Martin Banks, Personal Computer World 08/81 - checked

August 1981

Right, hands up all those who think they know what a personal computer is.

Come on now, since you're reading a magazine with the words Personal and Computer writ large within its title, you must think you have some idea. Let's have at least one well-rounded and succinct definition that is capable of covering all eventualities.

It is, I would contend, somewhat more difficult than just saying something like 'a computer that is both small enough and cheap enough to be purchased and effectively used by one person'. Many of them are definitely not cheap and, equally many are required to be used by more than one person. In between, there are a million other caveats.

To a large degree, therefore, the definition that the individual arrives at for what he feels is a personal computer is going to be largely a product of his own needs, experience and expectations.

This means that for one group of users a definition can be easily derived while for another group an entirely different definition will be needed. For one group in particular, it is possible to suggest that the definition has still to be thought out.

One of the easy groups is in small business. Here the personal computer can be defined as a computer system intended for the personal use of one or more workers in the course of their work - a tool effectively - rather than by an elite team of specialists.

It is a tool to overcome a (hopefully) known and understood set of problems in return for a given investment. The only major difference it has as a problem solver compared to a mainframe computer is that it takes that solution to the worker, instead of the worker having to come to the mainframe to pay homage. Now that is all very fine for that particular application of microcomputers, for the task itself is well-understood and defined. That is why many of the manufacturers of micros went for the small business market in a big way, and more power to their elbow for picking a readily exploitable opportunity for establishing themselves.

The difficult group to define is the consumer market, and the consumer personal computer. Many people in the industry, particularly in the manufact uring and distribution companies, feel certain that there is an enormous and as yet untapped market for the truly personal consumer computer. Yet no company, with the possible exception of Sinclair Research, has really got close to breaking into it. There is an underlying, almost unspoken feeling that if technology can create products - and markets - like television, hi-fi, radio, washing machines, and fully belled and whistled cooking machines, then it ought to be able to do the same with the microcomputer.

Well yes, and no, if you see what I mean.

Yes, we have the technology (to quote that awful quote) to produce virtually any type of product that can be conceived of as a 'personal computer'. That part is no hardship at all.

The big problem comes when the subject is addressed from the other - the user's -end. Now, products like the television and hi-fi and all the rest have succeeded because they are essentially passive. Now, I could go into a whole load of pseudo-sociological and psychological jargon about the essential inter-relationships of life and artforms that are integrated into a unified whole by such products, but I won't. I do however feel that it is an important aspect. With such products, the user can see a reason for using them. To the question: "Ere I want to 'ear this 'ere Stranglers record, 'ow do I do that then, John?' the immediate answer is: 'place it on your stereo thou good and trusty fellow.'

The same goes for microcomputers in small businesses, in schools, in scientific establishments and all the other tightly definable applications areas. The user can see the micro as a means to achieving an end. With the consumer market this is not yet the case. The vast majority of potential users can see no reason for having such a product. They just sort of stand there, and just sort of say: 'What do I do with this, then John?'

In passing, it has to be said that a good number of the existing 'consumer' clientele are asking exactly the same question. They don't want to be educated about the wonders of computer technology or programming in Basic, they have got fed up with playing Space Invaders and chess. They want to be able to use the little beastie as a means to some other end that they have not yet managed to define for themselves. They stand like Linus, thumb in mouth and towel to ear, saying 'having bought it, what do I do with it?'

So, if the vast and untapped revenue is to pour into the coffers of the industry, something has to be done to overcome this mental blockage. What that is is hard to say, and even if I knew I wouldn't tell. (As several people have pointed out before, there is a fortune waiting for the person who gets the right idea, and markets it in the right way.) It is possible to say, however that there are things wrong with both the hardware and software of microcomputing relative to the 'consumer' market, and that the products will have to change and develop. It is also possible to say that there will be no such thing as the consumer personal computer per se and that instead there will be a wide range of intelligent products that just happen to incorporate the wonders of microcomputing.

So, what will the consumer micro look like, what pointers exist that could give some idea?

Well, taking the already stated point that 'we have the technology', any definition of such a product or products should look at the problem from the user's end. Without even addressing the problem of what users actually want to do with them, we can tackle the easier subject of how they can do it. Now I feel that your average punter (and they are the people to be hit, not the techno-freak and small businessman) is intimidated by keyboards, especially when they are responsible for the generation of the input. I have seen excellent copy typists, who could talk lucidly about a complex subject, suffer the ultimate mental hernia when asked to use a typewriter to set their thoughts to paper. They could, however, verbalise those thoughts (often till the cows came home). So speech input and output is going to be an essential prerequisite. Initially, of course, that speech will be somewhat limited in vocabulary, and there is still much work to be done before a system is developed with which you can hold a conversation rather than just communicate raw information. There will still be a need for keys, but these will probably tend more and more to be function/command keys rather than for data entry.

Size is the next item. If a computer is to be personal it will have to be of a size to be with you where you are, in person. That means portability - and that means not only some very aggressive development work in the field of low power-consuming microelectronics technologies such as CMOS, and device design techniques such as gate arrays, but also in the technology of power sources. (It is all very well producing a wrist-watch computer that's ever so clever, but what about the car battery you need to carry in your hip pocket?) It will also mean some snazzy work being done in the field of memories, but more of that in a second.

Another area is communications. Now, I know that lots of people pour scorn on Prestel, but in theory it's a great idea, especially if it is extrapolated onwards. Imagine a pocket computer with a small aerial that can link in to a wide range of available databases via radio and/or land line and/or computer/ telephone/information access system that also picks up Radio 1. Okay, Radio 3. It could work

Now back to memories, as promised. It seems to be a function of computers that as they become more flexible and easier for the non-specialist to use, so they become much larger and more complex internally. So to cope with the vagaries of the 'average punter' within the terms of a general purpose computer, a large amount of memory will be needed. There will be a need for a reasonable amount of data memory, but, more importantly, there will be a need for a great deal of program memory. Much of this will also need to be on-board, for the punter is not going to like having to keep and load a number of floppy disks. Tied in with this is, of course, software, and not just the actual applications programs. There is likely to be a need for a new form of systems software that is intelligent, and helps the user get to the required application easily - for example guesses the program needed by successively approximating the user's odd-ball requests into a true program load command.

The programs and system software will have to be in firmware with as much as possible embedded in the system. Other applications programs would have to be in easy-to-handle plug-in modules.

As for the applications programs themselves, well, it's like the pop record business - just try and give the punter what he wants, or what he can be sold. The future here is probably with program generators like The Last One, though if the punter still doesn't know what he wants to do, having a computer that can produce a program for it is of little advantage.

All this has been directed towards the idea of a general purpose personal computer- ie, a box that stands by itself. I'm not entirely sure things will move that way, for I feel that many more 'personal' computers will be used in the form of smart televisions, smart cookers, smart hi-fi, smart cars and smart telephones than they will as 'computers' per se.

Exactly what the future holds for the truly personal computer as a consumer item no-one yet knows, or if they do they aren't saying too much. Some people feel it is already here as a product, though at least one, Mike Hambly of the newly opened Computer Supermarket in Corby, admits to a considerable act of faith. 'In two years time I will either be a millionaire, or flat broke', he says.

There are probably as many ideas for this area as there are people willing to buy such a computer. That, I feel, is one of the problems.

Perhaps Lord Tebbutt, esteemed editor of this parish magazine, should organise a competition for the best idea for the ultimate personal computer. The prize for the winner? Oh, I don't know, maybe a fortnight with your favourite psychiatrist!

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