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It is an interesting piece of economics / public policy history. I think using the phrase 'throw money at any UK firm' though does a bit of a disservice to how
by klelatti 3y ago
It is an interesting piece of economics / public policy history. I think using the phrase 'throw money at any UK firm' though does a bit of a disservice to how credible Inmos's technology was. They were building at or close to leading edge RAM chips and the Transputer, although it looks like a curiosity now, had lots of interesting (not really flashy) innovation.
There were lots of issues with the running of the company of course, but I think it was the sale to Thorn-EMI (a really unsuitable owner) that ultimately sealed the fate of the firm.
- kjellsbells 3y agoAmen. (I didnt mean to imply that Inmos technology was smoke and mirrors.) Looking back at that period, there was no inherent technological reason why 8086 had to win out. It could just have easily been something from Motorola, Texas Instruments, or Inmos. I think that one of the difficulties for government investments made by small(er) countries is that there simply arent that many native horses to back, in contrast to places like the US (then and now) or maybe China (now).