he student works
furiously at his
microcomputer,
pounding
mercilessly on the
keyboard Muttering "finally,
the student hits a few final keys
and the printer zips out a
12-page term paper Neatly
typed with even margins and no
mistakes, the student grabs it
and races for class
Possible7 Yes Plausible7 For
the majority of college
students, no
Microcomputers may be in
the future for students and
other consumers but the
prices and the dependability
must change before most can
make the investment
"If a person plans on owning
a microcomputer, then they
better know a lot about them
because if they don't they are
sure going to learn fast, says
Ben Thompson president of
Datco. Inc "Not only does it
take a lot of knowledge to
program them, but they are
always breaking down and it is
too expensive to have anyone
but yourself fix them
"Nothing justifies buying
them except for the toy
aspect says Gerald Reicher
of Managerial Computer
Service He points out that
although these simple
computers can be used for
balancing the checkbook and
other simple tasks computer
work takes longer than manual
computation
But that "toy aspect" makes
all the difference for many
"They are a lot of fun says
William Kahn of Your Words
Worth, a typing programming
and word processing business
for students "You can play a
lot of games on them, and as
Computers
Are they toys
or tools?
Story by Mike Riplinger
Graphic by Barbara Paca
3
far as toys go they are one of
the best But they are
complicated toys If you are
going to do anything besides
the basic games that you plug
in you have to know what you
are doing
Kahn estimated that a person
with no computer experience
would need 100 hours of
instruction to even design a
basic program For any further
wizardry, many more hours of
experience is needed
Personal computer prices
start as low as S150 for very
simple ones limited to game
playing Programmable
computers run from
S400-1 000 and computers
capable of running small
businesses range from
Si 000-S5 000 People in
business who want to work at
home can hook up to a much
larger business computer via
phone lines
A person may start out with
an inexpensive computer With
time and money the owner can
construct a complex system
through adding modules
similiar to building a stereo
system Computers under
—1
S1 000 can t do word process
functions print out or store
very much data on their disks
However these extra modules
are expensive costs may run
over $2 500
By the time you get your
system set it costs as much as
if you would have just bought a
complete microcomputer
Thompson says Another
problem with a makeshift
system is that when one of the
modules break down and they
all break down at some time
you have to go through all
kinds of checking before you
find out what isn't working "
Finances dictate nothing but
a step-by-step approach to
building a personal computer
system For those who plan to
go beyond playing games, the
possibilities seem infinite
In addition, the career
aspects of computers are
unlimited The field of
computers is extremely open
Kahn says It is a relatively new
field with tremendous
economic opportunities he
adds
There are all kinds of )ob
offers down in the Silicone
Valley (located in northern
California) and if a person is
willing to travel then it's not too
difficult to get a good job "
Kahn says
America s fanatical
involvement with video games
familiarizes players particularly
kids with computers Any
experience with computers is
helpful Even playing the games
helps you become proficient in
the use of computers he says
Kahn says people learn just
from playing around on them
and it may interest them to try
and to go beyond the toy stage
You ve got two types of people
that play the games The one
who just plays the kind that you
plug in. and the one who
programs his own
If a child starts using them
from a very early age there s
no telling how far he will go
The student s little brother
wanders in and mutters about
the mess his brother left He
shrugs and plugs in Missile
Command Soon his mother
orders DO YOUR
HOMEWORK1 After killing a
few more enemy missiles he
regretfully calls up his algebra
homework and begins figuring
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