CONCLUSIONS - Inventing the PC - page 172

cassette on which they stored their programmes and as-
signment results. They submitted their work for marking
as a paper flowchart along with the cassette which I could
then run on the machine as well as view their code and
on-screen output. While far from ideal, it it our budget
and worked well with minimal difficulties.
In the end, MCM did not develop any comprehensive educa-
tional strategy. The educational market was of interest to the
company only as long as it it with the overall marketing object-
ive to present the MCM computers as a cost-effective alterna-
tive to time-sharing services. By the end of 1976, most schools
could not afford even one MCM /800 at $19,800. Fortunately
for the educational market, the following year brought inexpen-
sive microcomputers from Apple Computer, Commodore, and
Radio Shack that made a microcomputer classroom concept a
reality for the first time. 22
The MCM MicroPower computer was introduced by MCM to
compete against small business systems such as the Apple ][ Plus
and Radio Shack TRS -80 Model II , both introduced in 1979
and both equipped with, among other software, VisiCalc. To
succeed, the MicroPower, as well as its predecessors, would
have required marketing manpower, expertise, and financial
resources that MCM could never have afforded. The market-
ing strategy adopted by MCM from the start was to create a
worldwide web of appointed distributors. The first contracts
had already been signed in early 1974 with Office Equipment of
Canada and Unicomp Canada to represent MCM on the Can-
adian market, and with ILC Data Device Corporation, detailed
to cover the American market. Other distributors for Europe
and Japan were to be appointed later.
The set-up and maintenance of such an extensive network
proved to be difficult and the problems affected sales. Distribu-