The Early Days of Computer Shopping: A 1994 Betacam SP Video

Back in 1994, I was working for the famous Silicon Valley startup General Magic. One night, my team and I decided to go into a local computer store in Palo Alto California and watch people buying computers. At the time, I considered the results of this shoot boring and put the Beta SP videotape in my archive. But today, all these years later, it is history for sure. All of my viewers who were around at that time will remember what computers and printers and keyboards and screens were like and how excited we were just to have a bit more memory. For my younger viewers, I do hope that this seems like ancient history, which in a way, it is. I particularly like the scene where the customer sees early video on a computer screen. I can still remember the thrill at seeing that moving image with sound coming over the Internet. Everything you saw in the store you wanted to buy. The speakers! The keyboards! Audio attachments! A mouse pad! An Apple. A Bigger screen! And as shown in this old Betacam SP video, salespeople knew what they were talking about. And they certainly knew more than most customers did. Except for the geeks and they were wonderful geeks in Palo Alto who had been with computers for a long time by the time this was filmed. #ComputerHistory #SiliconValleyStartups #PaloAlto #EarlyComputers #VintageTechnology #RetroTech