[News] Clive Sinclair RIP

[The Clamp]

I'd have to disagree about Sinclair changing the world of "home computing". That was his aim, to turn us all into geeks who built our own computers and wrote our own software.

But he "failed" and unwittingly (and really really annoying to himself) people bought millions of Spectrums to play computer games.

If you were really into "home computing" there were much better alternatives, primary the BBC Micro and Electron.

His computers were very badly built with terrible keyboards. However the Spectrum had the edge for games because it was much much smaller, cheaper and "packed" with memory.

Sinclair kicked off the games industry in this country but he never intended to and hated the fact.

His main UK competitors at Acorn who built the BBC Micro and the Electron were completely overshadowed by his "success", but had the last laugh later with the ARM processor.

So in terms of home computing (as opposed to the games industry), Sinclair is just a footprint.

What he should be remembered for is the inventor of the pocket calculator. A precursor to the personal devices that now dominate our lives.

Genuinely interesting, thanks for that.

 

[clapham_gull]

Ah yes, but many, like me, bought a spectrum for gaming and then from that got into writing simple programs. A whole generation of computer experts got the bug from Spectrum and C64 gaming.

As I did !, but we are a geeky footprint. Sinclair's vision was that everybody would be buying a home computer to write their own software (mainly to automate their house), but they didn't.

His influence in this country is large, but completely unintended.

However, if you want to look at real "influence" you need to look at the inventors of the spreadsheet, or funnily the inventor of "cut and paste" who died recently.

The computer industry is very much like that, the high profile and the real movers and shakers.

A odd hybrid is Amazon. Mostly known for their market place, but utterly dominating business (particularly the media industry) with their other arm technology AWS which 90% of the general public are unware of.

 

[Cotton Socks]

I loved my Spectrum 48k except for waiting for 45 mins for Hyper Sports and get a 'Load Error'. I did go through the instructions in the old computer magazines to try and make my own horse race game on it. I failed every time!
Ironically his C5 was/is supposed to be somehow involved in the London to Brighton electric car rally on Saturday.
RIp Sir Sinclair

 

[Easy 10]

In fairness, that ARM processor was bloody brilliant.

 

[Easy 10]

As I did !, but we are a geeky footprint. Sinclair's vision was that everybody would be buying a home computer to write their own software (mainly to automate their house), but they didn't.

His influence in this country is large, but completely unintended.

However, if you want to look at real "influence" you need to look at the inventors of the spreadsheet, or funnily the inventor of "cut and paste" who died recently.

The computer industry is very much like that, the high profile and the real movers and shakers.

A odd hybrid is Amazon. Mostly known for their market place, but utterly dominating business (particularly the media industry) with their other arm technology AWS which 90% of the general public are unware of.

Funnily enough, the inventor of the USB died earlier this year.

In a dignified ceremony his casket was lowered into the ground, then brought back up, turned around, and lowered back down again.

 

[Southern Scouse]

I remember helping my dad with a job at a bloke s house and he was sat on a chair at the top of the stairs on a chair in front of a tiny tv. Over his shoulder I saw a black screen with lots of neon like green lines. He explained to me that this was a flight simulator on the spectrum. I was gobsmacked!
I then ordered a Spectum QL (Quantum Leap) which arrived about a year later and never worked!
RIP Clive, a man who really helped to change my world.

 

[Dick Swiveller]

In fairness, that ARM processor was bloody brilliant.

Sorry - my inner geek can't help but point out that the ARM processor came from Acorn who won a battle with Sinclair to build a computer for the BBC.

If anyone has an interest in this stuff and hasn't seen it already, the excellent Micro Men from the BBC features a good insight into Sinclair as a man - albeit part fictionalised by Alexander Armstrong.



There is loads of other stuff about the history of that era including a couple of films I have played a small part in making. (No, I am not on commission and yes, they are expensive for digital but are from essentially one man bands. Both are talking head documentaries with From Bedrooms having a much bigger budget - Charlie Brooker gave all of the crew of the Black Mirror Bandersnatch episode a copy to watch to understand what was behind the episode.)

https://rebellion.com/films/from-bedrooms-to-billions/
https://psychorobot.co.uk/moasa.html

 

[Dave the OAP]

He didn't invent the pocket calculator - that was Jack Kilby. What he did do, was make a cheaper version and created a mass market for them.

