fri 19/04/2024

Micro Men, BBC Four | reviews, news & interviews

Micro Men, BBC Four

Micro Men, BBC Four

When British computing ruled the earth!

You won’t read this in Steve Jobs’ autobiography, but in the early Eighties Britain led the world in personal computing. Acorn made the BBC Micro, which sold 1.5 million units. Sinclair Research shifted shed-loads of its ZX81, despite its rickety construction and coal-fired levels of performance. A generation of apprentice nerds produced their first bloops and squiggles on these devices. Today, no doubt they’re all writing apps for that iPhone you're reading this on.
You won’t read this in Steve Jobs’ autobiography, but in the early Eighties Britain led the world in personal computing. Acorn made the BBC Micro, which sold 1.5 million units. Sinclair Research shifted shed-loads of its ZX81, despite its rickety construction and coal-fired levels of performance. A generation of apprentice nerds produced their first bloops and squiggles on these devices. Today, no doubt they’re all writing apps for that iPhone you're reading this on.

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