Acorn Computers remains for many of a certain generation the quintessential British computing company. From its scrappy founding at the tail end of the 1970's to its (almost) inevitable demise just shy of the millennium, Acorn Computers rode the wave of the 1980's personal computing rush. Yet up until now, there hasn't been a truly personal perspective on just how the little company that could achieved such success. With this oral history from Robert Napier, now is your chance to find out.
At nearly 300 pages in length, Voices From A Future Passed contains the recollections of a multitude of people connected to Acorn. Some names are instantly recognisable to the follower of computing history: Sophie Wilson, Steve Furber, and Christopher Curry to name but three. Yet the sheer breadth of the contributions within this fine tome encompasses BBC staff, hardware developers, distributors, and more. As you can see from the below images, there's a lot of them!
This was an easy read, and because each memoire is presented from the point of view of the interviewees, the style never feels stale. Individual voices shine through the text, and because each chapter is effectively self-contained, makes reading through the book linearly or just dropping in here and there a choice of six and two threes.
In addition to the above, there are additional chapters on the Radcliffe Report which led to the BBC's Computer Literacy Project, a pocket history of general computing up until the rise of Acorn, a BBC Basic primer, details of the Cambridge/Manchester rivalry, and a guide to the various machines Acorn did, and did not, release.
By the time I reached the back cover, my knowledge of Acorn, its people, and its history had been greatly expanded, and I have no qualms at all in recommending Voices From A Future Passed to anyone with even a passing interest in the history of personal computing. I know this will become a fine resource for future reference.
There are, however, a couple of observations that require noting. And when I say observations, I mean, observations, not criticisms.
The first is that there is, by the very nature of the format, a lot of topic repetition. Individuals who worked at Acorn at the same time were often involved with, or aware of, the same projects, so you'll hear a lot about fruit machines. However, each addition to the narrative exhumes more information, so you never truly feel like you're experiencing Groundhog Day.
The second is that even with nearly thirty contributors, we barely get out of the 1980's. That is not a weakness of the book per se, just that if you were wanting to know more of the Acorn post-Archimedes release, then there's pretty slim pickings here. Maybe an opportunity for another volume perhaps?
Voices From A Future Passed is a terrific read. For the period it does cover, there is depth and detail galore, making it an essential purchase, and one that can be made from Amazon here. There's also the author's website here. You can buy this book in person from a quartet of computing museums, who will also receive a donation from each sale regardless of where the copy was bought from. There's more info at Riscository here.
All that remains for me now is to prepare for the RISCOS North show which is happening this weekend in Warrington. If you want to keep up with news about RISC OS goings on, check out The Iconbar and Riscository. There's also two continuing publications that are essential RISC OS reads: Archive Magazine and Drag 'N Drop.
Expect a show report next week along with a few pictures.
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