Flashback: PC Plus, Issue #1
Technically, it's Issue #3, but only because the first two were supplements in another magazine. We've scanned in the complete first issue of PC Plus to hit the shelves back in December 1986.
Read it online here.You'll see the state of the art, back in the days when even DOS was considered new, and the idea of buying a PC to help kids with their homework was still only the third most naive thing a parent can do. There are exclusive reviews of the latest Infocom text adventures, including the infamous Leather Goddesses of Phobos, and its conclusive proof that games reviewers will always opt to play the female character given a choice. Sir Alan Sugar was still just Alan Sugar, but we think you'll recognise his style as he deals with his critics over an overheating scandal. You may even see the dawn of Clippy, as one company tries to claim that a word processor with character is just what the disk doctor ordered. Just don't try subscribing to get the free binders. We ran out back in 1991.
If you like this trip into the archives, please Digg it, Slashdot it, StumbleUpon it, or otherwise help us out. The more successful it is, the more likely it is that we'll be able to dig into the rest of our stacks in search of more classic computing treats. And of course, the future continues in the next issue of PC Plus, out March 10th.
Enjoyed this article? Subscribe to PC Plus and get your monthly digest of news, features and all the stories that matter delivered straight to your doorstep - worldwide. Click here for our latest offers.
Breaking News
- Gary Marshall: Facebook wants you to work for it - for free
- Magic Trackpad given teardown treatment
- Internet gets massive security upgrade
- Report: AMD overtakes Nvidia in chip shipments
- Facebook Questions beta is announced
- In Depth: 20 brilliant web apps you've never heard of
- Opera Mini hits 1bn pages per day landmark
- Facebook 'hack' puts public data into the public domain
- Virgin Media player launches online and for mobile
- Google Maps for Mobile 4.4 arrives, brings Places
Copyright Future Publishing Limited (company registered number 2008885), a company registered in England and Wales whose registered office is at Beauford Court, 30 Monmouth Street, Bath, BA1 2BW, UK
A really very interesting read and trip through memory lane, many thanks for putting it up - you really are the magazine that just keeps giving and going out there, and it's much appreciated by this reader!
Took a bit of time to find it on Digg, but managed to find someones submission here: http://digg.com/tech_news/How_PC_magazines_looked_20_years_ago_unmissabl... - digg it up :)
Submitted by Oli on 3 March 2009 - 10:40pm.
At the moment, it'd be better to Digg this one - it's got more traffic. Unfortunately we can't swap them on the page itself since Digg is a bit silly.
Submitted by Richard Cobbett on 4 March 2009 - 11:15am.
I remember this when it was first published. I even kept the mags for years... but sadly that one has gone to the great bin in the sky.
Thanks for publishing it.
Submitted by Kevan on 5 March 2009 - 10:20am.
We had quite a few of these older ones in my house. Not this one specifically, but only a few out. And of course, I was in for the first issue of our sister mags PC Format and PC Gamer.
Submitted by Richard Cobbett on 5 March 2009 - 12:03pm.
OMG after reading the Market Forces column on the 5th page it seems that the computer industry never learnt anything from the initial launch of Amstrad's 1512.
It mentions overheating and having to install an extra fan on the system and lack of units available due to production issues as two major problems.
Of course shoot forward to 2008/09 and think about 2 games consoles both with exactly the same problem - The Xbox 360's red ring of death is mainly being caused by the GPU overheating, and Sony struggled at first when launching the PS3 due to demand.
Of course that was nothing compared to Nintendo's Wii which was constantly out of stock, and then their Wii Fit followed suit.
It's all just a little bit of history repeating.
It is quite surprising though that such an early PC could have had problems then with overheating, when it probably didn't have anywhere near as much power as the Amiga A1200 and the A1200 never had any fan on it and had all it's circuitry cooped up very close under the keyboard!
At the time of this magazine being published I think I'd just got my first computer, which was an MSX, possibly one of the most easiest to program computers ever (it did contain an early version of Microsoft basic), I later switched to a C64 which wasn't very good then went to Spectrum which despite having poorer graphics than the C64 was one of my favourite computers. After this I went to Amiga, and then nearly went for Mac but made a really big mistake and followed the sheep into the PC crowd.
My first computer, the MSX was actually Microsoft's attempt at making one standard computer system that numerous manufacturers could create that would all run each others software. Companies like Sanyo, Sony, Toshiba and Panasonic all jumped on the band wagon and made their own version of the MSX, I currently have a Sanyo and a Toshiba MSX (the Sanyo was my first one). The MSX was a failure in most countries except Japan where it still has quite a big following today (I live in the UK and it was so hard to source games for it). Also I find it quite funny that I guess the MSX has been re-born recently as Microsoft's game console is called the Microsoft X-box and X-box 360, of course the console and the computer are nowhere near the same but I find it quite strange that Microsoft carried on using the letter X despite the early flop that was the MSX
Submitted by darrenforster99 on 5 March 2009 - 12:21pm.
Do you folks hae back issues from 1997-1999 at all?
Submitted by mohamed on 15 April 2010 - 9:28pm.
Submitted by Richard Cobbett on 16 April 2010 - 12:02am.
Post new comment