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From: Dilwyn Jones dil...@evans1511.fsnet.co.uk
Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2010 11:59 AM
To: ql-us...@q-v-d.com
Subject: Re: [Ql-Users] Today...
Does anybody remember what was up Today 10 years ago?
http://tinyurl.com/QL2000
Cheers, Urs
Ah, the hive of activity at QL 2000 at the Horizon Centre IIRC. That
really was a Quanta event to remember!
At least it took my mind off Wales losing 4-1 at soccer to the Swiss the
other night, Urs :-(
It is interesting to reread Colin Baskett's report on the forum at QL2000:
TARGET GROUPS:
Children: Arnould Nazarian was arguing strongly for a £100 computer aimed at
children with good graphics capabilities.
Schools: SuperBasic was a good way of teaching programming skills, but we
could not break into the educational system. (Interesting how this topic
came up this year in the Future of the QL thread.)
The elderly: Well, we have plenty of wrinklies now, but that is not what was
meant. Four years later a trader opined on this list that UK QL-ers were too
old and decrepit to make the journey to Eindhoven for QL2004. I offered to
ask Sin_QL_Air to lay on zimmer frames and nurses. He approved of the latter
but not the former.
PS Malcolm: Any chance of a Stannah Lift at the church hall for those
ancient Quanta committee members?
Loyalists: It was thought that few enthusiasts for other systems would be
interested in the QL, but since that time a few speccies have taken an
interest. And how many of you knew that Ed Milliband was a former speccie
games geek?
Tinkerers/Programmers: Largely based around the ease of QL programming
although one brave soul ventured the opinion that Visual Basic was as easy
to program as the QL.
Migrants: Now that's a naughty word these days! In those days it meant
trying to persuade PC defectors to come back to the QL. The weapon was to be
a bootable CD containing an emulator. How many years did we have to wait for
a QL on a stick?
New Users: A forlorn hope. Market was too small for hardware development,
but still OK for software. One big problem was TK2, which was not available
on PD emulator. Perhaps a help guide to QL jargon was necessary.
PROBLEMS TO BE SOLVED:
Accessibility: Both QDOS and SMSQ should be in the public domain. (This was
a few years before the major licencing dispute.) Could Quanta negotiate or
purchase SMSQ? Could source code be made available? Also proper
documentation was essential. Questions were asked about the new colour
drivers and if there were not more urgent priorities.
Software: Many programs were incompatible with SMSQ and all to often the
authors could not be contacted - in some cases to contact them we would have
needed a stairway to heaven. Quanta could have a role to play here
(contacting authors - not building a stairway to heaven with or without a
Stannah Lift) and perhaps could provide money if necessary. Also important
to make clear which programs were PD and which not. Incompatibility
between QDOS and SMSQ.
INTERNET ACCESS:
The need for the QL to have internet and email access dominated the show.
The first email from a QL had just been sent and the future for QL internet
access appeared promising especially for users of the then new Q40. However
Jonathan Dent warned that there was much work to be done before working
internet and email progams would be available for the QL. In spite of this
some members left the hall claiming that we would all be emailing from our
QLs the following Christmas.
Finally amomg other business was a moan that it was impossible to get hold
of a QL - none had been advertised for about three years. Rich Mellor, where
were you when we needed you?
Best Wishes,
Geoff
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