INMC 80 News

consortia like this can do a lot to help Nascom users world wide. We have twisted their collective arms for an advert which covers many products you may not have previously heard of, and we hear there is yet more to come.

On the score of collectivity (sounds a nice socialist, this fella), we’ve been thinking that this newsletter is exclusively about Nascoms. Yet when you get to the end of this ‘Chairman’s bit’, you will realise that the likelyhood of more Nascom (Nascom meaning from Nascom) goodies appearing is disappearing as fast as fried snowballs. Yet other goodies are arriving thick and fast from other sources. We already have the Winchester Technology colour graphics board and Interface’s EPROM card, both Nasbus compatible. We have heard rumours about a new Nasbus based Z80 computer being planned for the middle of next year (shades of Nascom 3), and the rumours about a mini programmable graphics is certainly more than a myth. Anyway, to the point. Whilst we think that this newsletter should remain an organ for the enlightenment of Nascom owners, we also feel that more emphasis should be put on Nasbus itself. What do you think? The more manufacturers who support Nasbus the better? Or should Nascom and Nasbus be allowed to sink into oblivion, and simply remain a name known to a few.

Now to the bad news. (No not that, not yet). Richard Beal, who has been with the committee from the start has resigned. He seemed reluctant to do so, but as he’s about 16,000 miles away now, keeping in touch is a little difficult. His excuse has been that his job has taken him to the Solomon Islands (right and up a bit from Australia), and although he protests that he is working very hard, we can not remove the picture from our minds of him sitting on some sun scorched sandy beach under a palm tree sipping coke. Thank you for all your time and help in the past Richard. Just one thing, when you come back in March, please don’t bring back NAS-SYS 4, 5 and 6 with you !!!

Now the really bad news. You may have seen in the press that Nascom had been rescued by Alteck Technology Initiatives headed by one Peter Mathews. Having met Peter and his associates I can say that they seem ‘nice people’. Peter, an avid Nascom owner, and Managing Director elect of Nascom voluteered to be our dodo. That killed several birds with one stone, giving us just the type of dodo we needed, and one that would listen to the INMC when it came to grass roots requests regarding Nascom products. Sadly it seems it has all fallen through. I had a phone call from Peter only a few days ago to tell me the news, as he felt it important that the INMC should be ‘in the know’. I must admit I was flattered by this, and yet saddened by the news. I don’t know why the deal didn’t go through, and it would be unjust to speculate. I just feel sorry for Peter who I think would have made a great success of Nascom.

All this puts the future of Nascom in question again. The receiver is continuing to manufacture Nascoms and they are being supplied to the dealers. However, dealer quotas are now falling further and further behind the delivery requirements, and if I may get a personal ‘gripe’ in here in the hope that the receiver will read this; the profit on the quantity of Nascoms supplied last month did not cover the cost of my company’s advertising. We could have sold three times as many Nascoms as were supplied. If this situation continues much longer, then from a pure economic point of view, my company can no longer afford to advertise Nascom, and that would be one more nail in the coffin. I think we are all agreed that Nascoms are very good products at the right price in the market. Please Mr. Reciever, make more of them to keep it alive.

D. R. Hunt.