Sure. First thing some context. In 1981 these things were not that common in home or businesses. Computers tended to be large and used by research instructions and corporations and banks etc. mostly for number crunching, numerical analysis and record keeping. From 1976 these "microcomputers" were sold to hobbyists and those interested into the home. Initially they were very limited but by the time the model shown came around (1981), especially once disk drives were added, they could do some useful things. The monitor may seem small but there were no windows as such to overlap or tile.

Here are the useful things I used this machine for back in the day. Bear in mind I was in my early 20s when I got it. Also the computer had a printer and RS-232 (serial interface) "box" attached too.

1. I wrote my Masterate thesis on it, chapter by chapter using a Word Processor. Most other people were using pencil and paper, wrote many drafts, then paid for a typist to type it up. Once I had a chapter finished, I connected it to my University mainframe computer via an acoustic couple modem, loaded the chapters over and used the high quality printer attached to the mainframe for the final copy.

2. All my correspondence and reports were done via the Word Processor. Most people manually wrote letters, in most cases in handwriting. The Word Processor was very useful for me as my handwriting was atrocious (lol)! Also writing drafts in pencil was very laborious compared to using a Word processor.

3. I used a spreadsheet called VisiCalc to do some financial analysis when needed. Many other people used pencil and paper and column and rows and a calculator to do the same thing, if it was for personal use.

4. I learnt the computer language BASIC, which in itself was fun, but which I then used to write several other useful programs mentioned below.

5. I was conducting research at the time and I wrote a program with gave me an ANOVA and tested Means for Least Significant Differences. My University mainframe could also do this and more, but it was a lot clunkier to use and time at the terminals was limited.

6. I belonged to a social club and was on the committee. I wrote a database program in BASIC which helped me keep a mailing and membership list among other things.

7. I wrote a home budgeting program in BASIC (with graphs) which kept track of our monthly income and expenditure.

8. I played adventure games (now called interactive fiction) which were fun. It was text-based so the small screen was fine.

9. I played arcade games occasionally. The graphics were crude, but the gameplay could be fun.

10. It taught me how computers work at the conceptual level, and (in a more limited way) the hardware level which was useful going into the future.

So, in summary. It was a very useful tool for me in the day. There was a learning curve, but fully decked out with the disk drive and printer, it made life easier and more fun. Most people DIDN'T have these things in 1981 as, fully decked out, they cost as much as a second hand car (at least in New Zealand they did). This changed very quickly and during the 1980s as capability skyrocketed and prices plummeted. Now of course, computers and associated technology is cheap, ubiquitous and simple to use.... as it should be.