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Quiz about The Computer Scrapheap Challenge
Quiz about The Computer Scrapheap Challenge

The Computer Scrapheap Challenge Quiz


Moore's Law states that the speed and capability of our computers increases every couple of years. Let's look at computing entities that no longer make the grade.

A multiple-choice quiz by darksplash. Estimated time: 4 mins.
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Author
darksplash
Time
4 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
400,606
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
8 / 10
Plays
319
Last 3 plays: Guest 24 (8/10), workisboring (3/10), snhha (10/10).
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Question 1 of 10
1. When home computers were very young, it was fashionable to have a fruity name. Which of these lost its flavour and proved to have short shelf life? Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. In the 1990s it was one of the the largest sellers of computers, but which company found it difficult to compete with the big boys and disappeared for good in 2013? Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. "From small things momma, big things one day come", according to the songsmith Bruce Springsteen. Which early computer company sought to be Britain's answer to Apple, but sank into financial difficulties? Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. Innovate - or die is a key aphorism in computing. Which company led the way in word processors, but failed to bridge the gap to a new breed of computers? Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. It was the computer that allowed many people in the United Kingdom to first set fingers on keys and kick-started the personal computer love of many. Which computer, named for its creator, is fondly remembered? Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. Years before iPads and various similar devices of the hand-held genre, one product set the course many would follow. Which product took the computer off the desk and into your pocket? Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. Being big does not mean you can expect longevity. Which of these became the world's largest web browser, but was pulled in by a new monster? Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. Imagine, if you will, in the early days of personal computers you could only store stuff on floppy disc. Then a new technology zipped along to improve storage and became a big bit player. Which company fell out of favour when cheap and plentiful CDs came along? Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. The line between success and failure in the world of computer technology is a narrow one. Which company was once one of America's 'big three' but failed to diversify and fell into the hands of a rival? Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. Imagine, if you will, you are Bill Gates and you see that rascal Steve Jobs proudly showing off his portable music player, the iPod. What did Gates's company launch to rival the iPod that fell flat on its face? Hint



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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. When home computers were very young, it was fashionable to have a fruity name. Which of these lost its flavour and proved to have short shelf life?

Answer: Apricot

Apricot traced its origins to a British company set up in 1965.

By 1985 it had between 20 and 30 percent of the UK market. Apricot also sold well in Europe, but could not compete in the US after IBM launched its own 16-bit computer. Although Apricot's Victor was better, and cheaper, IBM convinced the markets their product was the one to go for.

Eventually Apricot became part of Japan's Mitsubishi Electric Corporation. By 1999, MEC was haemorrhaging money and shedding jobs. Among other cuts, it closed the Apricot computing division.
2. In the 1990s it was one of the the largest sellers of computers, but which company found it difficult to compete with the big boys and disappeared for good in 2013?

Answer: Compaq

Founded in 1982, Compaq was the first to go head-to-head with the IBM Personal Computer.

But it struggled against the likes of HP and Dell and could not keep up in the price wars. HP bought out Compaq in 2002 and used the name for a few years before it disappeared in 2013.
3. "From small things momma, big things one day come", according to the songsmith Bruce Springsteen. Which early computer company sought to be Britain's answer to Apple, but sank into financial difficulties?

Answer: Acorn

Acorn arose from the ideas of a group of students and researchers at Cambridge University. Their aim was to take computing out of the hands of a few coders like themselves and into everyday homes.

Their Acorn Atom was to offer that. Their further development of that, the Proton, was to be the basis for the home computer the BBC was looking for.

Branded the BBC Micron, it was to be phenomenally successful and Acorn became a successful public company. But the sharks were circulating and finance was shaky.
4. Innovate - or die is a key aphorism in computing. Which company led the way in word processors, but failed to bridge the gap to a new breed of computers?

Answer: Wang

Founded in 1951, Wang Laboratories grew its revenues to $3bn and employed 33,000 people by the 1980s.

But Wang hung its coat on the hook of word processing computers. When other companies did that (and more) with their personal computers, Wang could not keep up.

It filed for bankruptcy in 1992 and although the brand limped on for a few years under new ownership, it was buried in 2008.
5. It was the computer that allowed many people in the United Kingdom to first set fingers on keys and kick-started the personal computer love of many. Which computer, named for its creator, is fondly remembered?

