Redgate Software throws down Gauntlet (Atari, 1985) to UK tech community: "Help inspire next generation of geeks"
Cambridge, March 11, ’15 Redgate Software CEO Simon Galbraith yesterday threw down the gauntlet to companies of the Cambridge technology cluster and beyond, saying, “We’ll match any donation up to a total of £100,000, to fund development of the Centre for Computing History, here in Cambridge.”
“Every year, 1000s of kids from all over the country visit the Centre in Cambridge,” continued Galbraith, “and they are truly inspired to program. But that’s no way near enough. We want tens of thousands or better, hundreds of thousands of kids to come here and be inspired. And currently the museum is run on an absolute shoestring.”
On minimal funds, the Centre has emerged as a top visitor attraction on TripAdvisor, #9 in Cambridge after Kings College chapel and the Imperial War Museum at Duxford, garnering nearly 200 reviews rating it ‘Excellent.’ Curator Jason Fitzpatrick started it in his attic, “And we’ve grown five-fold in the last few years, thanks to individual donations and an army of geek volunteers. But to be a truly national museum we need to invest.”
The Cambridge Centre for Computing, currently based in Coldham’s Lane, this month reached a milestone, by taking its first ever £1000 day in ticket receipts. But its ambition to become one of Britain’s leading museums and to properly represent the contribution that Britain and especially Cambridge have made in the history of computing depends on a new round of funding.
Galbraith agrees, “To grow it, and grow the future of our industry, we have to invest. So we’re saying to the big beasts of Cambridge technology – ARM, CSR, Raspberry Pi, Google, Cambridge University even, all much bigger than we are and not short of a penny, well we’ll double your money. Schoolchildren from all over get to write their first game here. They get to play classic games from the early years, like ‘Gauntlet’ (Atari, 1985). These are the young software engineers who will write the future.
“We’re throwing down that gauntlet. This year, it’s 200 years since the first programmer Ada Lovelace, who programmed Babbage’s difference engine, was born. Let’s celebrate Britain’s computing pioneers by inspiring our future computing stars. For every pound donated to the Centre for Computing History in the next 30 days, Redgate Software will match it.”
