Computer Inventor Finds Computers "Annoying"
Sir Clive Sinclair won't even read his email from family and friends.
In a recent interview with the UK newspaper The Observer, computer inventor Sir Clive Sinclair said that he finds computers annoying. In fact, Sinclair said that he doesn't use a computer at all. Emails are read aloud by his assistant, as he finds emails just as annoying.
"I'd much prefer someone would telephone me if they want to communicate," he said. "No, it's not sheer laziness – I just don't want to be distracted by the whole process. Nightmare."
That's surprising given that he co-created the Sinclair ZX80 back in 1980, opening the door to personal mass-market computing in the home like the TSR-80 and the Commodore 64. He admits that the computer-- along with the follow-up ZX81-- made him loads of money. The former computer sold around 50,000 units whereas that newer ZX81, released in 1981, sold around 250,000 units.
Given today's hardware standards, both machines are primitive. The ZX80 had a membrane keyboard, 1K of memory, and used a cassette player to load programs. The ZX81 had a bit more to offer, allowing peripherals such as daughterboards for added memory and external keyboards.
With that said, it would seem that Sinclair would actually embrace the simplicity that today's technology provides. That's not in case. In fact, he blasted the designs of today.
"Our machines were lean and efficient," he said. "The sad thing is that today's computers totally abuse their memory--totally wasteful, you have to wait for the damn things to boot up, just appalling designs. Absolute mess! So dreadful it's heartbreaking."
It's no wonder he avoids the PC. Perhaps he should re-invent today's PC.
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He could use Asus' Express Gate. It doesn't take hardly any time to boot up and he could still read his emails.
The computer is useless, I don;t know why whould any one use a computer
I am down for the re-invention!
Maybe we should pool a grant and let him go to town.
Very few people use computers to gain - 00 for most people it's just a waste of time like for 99% of us. ha ha
^whoa this is not to say in anyway that computers are useless, I can't believe I just read that.
I think a little re-invention anywhere isn't a bad thing. (or at least a good attempt)
The computer is useless, I don;t know why whould any one use a computer
how did u post this article again?
That's why ARM based computers are the future of mass computing. It's basically 'back to the roots', when Smarbooks gonna hit the market and hopefully succeed we will see the raise of different form factors maybe also oldschool computer within a keyboard. System on a Chip is a way to go!
It's perfectly understandable. The guy paved the way for some standard but it did not go as he foresaw. It's just like if you have have a really good company that work on solid a solid foundation but then get sold into pieces and they all go with different design. With all the licensing crap that goes on, the computer industry should be way beyond what it is today and we should not have to deal with the crap like SLI licensing and such.
Quite misleading title. At first I thought the article was about John Atanasoff, and he's been deceased for 15 years...
I find it funny that he finds emails themselves distracting yet he uses his assisstant to read them outloud... because thats not distracting or time consuming in the least...
Though if he made another PC I'd be more than happy to read about it and possibly try it.
Inventor of the PC? I think I would designate Steve Wozniak with that honor, but I guess you have to make it sound good somehow... Oh, and this guy seems like an idiot.
The inventor of the computer hates the way they've infiltrated daily life. The inventor of the cubicle hates his invention.
They should have to live my life in a cubicle, at a keyboard. And I'm upset at both of them. But really I'm upset at my father for not letting me be a professional sky-diver!
Oh shizzle the "Add an URL" button removed my URL.
http://money.cnn.com/2006/03/09/ma [...] k_fortune/
*trashes his cubicle*
He maybe the inventor of computers, but they do far more now than he ever invisioned. The Pc
now is far more complicated and requires a totally different mindset. The Pc he made was practiacally
useless, but his idea was terrific.
I think the comment about the phone makes sense, in that you have to constantly check your e-mail, as opposed to the phone rings you. People spend hours a day looking at their crack berries, you don't spend hours a day looking at your phone waiting for it to ring. Unless, in fact, someone you want to hear from.
