rt of MOAUG's contribution to ANN. 
 
This particular article is an earlier one that may have appeared in MOAUG but had not appeared in ANN as there was no ANN at theJOHN HARRIS writes regularly for the MOAUG newsletter and we carry his articles as part of MOAUG's contribution to ANN. 
 
This particular article is an earlier one that may have appeared in MOAUG but had not appeared in ANN as there was no ANN at the time.  Anyway, I liked it and John was kind enough to send to me on disk. 
[Barry Wilson] 
 
Remembering those early days with ADAM... 
 
By John Harris

     (I wrote this article for The Boca Raton, Fla., Times in l985, before I learned what a super versatile computer I had acquired for so little money. I'm now a firmly hooked ADAMite and member of the Metro Orlando Adam Users Group.) 
     Observations of one who had no intention of buying a home computer--but did:
     I resisted for a long time. Frankly, I felt the home computer was a fad which would soon find its way into America's closets to gather dust alongside Nehru jackets, pet rocks, CB radios, and other items of the "I-thought-I-couldn't-get-along without" genre.
     And besides that--I simply had nothing to compute!
     Who needs one? And for what?
     To balance your checkbook? Of course not! Your friendly banker has batteries of computers which will obligingly notify you anytime you are overdrawn.
     So you can become "computer literate" and a part of the computer age? Forget it!
     After all, we've been in the jet age for some 40 years now, but few of us feel compelled to buy a jet plane or to learn the intricacies of flying one. Who needs to? Dozens of airlines are vying for our dollars and in exchange will fly us anywhere in the world.
     And so it was that I planned to avoid any entangling alliance with computers. 
     That was until two strokes of fate converged into my situation:
     1. I found myself in need of a new typewriter--an urgent matter in that this newspaper expects its reporters to produce each week, and over the years I've acquired an expensive habit of wanting to eat three times a day.
     2. A certain toy company, famous for its Cabbage Patch dolls, found that while customers scrambled over each other to buy the ugly-looking dolls, customers were definitely not scrambling over each other to buy its home computer called the Coleco ADAM. So the company was taking its losses on the non-selling computer, halting production, and cutting the price over 50 percent in an effort to liquidate them.
     That's when I found I could buy the computer and printer for less than I could buy a top line IBM Selectric typewriter. A lot less, in fact.
     So while I wasn't all that sold on the need for a home computer, the opportunity to get my articles written and save a bundle of bucks at the same time appealed to my Scottish heritage of frugality (which my wife insists on calling "cheapness.")
     But before buying, I made the mistake of consulting a few of my computer buff friends about the wisdom of my planned purchase. They scoffed.
     "That's not a serious computer," one told me. "The fact that you buy it at the toy store should tell you something!"
     And another: "Harris, why are you buying a toy, when you live right in the shadow of Big Blue (Boca Raton was birthplace of the IBM PC)?" Well, as best I could figure at the time, there was a difference of about $2,000.
     So I did the only sensible thing--ignored all their advice, went to the toy store, plunked down my $299.95 and came out carrying a very large box.
     Here are some of the discoveries I made with my gingerly debut into the high tech world of computers:
     First, I found that a computer--at least my computer--is not like a typewriter. No way would it fit on my desk. When all set up, there are four pieces of equipment instead of one--a detached keyboard, memory console, printer, and monitor (in my case a TV set), all strung together by wires.
     No way that goes on the kitchen table either.
     So ADAM is now set up in our guest room, occupying a good portion of it.
     When Aunt Bea comes to visit, she will have a choice--share the guest room with ADAM, or truck out to Holiday Inn.
     Printers--at least mine--are loud. It cuts loose with a staccato peck-peck-peck resembling the firing of a Uzi machine gun. I close the guest room door and take a coffee break while its printing.
     Computers, I found, are not "user friendly" despite what the ads tell you. They can be downright cantankerous!
     For instance, I was going to store an article I had written, so I inserted a tape and instructed the computer to store. But it balked, sending me a blinking message saying "Please insert tape or disk."
     That was too much! "Dammit!" I yelled, "I've already inserted the tape, you dumb damn bucket of bits, bytes and bolts!" The computer just continued its robotic blinking and beeping. Didn't comprehend a southern drawl, I guess, or else didn't give a damn. User friendly indeed!
     One might think that when you buy a program for your computer, it will do whatever it is the program was designed to do. After all, if you buy a phonograph record, all you have to do is plop it onto the turntable and immediately you have the melodious sounds of the London Philharmonic wafting through the room.
     But buy a program for your computer and it's more like having to conduct the orchestra--select the instruments, choose the tempo, tell the oboes when to come in, and all that.
     Even though I had been hammering typewriters professionally for 30 years, I found this was of little help when I turned to the computer as a glorified typewriter. I had to go through the manual step-by-step just like everyone else.
     I found the computer has unbelievable capabilities to switch paragraphs, delete sections, make insertions, search out and replace words--amazing feats that your typewriter will not do. It will also set your type in subscript or superscript. And perform numerous other feats that you probably have lived your entire life without needing to do even once.
     But for all its quirks and downright orneryness, I must admit that just a few weeks of word processing on ADAM has spoiled me.
     So my advice on computers is the same as for heroin:  Don't monkey around with either. There's a strong chance you'll get hooked! 
 to conduct the orchestra--select 

