The blog

This blog will appeal to everyone who owns or uses a computer - so that’s just about anyone living in the “civilised” world. It certainly applies to everybody who happens to be viewing this on a computer screen!

My name is Richard Howell and in 1985 I published a book of cartoons about the rapidly-growing home computer market (when we called them “micros” rather than “personal computers”). The book, Microholics, was published by George Allen & Unwin, and the blurb described it as “a visual, jaundiced look at the world of the micro, in every walk of life”.

Unimaginable changes have taken place since 1985. For example, the world wide web was not, at that time, even a twinkle in the eye of Tim Berners-Lee. However, some things have remained constant, and many cartoons in Microholics are as relevant today as they were a quarter of a century ago.

What has changed, and what has remained the same? Judge for yourself as I give the book a second outing. Microholics is presented on a cartoon-per-day basis, plus a lively commentary and observations on how the industry - and society - has declined, sorry, developed. And if you think I’m talking a load of old codswollop (which is highly probable), you can respond with an appropriate comment.