Outside of the context of the times, it makes little sense - but remember that for many in the UK this was their first ever computer. At a time when computers cost the the equivalent of a few thousand dollars in todays money (yet had no 'real' use for many), contemporary machines like the TRS-80 were simply not accessible to most people.
So when the ZX81 came along costing barely more than a tenth the price, it was a big deal. It was something that kids could ask for for Christmas, not an indulgence for adults. And with nothing to compare it to, most kids didn't mind the weird keyboard and all the other restrictions. Within months you could expand your machine with all sorts of cool add-ons - it welcomed hardware hackers - and some truly impressive software showed that you could do amazing things with it. Check out 3D Monster Maze which (again, for the time) was shocking.
It was a stunning bit of industrial design as well - the guy who designed it was from the same school of design as Apple's Jonny Ive, and with Sinclair he came up with techniques and tricks that made computers affordable before mass manufacture kicked in. Compared to the clunky, homemade aesthetics of 70's homebrew computers, this was a sleek bit of hifi equipment.
To modern eye, yes, it's primitive, tiny and awkward. A mass of compromises and very limited in capabilities. Yet it had a working BASIC, easily plugged into your TV and a tape recorder, and was supported by a vast industry of hackers, educators and user groups. It's worth comparing it to the Vic20 that came out a year later (and cost five times as much) to see what expectations of the time were.
I literally taught myself how to program on one of these $99 computers. And built a lot of hardware that attached to that external bus. 40 years later, I'm still making a great living as a Software/Hardware Engineer. -Matt D. Livermore CA USA
Outside of the context of the times, it makes little sense - but remember that for many in the UK this was their first ever computer. At a time when computers cost the the equivalent of a few thousand dollars in todays money (yet had no 'real' use for many), contemporary machines like the TRS-80 were simply not accessible to most people.
So when the ZX81 came along costing barely more than a tenth the price, it was a big deal. It was something that kids could ask for for Christmas, not an indulgence for adults. And with nothing to compare it to, most kids didn't mind the weird keyboard and all the other restrictions. Within months you could expand your machine with all sorts of cool add-ons - it welcomed hardware hackers - and some truly impressive software showed that you could do amazing things with it. Check out 3D Monster Maze which (again, for the time) was shocking.
It was a stunning bit of industrial design as well - the guy who designed it was from the same school of design as Apple's Jonny Ive, and with Sinclair he came up with techniques and tricks that made computers affordable before mass manufacture kicked in. Compared to the clunky, homemade aesthetics of 70's homebrew computers, this was a sleek bit of hifi equipment.
To modern eye, yes, it's primitive, tiny and awkward. A mass of compromises and very limited in capabilities. Yet it had a working BASIC, easily plugged into your TV and a tape recorder, and was supported by a vast industry of hackers, educators and user groups. It's worth comparing it to the Vic20 that came out a year later (and cost five times as much) to see what expectations of the time were.
I literally taught myself how to program on one of these $99 computers. And built a lot of hardware that attached to that external bus. 40 years later, I'm still making a great living as a Software/Hardware Engineer. -Matt D. Livermore CA USA