I graduated High School that year, I'd done some BASIC programming on an Atari 2600 with a BASIC cartridge. I imagined a consumer computer like the ones on that cover but with several tape machines and a loader top program so the user wouldn't have to load tapes manually for common programs. Little did I know the hard disk had been invented by IBM in the 1950's.
Today kids learn Java in High School and carry powerful computers in their pockets and on their wrists. I'll probably be pushed out of the Java industry before I even retire by one of them.
I had a 2600 back in the late 70s, but never knew that they had a BASIC cartridge. That must've been one helluva limited programming experience considering how limited the 2600 was for game programmers writing in Assembly.
The executive summary: it's both incredible (it has features I've never seen elsewhere) and horrifying (wait until you see the keyboard, and you only have 64 BYTES for everything).
Today kids learn Java in High School and carry powerful computers in their pockets and on their wrists. I'll probably be pushed out of the Java industry before I even retire by one of them.