In 1981, I was privileged to have been selected to write a comprehensive evaluation of the new IBM PC by Creative Computing magazine. I recall travelling to Boca Raton in September; the article, the first I had ever written for any publication, followed in the December edition.

One weekend evening I called Betsy Staples, then editor of Creative Computing, catching her doing her laundry. My pitch was that I wanted to write a regular column about the IBM PC for the magazine, a somewhat brazen proposition given no prior publication experience and the fact that I was a complete stranger to the magazine, much less Betsy. After a few more calls I got a happy but unexpected result - Creative hired me to go to Boca Raton to write the main review. I was told that I would be considered for the regular column based on how well I did the review. The bad news was that I was on a short fuse - Creative knew it needed to get the PC reviewed but had not lined up anyone, so it was behind schedule.

I guess I did well enough. I turned in my full review fast and shortly thereafter was given the column. The first "IBM Images" appeared right away, in the January 1982 issue.

I had a great time writing the review and a very pleasant time visiting IBM.

It changed my life.

Next: Introduction

There could be little doubt that the IBM PC was an important product introduction. Everyone knew it. So why didn't it get cover treatment?

Creative was a software magazine. Hardware played second fiddle and was covered in regular, platform-specific columns. Even there, the emphasis was less on the special hardware features of the machines and more on how they could be used. Thus the cover below was entirely in keeping with the magazine's mission and the IBM PC was handled in a normal manner.