Hi all, I hope you started well into 2010!
Something about Sinclair related anniversaries: Linus Torvalds, best known for having initiated the development of the Linux kernel, became 40 on December 28th 2009. Linux v1 had its 15th anniversary last year too. As a kind of a birthday present to him and the ICT world I was digging out a piece of Sinclair QL software written by Linus way back in 1986. Here's the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxx6brHlwJI With this email I'm closing the books on the 25th anniversary of the Sinclair QL. I've updated the anniversary webpages recently. http://tinyurl.com/ql-is-25 The last thing to be added will be the web statistics of the anniversary year. To name a few figures: - 8698 unique visitors on the site (some 2000 of it due to the blogging of Linus, 891 alone on the day following his blog entry) - 6341 visitors on the anniversary page - 1301 downloads of the anniversary PowerPoint presentation - 464 downloads of QPC (the virtual QL to run on the PC under Windows) - 15'000 video views on my YouTube channel So, no need to repeat the ceremony every year, therefore no mailshot on Jan 12th this year. ;-) Today there is another special anniversary (have no fear; I will not start another annual posting). On January 10th 1985 the Sinclair C5 - a vehicle (don't call it car) not computer - was launched. Enjoy the viewing of ITV's "NEWS at TEN" of that day: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9PivEygh_8 It was a sad day in retrospective. Look at Clive's face on the picture (http://tinyurl.com/sinclairc5-launch). He must have guessed it. This day rang in the fall for Sinclair enterprises taking the computers into downturn with it. Here's my opinion on the C5: "Brave idea but too much ahead of its time. Giving the resources, money, management attention to the QL and further computing developments instead of Sinclair vehicles, chances would have been different that the IT world would look different today." Today is also the last day of my sabbatical. Tomorrow I will start my new job as an independent research & development consultancy. http://www.cowo.ch/ My first project is "optimised quality of data access for dummies". I'm not allowed to tell you more about it today, but in case it evolves I will post more details. So that's it. But before the final curtain call, please note that there are 3 related movies for personal download. They will have to be removed soon for various reasons, so please download them asap. Horizon - Clive Sinclair, the anatomy of an inventor http://tinyurl.com/horizon1989 (423 MB, 49:17, BBC 1989) Visions - Interview with Sir Clive Sinclair on hopes and fears for the future http://tinyurl.com/visions1990 (251 MB, 29:13, BBC 1990) Micro Men - Docudrama on the race for the home computer supremacy in the 1980s. http://tinyurl.com/micromen2009 (583 MB, 1:24:12, BBC 2009) Best regards, Urs http://www.qlvsjaguar.homepage.bluewin.ch Some more URL's which you might surf, favourite or share: http://tinyurl.com/ql-story http://tinyurl.com/ql-pics http://tinyurl.com/ql-videos _______________________________________________ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
