Martin Banks, Personal Computer World 12/88 - checked

December 1988

I have always felt that politicians are, well, you know... more to be pitied than hated or despised. From the lofty position of 20:20 hindsight and damn-all responsibility which I periodically award myself, it is easy to say such things.

Regular readers might well think that such a viewpoint is a bit hypocritical for one such as I, not always backward in coming forward about things that I think 'someone' ought really to change. Be that as it may, I feel that recent months have shown just why politicians are to be pitied, and why I personally begin to suspect that they may just be despicable as well. (It would seem to go without saying that they are stupid, so we won't argue that point).

Why do I say these things? Given that I still have another 900 words to write, I will tell you.

Many will be aware that I am not world's greatest fan of computer games, and that much of that antipathy stems from my personal views of much of the contents of the games. A day spent at the recent Personal Computer Show was enough to reinforce that view: the leisure section seemed to contain the usual quota of gratuitous blood-lust and machismo masquerading as fun.

It never ceases to amaze me that we have the infernal gall to refer to ourselves as a 'civilised' society when mass murder, genocide an extreme xenophobia are not only considered suitable subjects for children's games of any type, let alone computerised ones.

Then again, it doesn't amaze me at all. We live in a political climate where making money is more important than the way in which it is made and where the moral values of the bear-baiting pit are the order of the day. We also still live in the type of 'civilised' society that likes to have its youngsters, and especially its young men, trained in the arts of xenophobia and easy death. After all, it would seem that there will ever be a potential market for cannon fodder.

If someone can make money out of that training process, then so much the better as far as the politicians are concerned.

And, of course, it is dear old Mammon which is the true driving force behind such attitudes. The importance of acquiring vast piles of greenback ronnies or brass margarets has rarely been greater, and the need to defend them rarely more desperate.

The effects of this can be seen in the current circumstances of both the semiconductor industry and the floppy disk business. They are effects which directly impinge upon all of us who use (or abuse) computer systems.

The debacle of the Dynamic RAM shortage will be well known to most people by now. And if it affects the pricing and availability of systems made by the nice Mr Sugar, then it really is serious. Amstrad is known as expert at getting the best possible deal, so if Alan can't get good prices and deliveries on DRAMs, no one can.

By why has it happened, and what has it got to do with floppy disks?

It has happened precisely because the US semiconductor industry, and via them the US politicians, have wanted to protect their piles of greenback ronnies.

They have not been as good as the Japanese at making DRAMs, that is the short answer, and this weakness has been coupled to the fact that the Japanese, like their US and European counterparts, have been quite blatant about miss-using and exploiting 'foreigners' in their desire to accumulate even bigger piles of ronnies and margarets, and have decided to be really exploitative. Like in most things, their diligence has brought forth a reward.

The RAM business worldwide became theirs and eventually, when the US semiconductor companies realised they weren't making the ronnies they had been in the past out of other devices, they squealed. Politicians, being the generally short-sighted individuals they are, promptly agreed that all sorts of tariffs and restrictions should be slapped on the Japanese to make them 'play fair' in the marketplace. What had been forgotten, of course, was the US semiconductor industry had pulled out of the DRAM business, so there was no-one around to take up the slack left by the Japanese.

The result was predictable. Memories went into short supply and the computer industry, amongst others, went into disarray. By trying to protect a section of its industry that had already all but died, the US politicians shot significant sections of its industrial base in the foot, leg and large parts of the bum.

Now, I am a benevolent person, and try to be more than willing to forgive a failing if wisdom is gained as a result. However, it looks as though the US politicians are about to do it again and this time it is the 3.5 inch floppy disk which is the target.

Ironically, this technology was developed in Japan, but the its seems that Eastman Kodak, which owns Verbatim, are saying that the Japs are dumping floppies in the US. This may be so (and there are endless arguments about what constitutes dumping), but Verbatim is, by definition, fairly small beer to protect. Estimates reckon that at least 90 percent of the world's supply of 3.5 inch disks are already made in Japan.

Yet, by leaping to the defence of one owner of a pile of ronnies (and though Verbatim is small, Eastman Kodak has huge political clout and a huge pile of ronnies) the politicians look set to not just shoot much of the PC business in the foot, but lay waste to whole sections of it. The attack on Japanese floppies is already pushing the unit price up. If the politicians act as before, they could soon be causing the same supply attenuation that happened in DRAMs.

Should that occur, then users are going to be left high and dry. As for the PC manufacturers committed to 3.5 inch floppy technology... well, they are going to be in a jam.

The list of manufacturers, however, includes some interesting names. Apple and Hewlett-Packard, for example, are quite significant piles of ronnies to decimate in the cause of protecting the wrong industry. The best name of all, of course, is IBM, now standardised on 3.5 inch disks. There is a company that has enough problems already, so it will be interesting to see how it takes its pile of ronnies being pushed over by the US Government.

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