Am I the only one who misses the adventures of the 1980s?
It’s difficult to imagine me annoying my PC Pro colleagues more than usual, but this month I’ve excelled myself. I don’t mean to. But, like a nervous tick, I’ve found cause to mention my new book – The Computers That Made Britain, a hardback bargain at £12 since you ask – in podcasts, Slack chats, calls and columns.
I blame the stark contrast between computing today and in the 1980s, the decade the book chronicles; for every event today I can point to a far more interesting one from two generations ago. Take the birth of the new Apple iMac ( see p48) versus the original Apple Macintosh.
The story behind the very first Mac is one of politics and personality clashes, with Steve Jobs ousting the original project leader when he decided he wanted to take charge. There were ridiculously missed budgets, as the target price of the Mac rocketed from $500 to $2,495. There were tears and tantrums. Jobs and co missed the original production deadline by an epic margin. It was, in short, the stuff of legend.
Compare that excitement with the creation of the new 24in iMac. I’m not suggesting that the process was 100% smooth, with back-slapping and good cheer amongst the development team at all times, but I can guarantee you that the project lead didn’t march into a newly hired designer’s office, disconnect his computer and then forcibly drive him to his new HQ.
The best stories often involve the force of nature that was Steve Jobs, but he wasn’t alone. The 1980s saw Bill Gates rise from coding wannabe to head of a billion-dollar empire – and back then he was a shark. There’s a fantastic quote from the unpublished memoir of Gary Kildall, the creator of CP/M, who wrote: “Our conversations were friendly, but, for some reason, I have always felt uneasy around Bill. I always kept one hand on my wallet, and the other on my program listings.”
We had our fair share of strong characters in the UK too. I’m sure all of us share vivid memories of Sir
Clive Sinclair in his pomp, back when fisticuffs in a pub with Chris Curry (co-founder of Acorn Computers) made its way into the tabloids.
These were the days when a British entrepreneur such as Alan Sugar could seize the opportunity to create mass-market computers. At the start, he didn’t have a clue how the technology worked – but he knew what people wanted. Famously, it was his drawing on the back of an aeroplane serviette that inspired the PCW series of word processors.
It was a time when the BBC could decide that, what the heck, it would commission its own computer, and in doing so educate a generation of schoolkids, with benefits that still echo on to this day. When brilliant engineers such as Sophie Wilson and Steve Furber could take on the might of Japan and the US to build their own processor. Whatever happened to ARM, anyway?
It was a time rich with possibilities, and whilst a glance through these pages will show that we’re spoiled for new releases, for gadgets that just work, that means we have to actively seek out adventure. So, if you’ll excuse me, it’s time for me to dust down my programming skills and create my own Pomodoro timer ( see p44). There’s even a batch of code for me to type in, just like in the old days.