Sir Charles Dunstone, director of leading British telecom companies, the Carphone Warehouse and Talk Talk, opened a new Software Gallery at the National Museum of Computing (TNMOC,http://www.tnmoc.org/) on 12th June. The Software Gallery, created by two volunteers, Jill Clarke and Bob Jones, perfectly complements the collection of seven decades of hardware history. The new gallery traces the history of computing software from its beginnings on huge computers to its presence in everyday household applications.

Sir Charles Dunstone said the following: ?I have been astonished at the amazing displays of working vintage computers. The Museum dramatically demonstrates the pace of change in computing since Colossus, the world’s first electronic computer… I was particularly impressed to see the enthusiasm and wonder of a party of school pupils learning about their computer heritage.?

The new Software Gallery, divided into four sections, includes: a wall-sized programming language timeline; an ?exploded? PC showing its internal components; a robotics display; a computer language database (already containing 2000 entries to which visitors can add); an early, single-purpose accounting software machine, the Burroughs L5000; a display demonstrating the pervasiveness of software in the home; a special (programming) challenge for visitors and other hands-on exhibits.

Sir Charles Dunstone also announced a competition for young people to participate in ?The Grand Digital?, a potential new computing world record to be attempted later this year. The same software program will be run on computers from each of the seven decades of computing. Young people will be the operators of the seven computers selected.