Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

BBC Returns To Making Computers For Schools

Posted by timothy on from the as-it-ever-was dept.

Raging Bool writes According to the BBC News website, the BBC is returning to producing comparatively inexpensive computers for schools. Readers of sufficient age will remember the BBC Model B with great affection. But won't this be in competition with other pre-existing devices such as Arduino and Raspberry Pi? The BBC says not: "The BBC does not see Micro Bit as a rival to similar devices such as Raspberry Pi, Arduino, Galileo and Kano, but rather hopes it will act as a 'springboard' to these more complex machines." I hope they're at least consulting with Eben Upton.

3 of 106 comments (clear)

  1. More Complex? by Gonoff · · Score: 2, Interesting

    If things like the Pi are so much more complex, just how simple is this new device?
    I am thinking an abacus with a battery light...

    --
    I'll see your Constitution and raise you a Queen.
  2. Re:Your tax £. by itzly · · Score: 3, Interesting

    And when they did this with the BBC Computer it gave a big boost to Acorn Computers, which probably helped them getting into developing the ARM CPU. And ARM has repaid that initial BBC investment many times over.

  3. this is what the BBC is all about? by NostalgiaForInfinity · · Score: 1, Interesting

    "This is exactly what the BBC is all about - bringing the industry together on an unprecedented scale and making a difference to millions,"

    Really? It's the job of a public broadcasting organization financed largely by mandatory TV and Internet license fees to give away a million embedded systems, most of which will simply gather dust or blink a few times, on the theory that programming will continue to be a lucrative profession 20 years down the road?