Sinclair, BBC, and Acorn computers

Acorn Computers grew in Cambridge, England. It evolved in cooperation and competition with products such as the Sinclair home computer, a ludicrously inexpensive machine from the time of the Apple II and the TRS 80. Acorn's defining product was the BBC computer - developed and marketed in cooperation with the British broadcaster.

To improve on the BBC computer's 6502 processor, Acorn developed an architecture called the Acorn Risc Machine. I wrote previously about the Risc x Cisc war, which the former is winning decisively though somewhat belatedly. Acorn doesn't exist anymore; but its Risc architecture, owned by a former subsidiary called ARM, has a 95% market share of smartphone processors.

ARM is the only relevant alternative to the Intel processor architecture, despite (or because) its socialist taxpayer-funded state-owned origins. It is always instructive to remember the history of the computer industry. Wikipedia links are provided for the benefit of the younger, the forgetful, and the non-geeks.