Micro Men Page #2

As I keep telling you...

innovation is not something you can

pay for in Green Shield stamps.

Excuse me, we've pumped nearly

For what?

The taxpayer has to get something back

for their investment.

There are some areas of the business

we can salvage.

Salvage?

It's time to break this business up.

We're calling in the receivers.

It'll be wonderful to be running

my own company again.

It's marvellous.

It's been a terrible time for Clive.

So nice to see him happy and relaxed again.

So a brave new future lies before us.

I've mapped out a number of new products

the company might set about developing.

Those communists at the NEB have got

the instruments and the calculators,

but I've held on to the television.

The car is still mine.

I was going to suggest that we try developing

a new upgraded micro-computer.

Chris, it's an amusing little gizmo

aimed at a few hobbyists.

No, it's something I want to pursue.

Well, it's not exactly the Commodore PET.

No, it's not meant to be. It's a brand new-

Did your Prussian friend put you up to this?

I don't know what you mean.

I don't wish to discuss it any further.

I wonder why that is?

I beg your pardon?

I'm sorry Clive - but I've always believed in

what you've been trying to do,

now I'm asking for the chance

to take this forward.

I feel I can do something with this,

it's a worthwhile project-

It's pointless! Amateurish! Ugly!

All I'm asking is that you allow me

the chance to develop the idea.

No.

But why?

Because we haven't got the funds to waste.

We have to concentrate on developing

authentic Sinclair products,

like the television, the electric car.

The car? Christ's sake Clive, not the car.

Get out of my bloody house.

Get out!

Is everything all right?

It's nothing.

He'll be back at work tomorrow morning.

I can't believe what I said.

You don't know what he thinks of that car.

Christ, what have I done?

Freed yourself.

You had a taste of being the boss,

and you liked it.

There's no going back.

So what am I going to do?

My father wants to know if I'm

coming back to work in the family firm.

What are they in?

They make wine.

Oh really? I didn't know that.

But I like Cambridge.

I've been thinking of starting a business

here. Computers interest me.

Maybe you could do with a partner?

Seriously? You'd give all that up

to go into business with me?

Have you ever tried Austrian wine, Chris?

No.

If you had, you might understand.

As the Americans would say,

a golden handshake.

Good luck with your future endeavours.

Ten thousand pounds, you say?

What sort of business did you say it was?

Computers.

Oh, I say, how interesting.

Very science fiction.

Well, we like to help new concerns where we can.

Just need to check a few bona fides.

You know how it is.

Tell me again, which college were you at?

That one.

Jolly good. Thought as much,

just by looking at you.

A fresh start.

Goodbye, old friend.

Better.

Now they say in business that the key to success

is to use the resources you have,

well here in Cambridge we have one

resource in abundance -

Cambridge Processor Group.

They build computer systems for fun.

Our secret weapon.

Steve - Steve Furber?

Could we have a word?

That's him - Roger Wilson.

Spent the summer holiday building and programming

a computerised cow feeding device

for a farm up in Harrogate.

The computer journals you asked for.

You said you wanted all of them.

Thank you, Nigel.

It's nearly two thousand pounds!

Still too much.

So expensive!

But why so expensive?

We must observe the British tea ritual.

Thank you.

So. We all know the MK14?

Mmm. Sinclair. I saved up for one of his

hi-fi kits when I was a kid.

Looked nice. Matt black, System 2000.

System 3000. System 2000 was in silver,

in the System 3000.

Whatever it was called.

Never bloody worked.

Anyway.

We all want to go with the 6502 processor.

Of course. It's the only choice.

For the moment.

Plus, a whole new look.

That's right. We'll start with kits,

but we want to market this with a proper

ready-made moulded keyboard

and built-in assembler.

The products we produce are going to be

led by you, the engineers.

And so I'm pleased to announce that Nigel

will be heading the new computer division -

not just a division, but an entirely new

company:
Sinclair Computers.

A new company, gentlemen.

A new beginning.

Perhaps we should remind ourselves

of the secret of the Sinclair success.

That is, being first to market.

Letting people know what they want,

before even they know about it.

Now the MK14 has been a modest success,

as I knew it would be,

appealing to a specialist interest,

And yes, there are companies

making more advanced computers

but these are affordable only for use

in offices or laboratories.

But is the personal computer

not a desirable notion?

Something every citizen would quietly crave

if he actually knew what it was?

This is my vision.

A computing device in every home in Britain.

I quote.'Personal computers will become

steadily cheaper.

Prices could drop to around a hundred

pounds within the next five years.'

Poppycock!

Because, gentlemen, we are going to

achieve that in a matter of months.

Price is the key.

Whatever happens, I want a computer

that we can sell

for the magic sum of ninety-nine pounds.

At that price, the man on the

Clapham omnibus will want one

even if he has absolutely no idea

what to do with it!

Beg, borrow or steal components.

But one thing is clear in my mind.

It has to look like this.

Now just imagine a future where anybody

could go and buy a computer kit

to program at home.

We could sell, what, eight thousand,

maybe even ten thousand computers?

What programming language are you proposing?

Which one's the best?

They all have their limitations.

Then why don't you write us a better one?

Look, I've heard Sinclair might be developing

a new computer of his own.

Is that true?

I don't know. We don't speak.

Besides, with the team we've assembled

I'm 100% certain

that we're way ahead of Sinclair.

Good evening, and welcome to The Money Programme.

Tonight we enter the world of the microchip,

and report on a story of British

perseverance and invention.

We ask:
will the personal computer be

Clive Sinclair's ticket to a fortune?

It took Sinclair just nine months to

develop the ZX80,

and he began to sell it by mail order

in March this year.

It costs 99 pounds, measures nine by seven inches

and weighs just twelve ounces.

All you have to do is add an ordinary TV

and a cheap cassette recorder.

Eventually there will be some

two hundred programs available,

mostly educational; some technical,

and many suitable for children.

Jesus, it's like trying to read Braille

through a pair of gardening gloves.

Clumsy programming language - limited.

Z80A processor - big ROM.

Nice bit of circuitry there.

Ah.

Well?

It's like we thought. It's clever.

Done on the cheap, but clever.

So, we know what we're up against.

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