WI: Acorn Shakes Off The School Computer Tag?

As we all know Acorn computers came to prominence with their BBC models A & B, which were originally designed to be used as part of the BBC's computer literacy project and which soon found themselves being installed in schools across the nation (we also know that the BBCs were quite a bit more expensive than their rivals (Spectrum, C64, Amstrad CPCs, et al)). Due to this the BBC (and its successor the Archimedes) got a reputation for being a school computer rather than a home one.

What's not often mentioned is that the very similar, and equally pricey, Apple II also found a niche in the education market, which it, like the BBC, dominated. Yet despite this no one ever shied away from buying an Apple because "it's the computer you use at school. Dork".

So. How could Acorn have overcome this unconscious bias and established itself as a player in the high end home computer market? At least in the UK.
 
Have you forgotten that Acorn did also make the Electron that was very definitely developed for the home market. The sad thing is that there were some excellent software developers in the UK but there was just a deep lack of commercial nous a la Bill Gates, so what we really need is a British Bill.
 
Or, in the case of Acorn, a British Steve Jobs.

And, no I hadn't forgotten about the Electron. But by the time they actually managed to get it in the shops most of the public had. And bought something else instead.
 

Thande

Donor
One thing that could have improved their prospects is being more open with the details of their hardware setup for external developers, cf. IBM.
 
OT, but I learnt to program in BASIC on an Acorn Archemides at school at the age of 11, without it I would be doing a Games Computing course at university.
 
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