On This Day - 10th December

Ada Lovelace, mathematician and pioneer of computing, was born in London on 10 December 1815. She later became closely associated with Charles Babbage and his proposed Analytical Engine. In 1843 she published an extensive set of notes accompanying her translation of an article about the machine. One of these notes contained an algorithm intended for the Analytical Engine, while her wider work recognised that such a machine could potentially manipulate symbols, music and other forms of information—not merely perform calculations.

In December 1990, Amstrad discontinued production of the ZX Spectrum +3, bringing the production run of its disk-based Spectrum to an end after just over three years. The +3 had been introduced in 1987 as the most advanced member of the Spectrum family, combining 128K of RAM with a built-in 3-inch floppy disk drive and support for CP/M.

The decision to discontinue the +3 was reportedly connected with Amstrad's relaunch of its own CPC range. The Spectrum +3 was effectively competing within Amstrad's own home-computer product line, while the simpler +2B was allowed to remain in production because it was considered less of a direct competitor to the CPC machines.

The end of +3 production did not immediately mean the end of the ZX Spectrum. Other Amstrad Spectrum models continued to be produced, with the +2B remaining available until 1992. Nevertheless, the discontinuation of the +3 marked the end of the final disk-based Spectrum model and the beginning of the final chapter of the Spectrum's commercial life.