I just remembered my first one was a TI 994a. Not sure that is the correct name. It cost $99 and even tho I was not really into computers I was learning to program it. Actually pretty easy.
It tore up after a few months and they replaced it with a refurbished unit. It lasted only a short time and I just gave up on computers until around 10 years later when I got the Windows 95 one.
The ladies staffing the hotel data center in "John Wick, Chapter ii" are using Commodore 64s. . . hilarious. . . Watch for it when you see the movie.
It was wonderful following the developments in micro-computers as they advanced at a dizzying pace in those early years. I save just about everything, so I have a huge collection of vintage home computers that I like to plug in and fool around with every once in a while.
In my eyes they are still all amazing devices. And I learned so much from all of them. The thing that I appreciated the most about the standards that Microsoft had a big part in developing... is that it allowed me to put components together from a wide variety of manufacturers and sources to create great computers. I have never owned a computer that ran on a Microsoft Operating System that I haven't put together myself other than laptops. I have put together dozens of computers for family and friends over the years.
I have appreciated every Microsoft OS from the beginning. I had already played with a few GUIs (graphical user interfaces) before Windows became available and didn't really have a great affinity toward them. In the early days GUIs seemed like a waste of processing power.
But windows was able to share data between programs. And in the beginning programs had to have their own drivers for various peripheral devices. So if you might have printer that worked with the Word Perfect word processor program, but not with your Lotus 123 spreadsheet program. Windows solved a lot of issues with this.
I find it humorous when people on forums like this one discuss how horrible various vintage operating systems were. I have loved and appreciated the work that programmers did to create each and every one that I was lucky enough to be able to use. This includes Microsoft Operating Systems, operating systems from various manufacturers, numerous open source operating systems, the overpriced, over-hyped creations from Apple and even the current monstrosity currently known as Windows 10.
Very few have even the slightest appreciation for the talent, the millions of hours and incalculable amount of dollars that have created what we have at our fingertips today. It is incredible even what our phones can now do. Even my cell phone has a dozen sensors, two cameras, several transceivers, incredible processing power and can do more than I will probably ever use it for.
Sorry about my screwed up formatting, I meant to start with a quote from you.