[Coco] coco 2 vs coco 3

[Nick Marentes]

On 30/09/2014 6:26 AM, Bill Loguidice wrote:
> To be fair to the user bases of the Atari 8-bit and C-64, I don't think we
> can so easily generalize what users did or didn't do with their computers.
> With the Atari 8-bit, you're talking a couple of million users (which may
> or may not have been roughly the same number of CoCo users), but with the
> C-64, you're talking anywhere from 12 - 30 million users (I've never been
> able to definitively nail down the numbers to my satisfaction, but it's
> definitely in that range; that's not even counting the 5+ million C-128
> series computers that were sold), which is exponentially more than the
> combined Atari 8-bit and CoCo user bases. With those kinds of numbers, even
> with the most conservative estimates, you would still have huge numbers of
> people "more interested in learning how to use the computer," likely far
> more than the CoCo's total user base. Just like it's not good for others to
> generalize about the CoCo platform, it's not good to do the same for other
> platforms without clear evidence. Even today, in practical terms, you have
> far more people doing far more non-game stuff with those other two
> platforms, though of course they also have the benefit of lots of new games
> as well (just like in the old days).
>
> ===================================================
> Bill Loguidice, Managing Director; Armchair Arcade, Inc.
> <http://www.armchairarcade.com>
> ===================================================
>


It's more about percentages than the actual number. Yes, there were way 
more C64 users than CoCo but what was the percentage of game players 
versus the programmers?

This is evident in the magazines for each make. There was more emphasis 
in BASIC programs within these magazines in the CoCo universe.

Also, the CoCo's BASIC was far more powerful and easier for novices to 
actually get in to.

Percentage wise, far less C64 users got past the multitude of PEEK's and 
POKE's while CoCo uses had commands to creates lines, circles, fills and 
music in easy to understand English commands. The great BASIC manuals 
that came with each CoCo also helped to encourage that culture.

I'm not saying there wasn't programming on the C64, I'm saying that it 
was a lower percentage when one considers the huge user base compared to 
the percentage of game players.

The other side of it is that because the C64 had a bad BASIC but good 
graphics and sound hardware, this did encourage some pretty elite 
assembly language programmers.

Again, it's down to the percentage of programmers versus the actual 
number who bought the system to play games.

Nick

Nick