It was in the fall of 1985 when I had gotten the money together to get my second computer. The first one I bought in 1981—it was one of the original IBM PCs: a 64 kilobyte machine running at a whopping 4.77 Mhz. The CRT display was a monochrome green screen, and any graphics rendered came from special ASCII characters. I had enhanced and upgraded my PC over the years, but I was finally ready to ditch the dinosaur for the next generation: an IBM AT. That was certainly an upgrade from the PC, but really just more of the same: more RAM, more speed, more storage capacity, etc. rather than anything groundbreaking or truly innovative.
It was with “cash in hand” that I walked into a computer store and started looking around at the different machines on display. And it was when I was browsing the machines that I first discovered the Commodore Amiga computer. This was a different breed of computer, and I was instantly hooked. 4096 colors instead of 16. Stereo output that could actually play audio samples instead of a limited number of beeps. Voice synthesis. And the ability to output its video signal in the NTSC format for direct recording by video tape.
I could wax poetic about the Amiga, but if you really want to hear more, feel free to give me a shout. The point I want to make is that when the Amiga came on the scene, it represented a paradigm shift in how people thought of personal computers and how they ultimately could be used. Before the Amiga, serious personal computers were working machines; that is, they were used for things like word processing and creating spreadsheets. Sure, some were used for game playing, and the Mac was even thought of as a desktop publishing tool… but when it comes down to it, how far out of the box can you get with desktop publishing?
Yeah, it was in the second half of 1985 that the personal computing world took a tremendous turn down the road that has brought us to amazing visuals and animations almost indistinguishable from the real thing. That little box on our desktop can easily reproduce the sounds of every instrument in a full orchestra… or play back for us the complete symphony experience in all its audio/visual glory. The tools that were once the domain of only high-end computer effects studios are now available even the most casual hobbyist—and, of course, to Rasmussen students. These are new and exciting times, when a single digital designer can have access to such computer power.
And what’s to be done? Sure, I can quote Peter Parker’s Uncle Ben, “With great power comes great responsibility,” and that wouldn’t be overstating the case. Issues of ethics and morality in digital design are being argued on a daily basis and can have profound effects on the fabric of our society. Just what is our responsibility as artists and developers when young adults act out the fantasies of Grand Theft Auto, for example? Or we can consider the inspirational—who are the da Vincis of our time, the Renaissance men and women pushing the boundaries or our arts and technologies aside with every click of the mouse?
Yes, we do live in interesting times.
I think we can take a break every now and then to explore where we are and where we’re headed. Let this blog be our vehicle to explore our expression. We’re bound to find something of interest and of value along the way.
- Hap Aziz