Brian Micklethwait at Samizdata rightly credits Capitalism for his ability to indulge his love of classical music with cheap Bach CDs. (Talk about what we take for granted -- the richest Kings in history couldn't hear what they wanted when they wanted. Yet I have access to more than 1500 CDs on a plane thanks to my RCA 40GB MP3 player.)
Brian sez:
People who say that money can't buy happiness are just no good at shopping.
What only 40gb? ;)
Seriously, the amount personal storage each one of us can carry on him is amazing.
Indeed, I can now carry on my keychain 8000 times the memory in my first PC. I really like JK's theory that what the rich have today will be common for the middle class of the next generation.
Posted by: Silence Dogood at December 12, 2004 08:17 AMMy SECOND computer had a full 64K. I wish I had saved the box; it had huge type on the side reading "What Will YOU Do With 64K?"
Today, my answer would be "oh, I'd probably allocate it for a string to allow the user to enter his name..."
The real tale told by this is Schumpeterian. Johngalt and I were at lunch a while back remembering all the disk drive companies that had a huge presence around Boulder in the 80s and 90s. Those jobs are gone, but the opportunities and jobs created by dirt cheap imported disk drives are far more meaningful.
Posted by: jk at December 12, 2004 03:48 PMYeah, I can't remember what I did with my old Apple II. Seems like it would have been a good shape for a doorstop... That was the first computer I owned, after several years of hanging out at a buddy's and playing with his TRS-80 (16K?) hooked up to an old GE tape recorder to load programs. Only took about 20 minutes to load Castle Wolfenstien for text only gaming fun. I have yet to actually upgrade a computer, by the time I get around to thinking about it it's cheaper to just buy a new one.
Posted by: Silence Dogood at December 13, 2004 02:54 PM