Wired Looks to the Past (for a change)

By Dick Estel

Wired magazine started out, to the best of this writer's recollection, as a magazine about the Internet.
Whether this memory is foggy or not, the magazine has grown from an ordinary 1/8 inch thick
publication to a half-inch thick monthly that focuses largely on the future, and the movers and shakers
who are leading us there.

On its web site, Wired declares:

"Wired magazine is the journal of record for the future. It's daring. Compelling. Innovative.
Courageous. Insightful. It speaks not just to high-tech professionals and the business savvy, but also to
the forward-looking, the culturally astute, and the simply curious."

How the Commodore fits into this vision only the editors of Wired can know. Nonetheless, a visit last
fall to the Vintage Computer Faire in Santa Clara by a free lance author who frequently contributes to
Wired led to the strange events in Corcoran described by Robert Bernardo in his column this month. 

Overall the tone of the article is respectful. Those who continue to stick with the computing technology
of the 1980's are described a "retroactivists." The article recognizes several subgroups. Many people
continue to use their Commodore (Amiga, Osborne, TRS80, whatever) because it still does what they
need it to do.

Others could be more appropriately called collectors or archivists. They have computers that they don't
use (and sometimes can't use, due to malfunctions). But they're cool because they're from the old
days, like a classic car.

Another approach is that of NewDeal, a company that provides upgraded software that will run on
pre-Pentium PC's. As new programs require more computing horsepower, many users are "stuck on
an upgrade merry-go-round that forces them to shell out $2500 or so very couple of years for a new
machine." As NewDeal's CEO, Clive Smith says, "The fact is that those older machines work fine.
You don't need a Ferari to go to the supermarket."

Here's another quote from the Wired article, on their encounter with president of our user group:

"Why struggle with a machine that has no graphical Web browser? 

'Because it's an old friend,' says Robert Bernardo, patting the monitor of his C64. I've encountered
Bernardo, president of the Fresno Commodore User Group, at the Vintage Computer Festival in Santa
Clara, California. The club's motto, Bernardo tells me, is "Taking 8 Bits to the 21st Century," and the
majority of its members use the C64 as their primary computer. 

Lots of diehards are like Bernardo: They use orphaned platforms no longer supported by the original
manufacturer, and they depend on a network of tiny third-party software and hardware developers to
keep their machines going."

Finally, here's Wired's summary of the history of Commodore: 

"Commodore VIC20/C64 Introduced: 1981 Died: 1992 
Resurrection Hot Spots: Commodore 8-bit server www.hut.fi/Misc/cbm Vast listing of Commodore
links, history, and resources C=Ring www.ncf.carleton.ca/~ag090/cbmring.htm Webring of 170
revivalist sites 

Many teenage hackers in the early '80s got their first exposure to computers with the Vic20 or its
successor, the Commodore 64. Based on the 8-bit 6510 chip, both computers featured high-quality
sound capabilities, sprite-based graphics, and the ability to load and save programs on tape."

You can find the entire article on the web at http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/8.03/diehards.html.