Sir Clive Sinclair has died.

[Scania]

https://www.theguardian.com/technol...uting-pioneer-sir-clive-sinclair-dies-aged-81

A true pioneer of home computing, without whom I imagine many - myself included - would not have our passion for computers we have today.

I had a ZX81 and Spectrum 48K back in the day, fond memories (when they worked! )

A difficult man by all accounts, but a legend in his own lifetime.

R.I.P.

Think I'll be watching "Micro Men" later.

 

[Scania]

I have a C5 in the shed, think I will dig her out and have a peddle around this weekend in his honour.

Dude, thats worth a packet these days!

I'd love to try one, apparently terrifying in traffic, but still, what foresight....

 

[Scania]

Early 90s I remember the science museum in London had an exhibition of all kinds of futuristic looking electric vehicles from C5 sized stuff through to 4 seaters - nothing seems to have come of any of them.

Surely a Tesla is a direct descendant of the C5 in one way or another ?

 

[Scania]

Thanks for that, never knew about it and just watched it.

Question
I could Google a bit more but for somebody who seemed to fail a lot how did he end up with so much money (estimated 100 million)?

Quite simple really, he kept his personal wealth separate from his businesses, in 1983 he was worth £100m(!)

A similar thing happened with Chris Curry and Herman Hauser of Acorn, both made millions at the peak of the home computer bubble but had it squirrelled away by the time Acorn was bailed out by Olivetti.

 

[Scania]

And those of us with BBCs and Electrons got plenty of stick from both Spectrum and C64 owners, and then Elite came along and changed everything.

Didn't it just?

 

[Scania]

Micromen=another case of student (Chris Curry) turning against master (Sir Clive Sinclair). Those sort of things don't usually end well. |If they put their differences aside and made a comeback they could have been huge.
It's not too late for them and Alan Sugar...

To quote micro men, “We could have been the British IBM” - Curry to Sinclair after their infamous bust up in a pub after both companies had fallen into financial turmoil, the sad part was he was absolutely right, they could indeed should have….

Look at ARM (which once stood for Acorn RISC Machine) , it was literally a sideline project that wasn’t even mentioned in the takeover talks between Olivetti & Acorn, once Olivetti had control it was introduced along the lines of “oh yeah, we’re working on this….” Olivetti didn’t appreciate what they were sitting on…

This is an interesting read…

https://m.huffingtonpost.co.uk/ellee-seymour/the-day-olivetti-stitched_b_1306101.html

 

[Scania]

I meant, Alan Sugar joining forces with Chris Curry and his Austrian mate making a comeback. They've got a perfect time and just think of the possibilities-
The smartphones
The tablet PCs,
the accessories
the laptops

There's no stopping them

Not a chance, both Curry and Hauser are firstly well over retirement age,75 & 72 respectively, both - especially Hauser - have numerous other interests already and both are extremely wealthy in their own rights, as for Lord Sugar, again, very wealthy, numerous interests already and himself getting on a bit.

In their positions, why would you bother?