Timex Computer Corp. Fades

If you haven’t heard already, Timex followed in the footsteps of Texas Instruments not long ago, leaving computer owners and third party supporters alike holding the bag. Rumors are flying fast and furious. Only one thing is certain and that is that we are all in for some uncertain times. Preliminary fears that the entire software-hardware market would collapse have proven false. Some manufacturers I have spoken with are jumping ship, but the vast majority are hanging in there.

Don’t let the bungling of the big-boys get you down. Your computer is just as good now as it ever was, and it is going to get even better as new software emerges. Is there going to be new software? I predict yes. It is true the number of potential customers is now as big as it ever will be, and the influx of new computerists has ended, but just because there aren’t any new computers being sold doesn’t detract from the large number of owners already out there.

The quality of new software is going to soar. Manufacturers will put their heart and soul into everthing they sell–as if their livelihoods were at stake (and now, boy is it ever!). Timex’s quitting is going to have a cleansing effect on the entire industry. The purveyors of “junk” will get weeded out a whole lot faster than originally expected. The number one contributer of confusion to the industry is now out of the picture.

The future of the ZX/TS is in your hands. Producers will come and go, the most important thing you can do to insure that people will still be using their computers a year from now is COMMUNICATE. Keep those lines open. Join a user group. Pay your dues. Subscribe to SYNC, SYNTAX, TS USER Newsletter, (and UPDATES, of course!) or your favorite ZX/TS publication. COMMUNICATE. Unite. This is a new beginning. In everything, there is difficulty in the beginning, but I predict that six months from now we will all look back and see that Timex’s leaving the industry was really the best thing that could have happened.

People write to say that they use Pro/File for everything from cataloging arts and crafts projects in Sunday Schools to inventorying and matching donors and recipients at a sperm bank at a California medical school. It is used in homes and nuclear power plants, in political campaigns and small businesses. Two obstacles prevent ZX Pro/File from being a full fledged business machine: mass storage of files, and the physical package itself (keyboard, case, wobble, and wires). This issue connects Pro/File to the AERCO disk system (WOW!). Issue 3 will solve some of the package problems. Read on…..