Power Surge in Personal Computers

Report Outline
Special Focus

Overview

In January 1979. Theron Fuller had recently finished his Ph.D. in sociology and no longer had access to his college mainframe computer. His interest in computers unabated, he joined a burgeoning group of consumers and hobbyists and bought an Apple II personal computer, one of a handful of brands that were reasonably priced and didn't require hours of tedious wiring and soldering. He now works for the Army in a job that requires him to use an electronic “spreadsheet” to do financial analyses.

Weaned from the limitations of a huge and expensive mainframe, at work Fuller uses an IBM personal computer. At home he still enjoys the use of his Apple, which he uses for word processing, home finance, educating his children and playing games.

One weekend a month Fuller joins 30 or 40 of his fellow Apple enthusiasts at a local community college where they spend a couple of hours trading questions about software problems and demonstrating the latest accessories for the computers with the famous trademark of an apple with a bite out of it. “It's my electric train.” Fuller, who lives in Alexandria. Va, said with a chuckle.