Gregory's ServerPetition to bring back 🌈 rainbow computer logos
#retrocomputing :apple_old_logo: :spinning_pinwheel:
 137 comments
There's even variations on the rainbow, e.g. the Tandy CoCo had a variation, a red-green-blue graphic design The Commodore 64 had it for its logo as well, at first only on the packaging but later as little stripes on the computer badge itself @thomasfuchs I've had quite a few c= addons in my day but I don't know what the added on the right side of that pic is. Guess I've not seen many boxes! @Jason_Dodd that’s a Commodore PET diskette drive; they didn’t have the 1541 yet so they used that as a photo. Doesn’t even work with the 64 @Jason_Dodd @thomasfuchs I think that's a 4000 or 8000 series external floppy drive https://i0.wp.com/www.commodore.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/commodore-complete-product-line-pg7.jpg?fit=623%2C827&ssl=1 @jeffluszcz @Jason_Dodd for the first few months at least they didn’t have the disk drives yet (maybe waiting if the machine is a success?), so they just threw some PET peripherals on the box (this box is for my Commodre 64 with serial #10550) @thomasfuchs I remember always loving the logo. What a machine the #c64 was! In the vintage advertisement you shared, I wonder how Dick Schwartz did on whatever he was working on with that tape drive, printer, modem, monitor and such. Those pins are great to see, too. @gdlf @thomasfuchs Yes, not to mention what a machine it still is! I've just been playing #Lester, a polished and thoroughly enjoyable C64 game that was released only yesterday, not sure it even qualifies as #RetroGaming ;) The NeXT logo is sort of a riff on the earlier rainbow logo, lil' bit more neon and a segue into the 90s Even some otherwise boring business software used rainbow color logos back in the 1980s and 90s  @thomasfuchs then there was DEC who used Rainbow branding ironically on their PCs...the word appeared in monochrome on the badge and without an upgrade they only displayed monochrome graphics 😂 Rainbows were Very Important in the 1980s @thomasfuchs If you're gonna blow a big wad of cash on an instruction tome, go whole hog and print the cover in as many colors as you can afford ATARI logo on computer and computer software packaging on the late 70s/early 80s also used a rainbow logotype  @thomasfuchs I really wish I kept more of my software boxes. Those things were magnificent. @thomasfuchs I had the same on one of mine a while back! 👍 I think this is my favourite though... @stokes I'm always amused when I see phony illuminated computer logos on TV. Those are mostly Apple laptops. While other companies enjoy free promotion no matter how it comes, you technically need permission. Many companies PAY for that, but Apple denies it for any case that might associate its brand with anything villainous or criminal. As a result, soap operas and such CAN'T use it, because that would make necessary ambiguity impossible for them. Apple's cutting their own throat, I say. @thomasfuchs Absolutely loved Atari’s product design from that era (and also the earlier “late 70’s beige” era)  @thomasfuchs I remember having read manuals of the Atari 800xl which were far more rainbowy than this. They may have been printed by third parties, but the meme was out there for sure. @thomasfuchs Almost all Fortune 1000 logos now are San Serif black. Everyone looks like everyone else.  @thomasfuchs This logo always reminded me of the tripods eye from The War of the Worlds (1953) https://unobtainium13.files.wordpress.com/2020/10/wer.jpg @thomasfuchs that radio shack font is just pure nostalgia I wonder if a variation of it is available anywhere? @thomasfuchs The 'CoCo' used a television as the monitor. This logo references the RGB (red-green-blue) phosphor scheme of colour television screens of the time, and helps the buyer to understand both that it's a colour-capable computer, and how it produces the colour display. @thomasfuchs a while ago a friend of mine found this guy on ebay who was selling pretty realistic “IBM ThinkPad” stickers and bought a bunch that he gave out to folks so we can fix up a bit the lenovo thinkpads. It was quite nice. 😄 @thomasfuchs well.. it was the way of all computer manufacturers to show off the colour capability of their systems in their logos. It's not exactly a defining feature of a system now everything does billions of colours 🤷♂️  @thomasfuchs I wonder if it was intentional or a coincidence that the Amiga logo has a vertical gradient that can be produced using 2 palette entries and a copper list.  @thomasfuchs Don't worry, they bring them back every June for Pride Month, where LGBTQ+ folks suddenly become marketable in the western world for 30 days. "Bum bum bum bum.    @thomasfuchs and get rid of the aggressive, militaristic sounding names that we have now. It's a computer not a gun. @thomasfuchs This is very important especially because Hawaii has announced its intention to remove the rainbow from its license plates :( ... https://www.hawaiimagazine.com/hawaii-will-be-retiring-its-rainbow-license-plate/ @kellinwood I tried to find out WHY they're getting rid of them, so far without success. Makes me sad. @thomasfuchs How are you supposed to use this Coleco Vision - Super Action Controller Set ? Do you hold it like a gun but how do you use the keypad and joystick ? @thomasfuchs The original purpose of such logos and marketing elements was to communicate to buyers that the products were not monochrome, which was more typical of computers most people had seen at the time. But those logos also cost more to make, and many designers feel they detract from the 'serious tool' concept they'd prefer to communicate. Another argument is that owners can decorate their cases all they like, with whatever they want. @thomasfuchs Second that. How else will we know that the computer we are buying comes with Color Graphics 🤔 @fernandomorais That's fine! :) I actually have a NeXT sticker on top of the Apple logo on my MacBook Pro, because really, deep down, it's actually a NeXT computer not a Mac.   @thomasfuchs zx spectrum was my first computer ! Loading stuff from tape took ages but very accessible and affordable. @thomasfuchs Rainbows would be nice, but frankly I’d settle for *any* non-pastel colour being reintroduced into modern computer logos. @thomasfuchs pretty sure þere are more linux distros wiþ þese kinds of fun logos þan anyþing else  @thomasfuchs Rainbow© is allready registered... @thomasfuchs There's also this one from the 1980s : (background is transparent). Infograme is (was?) a game developper for Atari ST and the likes @thomasfuchs Some of us remember when colour graphics was considered an innovation. Nowadays they should have a holographic logo to indicate 3d immersive experience   @thomasfuchs you might enjoy this PC I built last year to run my emulators on.   @thomasfuchs gosh, the A1000, that was times, I remember how I drooled when seeing Defender of the Crown, later on I bought my own A500. @thomasfuchs  @thomasfuchs Honestly, if we got new Amigas (or even old ones, in laptop form factors) I wouldn't even mind if they ditched the rainbow checkmark logo. At least I still have my A1200!  @thomasfuchs The company I work for used to have a rainbow logo a few months back, before we launched the boring new magenta colored one. One argument was: printing costs. I was short from actually wearing swag, which I never do, just because I liked the rainbow logo so much. 😞  @thomasfuchs The reason for colors (and color rainbows) on the logos of the early color-enabled microcomputers was to make it clear that they could do color. Before them, computer screens were all monochrome, usually greenscreens with green text on a black background. "Look at us, we can do *color* output!" was a big selling point, like the difference between a black-and-white TV and a color TV.  @thomasfuchs DEC actually had a computer called Rainbow, but it was a vaporware that never caught on. @thomasfuchs How did you get the cool spinning icon to show... I can see it is called :spinning_pinwheel: but is does not show if I put that in a post.... thanks. @thomasfuchs My partner has been looking for a while for a long, thin, rainbow gradient decal to put above the keyboard on his Linux laptop. I could probably commission this if I knew where to look.  @thomasfuchs Just think of all those components equipped with RGB LEDs that builders of gamer PCs indulge in! Plus keyboards and who knows what else! @thomasfuchs
#retrocomputing Don't forget the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, which even had the rainbow in its name.  @thomasfuchs @davidgerard tbh. I still have traces of ptsd when I see a circular rainbow. I go into a fugue state with my chin on my hands, hoping for miracles.     See, rainbows and space fields are what I think of when I remember the 80s. Not those CGA colors. More rainbows please.  @thomasfuchs @harrybr yes please! Getting kinda bored by the 50 shades of grey and some random swoop or half drawn letter 🤪 @thomasfuchs @RonsCompVids And while I’ve always been an Apple Guy, I’ve always liked the rainbow Amiga check logo.  @thomasfuchs I've acquired some original Apple logo stickers over the years, one decorates my new MacBook Pro M2  I was thinking Apple should be flying a rainbow Apple balloon over their Battersea Power Station offices. |
Hmm I should really fix the colors in that Amiga photo above, but anyway here it is on the case and monitor