The program loads. 0/0 appears on the screen. The printed instructions tell us to type GO to 1 to start: not the most elegant beginning, but acceptable. Then we are asked level? but nowhere told how to enter it. Finally logic impels us to press 1, and the screen turns gray and stays that way, as though we have somehow offended the computer and it is pouting. We press BREAK but the gray persists. So, exasperated, we pull the ping on this virgin piece of software and put it with the other Defectives, Unloadables and otherwise Unusables.
There are many programs on the market today for the T/Sl000/ZX81. Most perform reasonably well and a few, superbly. But some companies stake claims in the T/S gold rush too quickly, and their products don’t load, or don’t deliver what they promise, or come with unclear instructions or none at all.
Thanks to companies like Sinclair and Timex, it is now possible for us to relate to computers as we do to televisions and cars and telephones and microwaves and washing machines — with no deep technical knowledge. Manufacturers should realize that their software may be used by people who think a microchip is a very fast food — and who have no wish to lose their blissful ignorance. We use a radio but wouldn’t know a transistor if it bit us. Our radio doesn’t demand that we know every wire, circuit and resistor of its internal anatomy. We appreciate our T/S1000/ZX81 for a similar reason.
In the jargon of the trade, this is called “user friendly.” Like a good butler, a user-friendly product provides its services as simply and directly as possible, and never gets in the way. But when tapes jam in our trustworthy tape recorders, or come with inadequate instructions, or refuse to load, they do not give two hoots about users. They get in the way of themselves. The medium obliterates the message,
We think it’s time some manufacturers learn what friendship is all about.
Do you agree? What kind of experiences have you had with software? Let us know and we’ll publish a selection of your letters. Write to Timex Sinclair User, “Software Experiences,” 49 La Salle Avenue, Buffalo, N.Y. 142 14h Please include your full name and address when writing.
Much good software exists too, of course, as our Software pages demonstrate [8 & 9]. In evaluating products we have switched to a four-star rating system In which * is poor, ** is fair, *** is good and **** is excellent. ***** means we’ve found a product that soars above mere excellence, and we’ll alert you when that happens. One item in this issue comes close — one of the 6 Keyboards Compared starting on page 66: can you guess which?
In this issue also we rate the recent Timex Sinclair 2040 printer (page 30) and preview the eagerly awaited T/S2000 color computer by presenting its prototype, the amazing Spectrum from Sinclair in Britain. Our cover story, T/S Goes To Camp (page 12), chronicles what may be the start of a trend — camps that feature T/S computers exclusively: there may be computers more powerful, but none more affordable.
Will the computer soon be as common as television? Tell us what you think on this or any topic. Our Letters and Bulletin Board sections put your message before a community of more than 600,000 T/S users plus family members and friends who may soon be T/S users too. Timex Sinciair User invites you to reach them on these pages.