What It Was Like To Buy A Computer In 1994

From the video vault of local Santa Cruz film maker David Hoffman

Back in 1994, I was working for the famous Silicon Valley startup General Magic. One night, my team and I decided to go into the 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.