The Golden Age of InfoWorld Covers, 1984-1985

Return with us now to the days when Radio Shack was a PC giant, Apple was on the ropes, and people thought laptops were a foolish fad.

Posted by  | Wednesday, February 3, 2010


“Laptops Prove a Useful Tool”

March 4th, 1985

Here’s how long ago 1985 was: InfoWorld had to publish a featureĀ explaining the idea that laptops were useful. And author Scott Mace didn’t seem completely convinced, explaining that most computer users didn’t see the point of carrying machines with them: “No one knows exactly what is needed in a portable computer because only a vanguard of users has yet taken the plunge.”

Also newsworthy that week: The French loved Macs–and Steve Jobs–but Apple was having trouble selling computers in the UK.



Slides: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

5 Comments For This Post

  1. Stilgar Says:

    Cool. As I recall, Apple was actually more profitable after Steve Jobs left. It didn’t last long though. šŸ™‚

  2. Matthew Says:

    Love the sidebar on #9 – it says “Businesses can buy software electronically.” And that was news then!

  3. Michael Swaine Says:

    But the Google Books collection only seems to go back to late 1986. What about the 1981-1986 issues? Are they adding gradually? Or should I help them out with my back-issue collection?

  4. Cassie Maas Says:

    I remember your writing Michael!

  5. Wade Watson Says:

    These were from the later period of Infoworld for me. When I first subscribed it was more of a tabloid style with a newspaper-style cover. Anybody could get a subscription for free if you said you were a business. Every issue was worth reading if for nothing else John Dvorak’s column. Before he was a podcast cramugin he was the go-to guy for tech scoops. Albeit, he pretty much had that field to himself back then.

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    […] I took a look back at tech of the early 1980s, in the form of old InfoWorld covers. […]