Editing TRS-80 (section)

== Reception ==
[[Dan Fylstra]], among the first owners, wrote in ''Byte'' in April 1978 that as an "'appliance' computer ... the TRS-80 brings the personal computer a good deal closer to the average customer", suitable for home and light business use. He concluded that it "is not the only alternative for the aspiring personal computer user, but it is a strong contender."{{r|fylstra197804}} [[Jerry Pournelle]] wrote in 1980 that "the basic TRS-80 is a lot of computer for the money". He criticized the quality of Tandy's application and system software and the high cost of peripherals, but reported that with the Omikron board a customer paid less than $5000 for a computer compatible with TRS-80 and CP/M software "all without building a single kit".<ref name="pournelle198007">{{cite magazine |url=https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1980-07/1980_07_BYTE_05-07_Computers_and_Education#page/n199/mode/2up |title=Omikron TRS-80 Boards, NEWDOS+, and Sundry Other Matters |magazine=[[Byte (magazine)|Byte]] |volume=5 |issue=7 |date=July 1980 |access-date=October 18, 2013 |last=Pournelle |first=Jerry |author-link=Jerry Pournelle |pages=198}}</ref>

Three years later Pournelle was less positive about the computer. He wrote in May 1983, "As to our TRS-80 Model I, we trashed that sucker long ago. It was always unreliable, and repeated trips to the local Radio Shack outlet didn't help. The problem was that Tandy cut corners".<ref name="pournelle198305">{{Cite magazine |last=Pournelle |first=Jerry |author-link=Jerry Pournelle |date=May 1983 |title=Ulterior Motives, Lobo, Buying Your First Computer, JRT Update |url=https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1983-05/1983_05_BYTE_08-05_The_Electronic_Office#page/n299/mode/2up |magazine=[[Byte (magazine)|Byte]] |volume=8 |issue=5 |pages=298–324}}</ref> Pournelle wrote in July 1983:<ref name="pournelle198307">{{cite magazine |url=https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1983-07-rescan/1983_07_BYTE_08-07_Videotex#page/n325/mode/2up |title=Interstellar Drives, Osborne Accessories, DEDICATE/32, and Death Valley |magazine=[[Byte (magazine)|Byte]] |volume=8 |issue=7 |date=July 1983 |access-date=28 August 2016 |last=Pournelle |first=Jerry |author-link=Jerry Pournelle |pages=323}}</ref>

{{blockquote|I'm a little bitter about my experiences with Tandy. I had genuinely thought that the Model I was the machine of the future: an inexpensive home computer that could be expanded by stages until it would do professional work. Of course it was never that. First, Tandy tried to fence in Model I users through that goofy operating system, and then it wouldn't let Radio Shack stores sell non-Tandy software. ... It had never been all that well designed, and when sales took off much faster than anticipated, the [[quality control]] system couldn't cope.}}