The British microcomputer legacy

For those of us of a certain age, a remarkable period in British technology history occurred during our formative years in the 1980s. Spearheaded by the work of two electronics companies, Sinclair Research and Acorn, many of us had our first experiences if computing on one of the devices home grown in the UK by one if those two firms… the Spectrum or the BBC Micro.

This morning sees the close of the legacy of one side of the story with Nokia announcing the death of Symbian, an operating system which had its roots in Psion, a company that began through writing throwaway games for the Spectrum in particular.

Acorn's legacy is more enduring. It is the forefather of ARM, the company whose processor technology today powers most mobile devices.

Whilst the decline of Symbian may be sad from the perspective of nostalgia, there is a much more important learning for us today. None of that revolution would have happened in the 80s without significant and sustained public investment. The clue is in the BBC Micro's name.

Whilst I am in no way suggesting that the Beeb is the answer to our nation's current ills, we should take note as our current government takes a knife to all but the most very essential public spending. Our (tax) money actually can be used to develop thriving and hugely beneficial industries if used wisely – the investment made by the BBC in the 80s founded the industry, developed new markets, and trained a generation of geeks like me in the basics of computing. I'd love to know what the financial return on those 80s initiatives have been…