| Sinclairvoyance |
IT SEEMS that the much-heralded Microdrive is about to make an appearance. At the same time the first signs of a long-awaited conscience are being seen in the workings of Sinclair Research. Neither has come a moment too soon.
One wonders at what stage of development the drive was when it was announced at the launch of the Spectrum in April last year. Was it only a gleam in Clive's eye with an empty box just for show? We were assured that the box contained something but surely after all this time any such contents cannot have much resemblance to the final device.
Vapourware has been the term coined to describe items which are announced but take a long time to materialise. For reasons expressed previously vapourware does not serve the consumer very well because of the disruptive effect it has on buying decisions.
Many people have been prompted to buy the Spectrum because of the expected arrival of the extra 100K of memory provided by the Microdrive. How many would have made that decision if they had known the delays they could expect?
This particular piece of vapourware cannot have served the researchers at Sinclair very well either. To announce a product with fairly tight specifications for price and size places a restriction on much of the possible movement in finding solutions to possible problems. That must have aggravated delays once any problems arose.
If that was an isolated incident in a generally satisfactory record for Sinclair Research, it would not perhaps matter too much. After all, if the drive were to appear sometime in April or May, it will be only four months after the first projected deadline. It is not isolated, though.
Include with this the announcement of the upgrade facility. This magazine and many other people were under the impression that the service had been available from the launch. Also include the move into telesoftware. The plans to produce an adaptor and provide software via the Prestel service, announced last autumn, have now fallen into abeyance. The intention is still to move into that market at some time but no firm date has been fixed.
It is just as well that Micronet 800 does not suffer from the same problems, or Sinclair users might never have been able to take advantage of the benefits of linking-up through the Prestel system.
Add the problems with the Spectrum delays last year and you have a company which not only is working at the limits of technology but also at the limits of credibility. Users may be willing to accept a great deal in the cause of home computing but even they are upset when they are disappointed repeatedly.
As more and more people acquire the Sinclair habit, fewer and fewer will be willing to tolerate the problems suffered by the pioneers.
Thankfully it seems that the message is being understood at Sinclair. In the words of managing director Nigel Searle: "We have learned from our experience." Questioners on future products will now be given few details and no estimate of dates.
That may be bad news for we who thrive on information about new products and predicted and missed launch dates but consumers will know better where they stand.
In future it should be as difficult to receive an early warning of new products as it has been to learn about the workings of the Microdrive.
No doubt there will be the usual rumours, informed guesswork and unofficial leaks to help maintain interest in what can be expected from Sinclair Research. The company, however, is determined to remain quiet until it feels that it has something worthwhile to say.
That determination extends to the United States and developments by Timex. According to Sinclair it knows nothing of the TS 1500 although the plans for its production appear to be at an advanced stage. It could be that Sinclair is thinking of putting it on the British market before the end of the year.
The company is backing its new-found concern by conducting a series of exercises designed to recompense further the early sufferers of the Spectrum delivery problems. They are to be given the opportunity to be the first to take advantage of the upgrade to 48K and the Microdrives when they appear. Free cassettes and special offers are also being made.
That means that anyone who had to suffer Spectrum delivery delays will have been given preferential consideration on a number of products, the chance of free cassettes and special offers on the printer and printer paper. That might cheer many people but most of them would have preferred the machine on time and in working order.
Which introduces another point. It is to be hoped that after all the ballyhoo, missed launch dates and a Road-to-Damascus conversion, the Microdrives work when they arrive. It would be the last straw for many customers if the drives, in whatever form they take, fail to produce what has been expected of them.
To finish on a light note, it is to be hoped that the people working on the drives in Cambridge have what they expect from the new facilities in Willis Road. The conditions during a Press visit to the stainless steel palace did not augur well.
While Nigel Searle was being questioned about the Microdrives and other associated matters, the room temperature rose gradually. Despite the latest chip technology, which was supposed to control the environment, the atmosphere deteriorated rapidly with some well-lunched journalists beginning to have difficulty keeping their eyes open.
An old-fashioned remedy was tried - the window was opened. Back to the drawing-board.