So what did people do with these futuristic marvels other than learn to program?Ĭomputer designers were somewhat vague about the end use of their creations, but emphasised their incredible versatility around the home: Sinclair's ZX80 was advertised with the sweeping claim that it could do “literally anything from playing chess to running a power station”. Yet in the analogue 1980s home they were positively space age. Across Britain people stayed up late into the night typing in programmes and hunting for the inevitable bugs in their code, as they gradually explored for themselves what computers could do.īy modern standards, 1980s home computers were laughably primitive: machines with rubber keyboards, blocky graphics, beepy sound, and less processing power than the cheapest mobile phone of today. It seems surprising today, but learning to programme for yourself was seen as vital for developing an understanding of how computers worked, and empowering people to control them. The BBC launched a huge computer literacy project to educate the nation, including television programmes, books, and even its own branded BBC Microcomputer, built by Acorn in Cambridge.Ĭommodore VIC-20 home computer, September 1983. “Coming to terms with them is part of coming to terms with the 20th century.” Parents were encouraged to buy computers for their children to help give them a good start in life. “We live in the age of computers,” cautioned a 1982 advert for the Commodore VIC-20 computer.
Home computers were presented as a friendly introduction to a technology that was going to change the world. There would be new opportunities in this ‘brave new world’, but those who did not learn about computers faced being left behind. Robots might replace industrial workers word processors might take over from secretaries even professional jobs in teaching or medicine might be replaced by expert computer software.
So why in the 1980s did so many people suddenly decide to buy a computer? The answer was initially educational: the spread of microchip-powered technologies in the 1970s brought prophecies of an information technology revolution that would overturn traditional life and work. Home computing boomed by 1983 Britain boasted the highest level of computer ownership in the world.
It was the first of a series of home ‘microcomputers’ to offer user-friendly computing at a budget price, and a bewildering array of competing designs soon appeared on the market. Advertised with the friendly slogan “inside a day you'll be talking to it like an old friend,” the ZX80 proved to be a sensation and sold in huge numbers. Yet it was surprisingly versatile, affordable and easy for beginners to use.
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