4 ms·
It seems anachronistic to refer to the Spectrum as a PC rather than as a microcomputer. I miss the term microcomputer, but now that everything contains micropr
by parenthesis 4y ago
It seems anachronistic to refer to the Spectrum as a PC rather than as a microcomputer.
I miss the term microcomputer, but now that everything contains microprocessors (up to and including supercomputers), I suppose it makes more sense to call personal computers personal computers.
- layer8 4y agoHome computer would be the correct and more specific term: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_computer https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_computer
- parenthesis 4y agoKraftwerk agree.
- yardshop 4y agoI program my home computer. Beam myself into the future.
- donio 4y agoFeels very weird to me too. The problem is that PC meant something much more specific at the time and nobody would have called the Spectrum or even an Amiga or Macintosh a PC.
- TuringTest 4y agoThey were called like that in other languages, at least in Spanish ("ordenador personal"). Probably it helped that we didn't see IBM compatible PCs at home until the late 80's - early 90's.
- kragen 4y agoThe Spectrum came out in 01982, only a few months after the IBM PC. That was long before IBM's monopoly power (well, and Ziff-Davis) had redefined "PC" to mean "IBM PC compatible". The Amiga and Macintosh didn't exist yet. Most "personal computers" ran CP/M at the time.
- klelatti 4y agoI thought that too but on reflection not so sure. The leading computer magazine in the U.K. was ‘Personal Computer World’ and although microcomputer was probably more commonly used I think PC was also used too. Of course the use of PC to denote IBM PC compatibles really only became common in the mid 1980s although - perhaps surprisingly - the IBM PC launched before the Spectrum.
- dcminter 4y agoI don't think the speccy was ever commonly referred to as a "PC" - "home computer" was the pervasive term. PCW was much more business focused from what I recall.
- klelatti 4y agoJust Googled early ads for the Spectrum and the first one on Google calls it a personal computer. https://imgur.com/gallery/58TeAKT https://imgur.com/gallery/58TeAKT There might have been a degree of ‘upselling’ on Sinclair’s part though! Also agreed that the ‘PC’ abbreviation would have been relatively uncommon. PCW covered everything! They had all the Sinclairs on the cover as well as heavyweight business machines. Even had a regular assembly language column.
- 83457 4y agoThat's "personal computer", not "Personal Computer" as in PC. I'm sure many company executives before electricity had their own "personal computers", whether mechanical or meat.
- msh 4y agoWell given that mini computers don't exist anymore and mainframes barely it don't think microcomputer makes sense.
- jbverschoor 4y agoThat's like saying that a calling a steamengine a steamengine doesn't make sense anymore, because they don't really exist anymore.
- msh 4y agoNo, micro is relative to mini. Steam is how it does what it does.
- stormbrew 4y agoI think the tricky thing here is that what used to be called a microcomputer (or apparently a home computer, though that's new to me) is kind of making a comeback (with things like the Pi 400 and some various efforts at building new all-but-the-screen-in-one portable-ish computers in the image of the c64 or spectrum or appleII) and they really ought to be distinguished from what we now call a PC (or laptop, for that matter). But it would be confusing to repurpose minicomputer for it, given that microcomputer is a term still used to some extent, and is more present in most people's memory.