This 1981 television report on the burgeoning “newspapers by computer” concept is fascinating on a number of levels:
Amusingly, the project started almost as a lark, with no intention of turning a profit. And they were right! Less so, alas, on the impact of the profitability of the print edition.
And, as Jason Kottke notes, these were “the days when ‘Owns Home Computer’ was a useful differentiating label.” Indeed, Kottke points us to a fascinating essay from the following year by the Atlantic‘s James Fallows chronicling his pioneering use of a fantastically expensive computer to write articles.
