Anniversary for a computer that created IT landscape

Mar 26 2008 by Bill Gleeson, Liverpool Daily Post

CAST your minds back a little over 25 years. If you were working for a business then, what sort of IT systems and support were at your disposal? If you were at school, college or university, what part did computers play in your studies?

I am prompted to ask after reading a piece on the BBC website (unknown 25 years ago!) about a landmark anniversary for a piece of technology which justifiably bears the description "life changing".

The BBC Micro computer has been credited with "shaping today's IT landscape" by at least one leading expert in computing.

It was released in 1982 after the BBC had initiated a nationwide computer literacy programme. In what probably amounted to a brave move, the Corporation agreed to "sponsor" the device created by Acorn following a hunt to find a machine that could help educate parents and their children alike.

Looking back in the BBC archives, it's clear this is another great example of British design and innovation. Bear in mind this was the early 1980s, a time often associated with industrial decline and economic gloom. Think British Leyland, British Shipbuilders, British Rail and you get the picture.

Yet, here was another British institution, arguably deviating from its tried and tested route, to create opportunities on a scale that must surely have been unimaginable at the time.

BBC Micro, together with machines like the Sinclair Spectrum, overturned people's preconceptions of computers.

The BBC Micro was at the heart of an ambitious programme of education, backed up with TV programmes, lessons in schools and a nationwide network of teachers and educators who learned to use the machine.

Despite all that was going on in the early 80s, experts agree now that this was an era when the BBC was very strong, very confident, had the backing of what was then the DTI (Department for Trade and Industry) to launch into this and effectively sponsor a piece of hardware.

Fast forward those 25 years and think of some of the industries we are strong in today – industries in which this region has a particular foothold based on skill, experience, entrepreneurship and business acumen. Creative industries maximising digital technology in which the UK performs very strongly.

More than 1.5m BBC computers were eventually sold; the BBC and Acorn had predicted they would sell 12,000. Some probably considered even back then in 1982, predicting a sales figure of 12,000 wildly ambitious.

But at the heart of it must have been a solid belief among those involved that it was about education and bettering Britain.

People with a passion and a vision.

There's always room for them in any business.

MATT JOHNSON is chairman of Mando Group