🚀 go-pugleaf

It seems that how a manufacturer meant for a machine to be used and
what the customers ended up doing can be widely divergent.

Case in point:  the SEL 32/xx is a 32-bit mini meant to be used in OEM
Real-Time control applications.  Many customers found that they had a
real computer on their hands and started demanding a more
human-oriented program development environment and they are slowly
getting their way.

Other cases: Commodore, Tandy, and Apple all came out with less than
adequate (in one way or another), but very inexpensive micros.  Their
users were fortunately saved by a thriving after-market cottage
industry.  OSI (and others), on the other hand, produce products for
which software is mainly available from the manufacturer.  Their users
are floundering due to the scarcity of software and lack of freedom of
choice.  (My bet is that the Osborne 1 will eventually fade for the
same reasons.)

I just spent the majority of this past week helping a financial type
window shop for a micro package that will give him the flexibilty to
"program" his needs, but without having to be a programmer or to hire
one.

The points: let's not watch this OI industry repeat the same mistakes
(again!), and let's not underestimate the non-programmer's desire to
make a machine work the way *S/HE* wants.

--Frank