I get the logic, I personally, am coming to hate this super connected world, it's like an electron forced to share it's orbit, it's just not good. YOu don't ever seem to have a moment to yourself through this constant flood of information, the TV, radio, cell phone, smart phone, black berry, berry black, phone i, i pad, i pod, you are always connected, constantly, it's like the Borg, ... or that Japan Anime Serial Experiments Lane, social networking will morph into reality and the real world, essentially becomes just a back drop to living on the net.
It's actually quite scary. My most peaceful moments now a days are when no one can contact me, it's damn near exhilirating...
And look at Tiger, if it wasn't for that darn, Text messaging!!!
If I was super-rich I would have people read me all my emails too! Duh.
Good luck getting programmers to be efficient.
Asynchronous computing is the way to go. Computers should just load the programs we want without background wastes, unless we want a program to run in a background.
First of all, he invented A computer, not THE computer. Secondly, the Sinclair was a toy... a hobbiest computer at best (not that the Z80 processor wasn't a decent piece of hardware). Third, back in his day memory was extremely expensive and computer didn't have very much of it. It was necessary to take compiled programs and have assembly language experts thoroughly optimize them. They were relatively small and didn't do much. Today, software coding is a major undertaking. With the complexity of the applications and all of the features they incorporate, it takes nothing less than a small team working full time to put out anything of note. With computers having memory in the gigabytes, you code for performance, not size. Finally, if this guy had been a major player in the computer revolution, I suspect his outlook would be considerable different (sour grapes).
Bottom line: this guy is 20 computer generations out of date and his opinions reflect that.
my TI-89t is more powerful than the ZX81, and it turns on instantly
It's true about the attention thing, stupid mail and stuff.
The abuse of 'we'll patch it later' of internet and constant connectivity has also made a lot of stuff worse. People aren't forced to deliver something solid on the first run. (I'm talking especially about software and web pages.)
The efficiency is debatable, I'll trade efficiency for stuff like abstraction (e.g. higher programming language) that allows me to write code faster, I'll take the downside of compiling as a necessity and live with it. Also cross-platform (languages such as Java) is something I'm willing to trade in some efficiency.
For the rest, what does he means with abusing memory? It's actually mainly Microsoft that's doing it. With their crappy allocators and designs. If you compare that to a good Linux, you'll notice a huge difference in efficiency.
I found the wasteful use of memory comment very out of date. Memory is cheap compared to the costs to develope software to conserve it.
I wonder if Sir Clive is just turning into a cranky old fart.
cranky old fart it is....
oh,..., pardon, rich, cranky old fart
He might have not seen the SSD in action yet...
Nowadays, PCs are not the problem. It's the softwares that are bloated. The best is to rewrite them from scratch and forgetting about compatibilities with the old hardwares and software. But who would do that?
He must have experienced a Microsoft OS/Product, poor guy, feel sorry for him.
If I was super-rich I would have people read me all my emails too! Duh.
If i was super rich i would be on a beach somewhere drinking my face off with 15 women.
Funny how the people that create some of the more innovative things end up hating their invention in the end.
"drinking my face off with 15 women." such aspirations ... and what's next on your list of meaningful contributions to life ... how to fart in the sand without getting any up your bung hole?
He doesn't hate "his invention" he hates computers of today ... based on his bloated and slow boot time comments he MUST be talking about Microsoft.
He embraces the 'simplicity' that allowed very few people to use and afford computers? Eh?
Also, dunno what you people are talking about. A clean install of Windows 7 boots faster than most variations of Linux (Ubuntu, Mint, and Debian), and Linux doesn't really have enough stuff in general for me to clutter it, reducing boot times, so not a fair comparison in later use. Dunno about Mac, though.
But he said "You have to wait", which doesn't mean slow. It means time full stop.
Thing is, I'm betting he never even really thought of them as entertainment or general use devices. If he did, I'd love to ask how he think he could've managed to do the SAME things that computers do now, with his apparently uber-lean memory management and zero to very little start up time, ALONG with offering choice and customization.