we've had a burst of UK nostalgia about this being the 25th anniversary of the release of the sinclair spectrum.
And certainly it launched a generation of machine code programmers and hackers. I'll even admit to having a spectrum plus (not to mention a jupiter ace), even though I was paid to work with real computers.
But it's funny. Looking at the spectrum reminded of the QL, another sinclair computer, and one far more interesting for its implications, because Strathclyde University launched a plan to give/lend/lease QL's to students in 1986/87, something hat was pretty revolutionary at the time give that most university networks consisted of classic time sharing solutions and a few computers on slow serial lines.
Strathclyde's adoption of the QL, while doomed because they chose the wrong platform, was revolutionary in its realisation that computers were an adjunct to learning and not just a glorified calculator/typewriter replacement...
also posted on my journalspace blog
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