You Say You Want a Revolution.

By the middle 1980s the social revolution envisioned twenty years earlier by the pioneers of the small computer was in full swing. In 1981 some 750,000 personal computers were estimated to be in use in American homes; 39.4 million computers were shipped between 1984 and 1988. In 1984 alone Americans bought $37.6 million worth of computer software for home use, about two-thirds of it in the "entertainment" category — that is, computer games. By the end of 1982, 250 different computer games were available, and some $2 billion worth were sold. In the mid 1980s home computers came in three types. For less than $100, one could buy a game-only computer made by Atari or Sega. It hooked up to the family television set, which acted as the monitor, and the programs came as plug-in cartridges or tape cassettes similar to those used in tape recorders. For less than $500, the...