European Education Software: A New Approach To Effective Learning

48 EE January 1988 assembled and $395 in kit form. Such prices for a machine of such high speci- fication were unheard of and orders poured into MITS, who had great diffi- culty in fulfilling customers orders. Customers experienced delays of up to 6 months (sounds familiar!) before delivery of their computers, and the promised peripherals did not materialize until early 1976: one year later (sounds even more familiar!). The popularity of the hardware stimulated an 8800 based software market. A BASIC interpreter was written for the machine and marketed, with success, by MITS. The 8800 can, justifiably, be said to have been the first "real" personal computer, and its success helped fuel the belief that a significant market for personal com- puters might exist after all. As interest in the Altair 8800 grew, the first "computer clubs", run by and for amateur enthusiasts, were being formed all over America. It was at one such club in California"s Silicon Valley that Stephen Wozniak, a ...