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Especially as ARM originated from Acorn, whose success came from manufacturing the BBC Micro, for a publicly funded organisation (the BBC).
by jahewson 15y ago
Especially as ARM originated from Acorn, whose success came from manufacturing the BBC Micro, for a publicly funded organisation (the BBC).
- gaius 15y agoAhem, Acorn paid the BBC a fee for every Beeb sold, as a licensing fee on use of the logo. Acorn were also almost overlooked in favour of a company called Grundy, which had government backing, but inferior technology. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grundy_NewBrain http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grundy_NewBrain
- peterstjohn 15y agoOn the other hand, the BBC Micro would almost certainly not have been the success it was without the Beeb and the lift it gave to Acorn in the educational market.
- jahewson 15y agoLook at it as very well-priced advertising, after all the BBC effectively promoted their product. They nearly lost out to Sinclair Research as well, but that's a well known story...
- gaius 15y agoThe BBC were careful never to say "Acorn" on-screen (same as they never said Sellotape, it was always "sticky-backed plastic", to the amusement of the entire population).
- allertonm 15y agoI actually had a NewBrain, think it's still around in my parents' attic somewhere. I did quite a bit of real paying work on BBC Micros back in the day, and think they were great - but reading the way people tell the story today, one would be given the impression that the NewBrain was some kind of grim socialist piece of junk. It was actually a pretty decent bit of kit, quite a bit better quality than many of the other micros on the UK market at the time. In an ironic turn, the company I worked for doing the BBC stuff later moved into Grundy's old premises in Teddington after they went bust.