bald men with white coats and clipboards., a
Suddenly, amazingly, unexpectedly, miraculously, computers entered the home — after knocking politely. They had odd, funny, and now nearly-forgotten names: Commodore, Tandy/Radio Shack, Apple. And they did amazing things, totally astonishing feats that we can't help but laugh about now, but which seemed totally astonishing at the time, damn it. We loved them. We all remember our first one, even though some of us have a hard time recalling the last name of our first love.
Oh, and 1977 was the year the name "Microsoft" was registered.
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