I do agree that the Sinclair machines were more used for games than programming but people did use them for programming. I wrote a program for calculating cricket averages on a ZX81. It was very clunky though

I was employed as an accountant by a plumbing and heating firm and one of the things I had to do was to create a programme to automate our quotation system and link it to our stock system. I used the ZX to develop but it was in the early days when these small “ cheap” devices didn’t talk to each other.

I left and ended up working at a company who had a IBM AS400 which I really enjoyed playing with as it was a very powerful machine. ( green screen)

Of course it’s big brother was the mainframe that had virtual devices many years before the current hype of cloud computing ( it always makes me laff when modern salesmen tell me that cloud computing is the newest best thing since sliced bread)

 

[John Byrnes Mullet]

RIP Sir Clive.
Saw him walking along Kensington Gardens back in late 80's, just around the corner from the computer shop Gamer where I purchased my ZX Spectrum which helped me to take Albion to become European Champions. He was a big part in history of home computing in bringing computers into the home at a price normal people could afford.

 

[Simster]

A odd hybrid is Amazon. Mostly known for their market place, but utterly dominating business (particularly the media industry) with their other arm technology AWS which 90% of the general public are unware of.

Not sure about "utterly dominating". Admittedly they do have 32% of the web services market, but Microsoft Azure is in second place having 19%.

 

[Wardy's twin]

We aren't in disagreement.

It did of course get people into programming, but they were few and far between. Those who did were mostly writing games and flogged them in their millions to other people, who had bought a spectrum because it was cheap and available.

It exploded in a way that Sinclair never intended and really annoyed him.

That's make him historically quite interesting.

1) A single complete genius idea of the the pocket calculator, that everyone forgets because it's "gone". Revolutionised business for decades like the fax machine.

2) A mass market "games console" ( the ZX Spectrum) that was intended to be a home computer, but it was terribly built with cheap components and was never "fit for purpose". However it was cheap and packed with memory and became a mass market games machine.

3) The rest of his career is littered with failed projects. The C5, his own folding bike, mini radios etc..

I'm not dismissing him, I find him fascinating, but he wasn't a "home computing" revolutionary.

and of course the 'black watch' can be added to that list.

As you say a genius , a one of a kind.

 

[Fungus]

and of course the 'black watch' can be added to that list.

As you say a genius , a one of a kind.

Yes, beat me to it. Battery lasted about 5 minutes, and you had to press a button to see it, but it was a clear signal (in hindsight) of the way things could and would go. Looked cool, too.

 

[LamieRobertson]

Just read his obituary in the DT….remember having the calculator which was so cool…..never really got on with the computer ..but could never afford the ‘bbc’ one so just had to put up with it.

RIP Sir Clive

 

[AIT76]

Conned my Dad into buying me a Spectrum as it was 'essential' if I wanted to pass my Computer Studies O Level.

I scraped a C in that - but was unbeatable at Jet Pac, Manic Miner and Horace Goes Skiing...

 

[Shropshire Seagull]

RIP Sir Clive

An inventor so ahead of his time.
Well known for introducing home-computing [then sold out to Alan Sugar who knew future markets better than most]
His pocket calculator was also early / first to market
And while his battery powered C5 is so often ridiculed and laughed at, look at the rise today of battery powered scooters and cycles by the most trendy of folk - the C5 was clever [battery powered] but flawed [3-wheeled tricycle]

 

[Badger]

RIP Clive

I've been watching a lot of retro computing YouTube videos during the pandemic and learnt a lot about the Sinclair story and all the competition in the 80s. I was born in 1984, so too young to have seen it all happen. We also had an Amstrad in our house.

It was interesting to see how Clive Sinclair and Alan Sugar were the complete opposite of each other. Clive was a proper computer geek who wanted everyone else to become a computer geek by having micro computers in their homes. Alan didn't have a clue about computers but he knew how to make money in business.

Of course they both made bad decisions in the end which took them out of the home computing market.