Unveiling the Future - Inventing the PC - page 61

adian High Commission in London on 10 September. He ar-
rived in Europe in late August with a desktop prototype of the
MCM /70. “From that [exposure in Politiken ],” recollected Kutt,
“I was able to use trade commissioners in different countries
that I was going to visit to really juice up press conferences. We
had great turnouts at the press conferences.”
Every major stop on MCM 's European tour was an occasion
for Kutt to paint his vision of future computing - of millions of
inexpensive computers powered by the microprocessor - and to
boldly proclaim that it was his MCM /70 that might “revolution-
ize the world of computers in the same way that pocket calcu-
lators revolutionized the world of calculators.” The media fol-
lowed suit, praising the sensational new computer from Canada
as one that would be setting standards in the computer industry
for years to come. 6
France was the final leg of the tour. In Paris, Kutt went through
what had become his usual routine of pre-arranged interviews,
including a guest appearance on a technology program broad-
cast by French national television. From the history of tech-
nology point of view, however, it is MCM is participation in
the SICOB '73 exhibit, more than the interviews, that deserves
attention.
The SICOB '73 exhibit (Salon de l'informatique, de la com-
munication et de l'organisation du bureau) took place in Paris
from 19 to 28 September. SICOB was one of the main Euro-
pean computer and information technology shows, and MCM
hoped to attract the attention of the computer industry to the
new computing paradigm represented by its product. While this
did not happen - the small computer from MCM was largely ig-
nored by the technology observers - Kutt could see for the first
time that, in the microcomputer business, MCM was no longer
alone. There was a French competitor, a small electronics sys-
tems house called Réalisations et Études Électroniques ( R 2 E ).