Answer: Sinclair ZX Spectrum

While the names Steve Jobs and Bill Gates resonate as computer royalty, that of Sir Clive Sinclair is less talked about outside the UK.

It is difficult to underestimate his role in getting many young Brits on the road to geekdom.

In the 1980s, the ZX Spectrum was at the cutting edge of computing and it was Britain's best-selling computer. Sadly, financial problems caused Sir Clive to sell the entire Sinclair business model to Amstrad in 1986 for £5m.

There is a red herring in the wrong answers. Sir Alan Sugar also made computers, but sold them under his Amstrad brand.
6. Years before iPads and various similar devices of the hand-held genre, one product set the course many would follow. Which product took the computer off the desk and into your pocket?

Answer: Palm Pilot

Palm developed the first Personal Digital Assistant (PDA). These were devices smaller than a paperback novel on which owners could write, store notes, keep a diary, and do basic calculations.

All that was done with a stylus that people could use to write on a glass screen. The device could turn handwriting into print.

For many years that system fell out of favour, but by the end of the first decade of the 21st Century, the stylus was back.

Palm was active between 1991 and 2011, by which time it had fallen into the hands (no pun intended) of HP.

In a review of "The 10 Biggest Tech Failures of the Last Decade" in 2009, "Time" magazine recorded that shares in Palm Palm's traded for $669 in 2000. Nine years later they were at $11.
7. Being big does not mean you can expect longevity. Which of these became the world's largest web browser, but was pulled in by a new monster?

Answer: Netscape

Back when Sir Tim Berners-Lee's idea of the world wide web was in its infancy, Netscape provided one of the first browsers. Netscape first operated in 1994, and soon had 90 per cent of the market, but was squashed by Internet Explorer.

In 2007 Netscape, by then in the hands of AOL, ceased to exist as a browser.
8. Imagine, if you will, in the early days of personal computers you could only store stuff on floppy disc. Then a new technology zipped along to improve storage and became a big bit player. Which company fell out of favour when cheap and plentiful CDs came along?

Answer: Iomega

This quiz author remembers spending long hours entering computer code into a Commodore 64 and then saving it onto cassette tape. It was all personal computing had.

Then came the 3.5inch floppy disc with a huge 74kb capacity (joke).

Iomega saw the problem and came up with the zip drive that could initially store 100mb and eventually 750mb. Iomega products were suddenly all the rage but as the 21st Century opened, CDs and later DVDs became available.

Iomega tried to fight back with new products but it was too late. EMC bought Iomega in 2008 then rebranded the products products as LenovoEMC in 2013.
9. The line between success and failure in the world of computer technology is a narrow one. Which company was once one of America's 'big three' but failed to diversify and fell into the hands of a rival?

Answer: Gateway

In the five years between its foundation in 1985 and 1990, the sales of Gateway computers quadrupled. As "Time" magazine noted, by 2004 it was number three in the US hardware market behind Hewlett Packard and Dell.

Gateway was big in desktop computers but its failure to follow the route into laptops was one reason cited for its failure.

In 2007, Gateway was snapped up by Acer.

In 2009, "Time" included Gateway in its list of "The 10 Biggest Tech Failures of the Last Decade"
10. Imagine, if you will, you are Bill Gates and you see that rascal Steve Jobs proudly showing off his portable music player, the iPod. What did Gates's company launch to rival the iPod that fell flat on its face?

Answer: Microsoft Zune

Just to get one bit clear, Apple did not invent the hard-drive music player, but they did improve what was out there and make it blindingly simple to use.

The iPod came out in 2001. Microsoft looked on, and looked on, and looked on, and finally came up with its "iPod killer" the Zune...in 2006

Get it first or get it better is a good concept in business, and Microsoft failed on both counts with the Zune.*

Apple had sold more than 100m iPods, according to "Time" magazine by the time the Zune came out.

"Time" noted: "Sales were dreadful during the first several months after the launch. 'Bloomberg Television' said that between the launch date and mid-2007 only 1.2 million Zune players were sold."

In the last quarter of 2008, Zune made $85m. In that same period, the iPod took $3.37 billion.

* It is also a truism that if you have to describe your new product as an "XXXXX-killer", then you're on the back foot from the off.
Source: Author darksplash

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor rossian before going online.
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