Date   : Wed, 07 Jan 2015 00:09:22 +0000
From   : public@... (Daniel Beardsmore)
Subject: Compromises

To me, the BBC Micro is a remarkably well-engineered machine, but like any
product, it involved compromises.

What compromises would you approach differently if you were at Acorn at the
beginning of the 80s?

For me personally, I would re-think the decision on colours. I don't honestly 
know how Acorn arrived at the questionable decision that more people would 
want to flash part of the screen red-cyan and other parts cyan-red, instead 
of being able to depict brown tree trunks and a soothing sky blue. The RAM 
allocation was sufficient to have a true 16-colour mode, and the palette
system sufficient to have any of a true 16-colour palette selected in the
other modes, yet Acorn decided against it.

I'm not sure what additional colours I'd opt for (assuming we keep the existing 
eight intact), but off the top of my head: orange, brown, sky blue and grass 
green (for less garish scenery), dark grey, light grey, purple, and ... 
dark green -- needs more thought, but I'm sure we could pick something less
dreary than the Commodore 64! (Apple picked a wonderful 16-colour palette
for their System Software, while the Windows 16-colour palette was laughably
pathetic.)

What do the rest of you think Acorn should have done differently, if anything?