Authors
Publication
Publication Details
Volume: 6 Issue: 11
Date
Pages
Online communities support computer users. Joe Newman, student at Bernard Baruch College and dealer, talks about the 1000, 2068.
Joe Newman, 19, a student at Bernard Baruch College, chose his Sinclair back in the “glory days” when the company was producing machines at a clip of one every 10 seconds. The Timex/Sinclair was the first personal computer available for under $200, and buyers initially were enamoured with its reasonable price and then captivated by its versatility.
“Sinclair users are not sheep who follow blindly after the status quo, buying what is popular just because it’s popular,” says Newman, who now is a Sinclair QL and Timex/Sinclair 2068 dealer in New Jersey. “We like our machines and we use them. The problem is that when most people hear I use a Sinclair, they just remember the ZX81, the little black marvel that is now in the Smithsonian. The 2068 is as powerful if not more so than the Commodore 64.”
In spite of the high praise for his machines, Newman admits that finding adequate support can be a real dilemma. “Before I accessed CompuServe, I was in limbo,” he says. “I had no idea support still existed. The Computer Club definitely is the place to go. Response can be very fast. If a user participates in one of the Wednesday night live conferences, often answers can be obtained just seconds after the questions are sent out.”
As helpful as this network of offline support is, no single effort reaches more users than CompuServe. Size, however, has not diminished the personal touch, and online technology has not cooled the camaraderie that ignites when people with similar interests gather together.
“The forum is really more than a support group,” says Vern Roberts, confirmed Timex user. “I attended the second annual Midwest Festival in Indianapolis last May and I expected to see a few people who I had chatted with on CompuServe. To my utter amazement, I knew more than 100 people there! I knew struggling computer science majors, noted New England database writers, Canadian artificial intelligence experts and even some relative newcomers from Oregon. All this, through the Computer Club Forum.”