Micro Men
in [UK Mac]
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From: Jim on 11 Oct 2009 03:44 Not strictly on-topic but I know a few of us here are into computer history and/or/ Acorn/Sinclair stuff. Show last week sometime, repeated Monday, 10pm, BBC4. Also on BBC iPlayer. It depicts the battle between Clive Sinclair and Chris Curry in the early 80's. It spans the time from just before Chris left Sinclair, to the point that Sinclair Computers are bought by Amstrad. I rather enjoyed it. Although part of me thinks it should have been called 'Pirates of Silicon Fen'. Jim -- "Microsoft admitted its Vista operating system was a 'less good product' in what IT experts have described as the most ambitious understatement since the captain of the Titanic reported some slightly damp tablecloths." http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/
From: Ian Piper on 11 Oct 2009 04:58 On 2009-10-11 08:44:07 +0100, jim(a)magrathea.plus.com (Jim) said: > Not strictly on-topic but I know a few of us here are into computer > history and/or/ Acorn/Sinclair stuff. > > Show last week sometime, repeated Monday, 10pm, BBC4. Also on BBC > iPlayer. > > It depicts the battle between Clive Sinclair and Chris Curry in the > early 80's. It spans the time from just before Chris left Sinclair, to > the point that Sinclair Computers are bought by Amstrad. I rather > enjoyed it. > > Although part of me thinks it should have been called 'Pirates of > Silicon Fen'. > > Jim Alexander Armstrong's portrayal of Sinclair seemed unusually off the mark for him: there was another program on just before Micro Men that had a clip of Sinclair being interviewed so it was easy to compare the voice, and it was a surprisingly poor rendition. In the story itself Sinclair came out of this very badly I thought, while Curry came across as a nice guy. I know which company I'd rather have been working in - I rather liked the Acorns and for a long time lusted after an Archimedes A3000. Ian. --
From: D.M. Procida on 11 Oct 2009 05:05 Jim <jim(a)magrathea.plus.com> wrote: > Not strictly on-topic but I know a few of us here are into computer > history and/or/ Acorn/Sinclair stuff. > > Show last week sometime, repeated Monday, 10pm, BBC4. Also on BBC > iPlayer. > > It depicts the battle between Clive Sinclair and Chris Curry in the > early 80's. It spans the time from just before Chris left Sinclair, to > the point that Sinclair Computers are bought by Amstrad. I rather > enjoyed it. > > Although part of me thinks it should have been called 'Pirates of > Silicon Fen'. It ended with a bit of heavy-handed metaphor, Sir Uncle Clive trundling along in a C5, on what looked like a disused airfield, being overtaken by giant trucks bearing the logos of US technology companies. One thing that struck me was that the Apple ][ was launched some time before the start of the story, and was still going strong after it ended - and probably was hardly affected by the events in the story. But what fun times they were, in that little bubble before it popped. Someone in the film said that there were over 600 companies producing microcomputers in the UK at the time! Daniele
From: Jim on 11 Oct 2009 05:15 Ian Piper <ianpiper(a)mac.com> wrote: > > Not strictly on-topic but I know a few of us here are into computer > > history and/or/ Acorn/Sinclair stuff. > > > > Show last week sometime, repeated Monday, 10pm, BBC4. Also on BBC > > iPlayer. > > > > It depicts the battle between Clive Sinclair and Chris Curry in the > > early 80's. It spans the time from just before Chris left Sinclair, to > > the point that Sinclair Computers are bought by Amstrad. I rather > > enjoyed it. > > > > Although part of me thinks it should have been called 'Pirates of > > Silicon Fen'. > > Alexander Armstrong's portrayal of Sinclair seemed unusually off the > mark for him: there was another program on just before Micro Men that > had a clip of Sinclair being interviewed so it was easy to compare the > voice, and it was a surprisingly poor rendition. In the story itself > Sinclair came out of this very badly I thought, while Curry came across > as a nice guy. I know which company I'd rather have been working in... Yep, same here I suspect. It was nice to see that something I'd only half-remembered turned out to be true - that Hermann Hauser effectively lied (in a good cause) to the two main development bods, telling each of them that the other said it was perfectly doable in four days, with the result that it just about was. > - I > rather liked the Acorns and for a long time lusted after an Archimedes > A3000. I owned a BBC Micro (still have it) and it remains one of the finest machines ever made, in my opinion. I also had a A310, followed by an A5000. Very nice machine with the exception of sounding like a hovercraft. I looked at the RISC PC machines with interest, but had grave doubts about the path Acorn (or more importantly RISC OS) were taking, so jumped ship for the Mac. One of the things that continues to frustrate me is that there doesn't seem to be a written history of the UK computer timeframe, unlike the many, many books available for the American computer histories. Jim -- "Microsoft admitted its Vista operating system was a 'less good product' in what IT experts have described as the most ambitious understatement since the captain of the Titanic reported some slightly damp tablecloths." http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/
From: Jim on 11 Oct 2009 05:24
D.M. Procida <real-not-anti-spam-address(a)apple-juice.co.uk> wrote: > It ended with a bit of heavy-handed metaphor, Sir Uncle Clive trundling > along in a C5, on what looked like a disused airfield, being overtaken > by giant trucks bearing the logos of US technology companies. It _was_ a tad heavy handed, true, but it was also rather sadly accurate. And at least they got the Microsoft logo correct for the time - nice touch. > One thing that struck me was that the Apple ][ was launched some time > before the start of the story, and was still going strong after it ended > - and probably was hardly affected by the events in the story. I think the Apple ][ didn't make big inroads into the UK home computer scene as it was very expensive. I was expecting to hear something more about the Commodores and Tandys though - the VIC20, C64, and TRS-80 range were extremely popular over here. Heck, my first computer was a TRS-80 Model 1. However, given the time contraint and the focus of the story I suppose they couldn't spend much time on machines which weren't directly pertinent. > But what fun times they were, in that little bubble before it popped. Weren't they just? Everyone doing their own thing in their own way, and compatability didn't matter a damn because the machines simply weren't powerful enough for it to be a factor. I absolutely loved the old PCW shows - they were Tech Mecca for me. > Someone in the film said that there were over 600 companies producing > microcomputers in the UK at the time! I wouldn't be at all surprised to find that was a conservative number. Jim -- "Microsoft admitted its Vista operating system was a 'less good product' in what IT experts have described as the most ambitious understatement since the captain of the Titanic reported some slightly damp tablecloths." http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/ |