Early UK Computer Magazines

Nowadays, anyone perusing the computer magazine sections of outlets such as W H Smiths will find endless clones clad in bloated DVD temptation, disgorging fat pages of reviews, each one competing for a slice of the punter's wallet...

...but it wasn't always this way.

In the mid-1970s practical articles about computers on the average news-stand were the domain of the electronics magazines. Before the advent of off-the-shelf systems, titles such as Practical Electronics, Electronics Today International, Elektor, and even Wireless World and Practical Wireless showed the soldering-iron-equipped enthusiast how to put together simple breadboard systems from their component parts. Programming these rudimentary beasts was usually done in machine code using hex keyboards and the output display tended to be a row of 7-segment LEDs so, as you can probably imagine, both the machines and the crude applications that could be made to run on them were of extremely limited use. However, all of this was of minimal interest to those who did not understand the world of electronics and didn't require intimate knowledge of a computer's inner workings, but who just wanted to use or program them.

In early 1978 came the news that a new publication would soon be launched and sometime later came the first (undated) edition of Personal Computer World (in later editions this is referred to as the May 1978 edition but it was actually published on 8th February - *see below for more information). It was a very different creature to the descendent you can buy today (apart from the inclusion of Guy Kewney who, at that time, was also producing a business periodical called Computing). It contained a range of articles so diverse that, today, you would rarely find such items gracing the pages of a single publication. Here is a sample: a DIY breadboard computer based on a 6800; an introduction to logic; flowcharting; a BASIC pontoon program; a comparison of the currently available systems (Altair 8800, SWTP S6800, Research Machine 380Z, Tandy TRS-80, Heath H8 and H11, and the Commodore PET); a review of the NASCOM 1. At that time it really had no idea of what its audience wanted and appeared to be aiming in all directions. The second edition, sporting the CBM PET on the front cover and several related articles inside, seemed to be more focussed though it did include an article by Harry Harrison, the science-fiction writer. Much content extolled the virtues of these early limited computers but rarely did they suggest how they could be put to practical use in the home!

In July, PCW's first serious contender appeared in the form of Practical Computing. This gave the impression of having been put together in a more professional manner than PCW (but only just). It reviewed the Apple II and had other articles ranging from how microcomputers (as they were then termed) could assist in the construction industry, to space games and how to wire your home so that it could be controlled by computer - as if anyone in their right mind ever would. By the second issue it had also incorporated Nick Hampshire's Computabits magazine.

The third magazine to appear was Computing Today. It had originally started as a supplement to Electronics Today International for four issues and then became an independent publication in March 1979. Due to its electronics origin it tended to offer more hardware-based articles with an initial bias towards extensions for the Triton 8080 system that had been published in ETI.

The final cover appearing right was the oddly-named Liverpool Software Gazette first published in November 1979 by Microdigital (a company that, if you hadn't already guessed, resided in Liverpool). It was only ever available by subscription and lasted 8 issues (the last being a double). It was aimed at the hacker of the day and brimmed with articles that tended to delve deeper than any others around that time. For more information including all eight covers see this WikiPedia page.

Of the four magazines shown here only PCW managed to keep evolving with the market, something that shows in the cover at bottom left. After just over a year under the initial management it was sold on and the September 1979 edition, redesigned throughout, sported the masthead that has, with one abortive and short-lived hiccup, generally stayed with us. Lasting until the mid-1980s Practical Computing changed slowly to focus more upon the business aspects of computing while Computing Today also foundered round about the same time.

*Update (24th October, 2006) I am indebted to Angelo Zgorelec, the founder of Personal Computer World, for correcting my original assumption about PCW's first publishing date which I had thought was sometime in March or April.

Angelo also had this to say about that first issue:

"As I had very little money, and I did not know if the second issue would ever be published, it was intentionally not dated. But the first issue was a big success - we sold almost 30,000 copies and within a month of publication we received over 3,000 subscriptions totalling almost £20,000. This was enough to fund at least four further issues! (There was no paid advertising in the first issue.)

The magazine distributor's money arrived about 4 months later and made PCW a viable magazine."