A bid to save Britain's computing heritage has been given a $100,000 (£50,000) boost by a joint donation from hi-tech firms IBM and PGP. The donation will help curate and restore exhibits at the National Museum of Computing in Bletchley Park, Bucks. The two firms said they hoped the money would kick-start further donations from the technology industry to make up an estimated £7m needed to run the museum.
Exhibits include Colossus, thought by many to be the world's first computer. Andrew Hart, head of privacy and security services for IBM in the UK and Ireland, told the BBC that the technology held at Bletchley was a crucial part of the UK's national heritage.
Discarded as irrelevant
"It's an important part not only of computing, but of cryptology and analysis," he said. "We're getting involved to help preserve what is a fundamental part of our history."
He said there was a danger that with the fast-paced nature of the computer industry, it would lose a sense of its origins by constantly discarding as irrelevant any technology that became outdated.
He said: "I think it's very important to act to preserve this because a lot of people think this equipment is obsolete, so a lot of this material is being lost and destroyed at an incredible rate. "If we took that approach to the Natural History Museum or the Science Museum in London, we would probably throw our hands up and say that approach is crazy."
Code-cracking centre
He said the British Computer Society had donated £75,000 and about £50,000 had come through personal donations. He also emphasised that the museum was of computing, not computers, and that education was at the heart of its agenda.
He told the BBC: "It's where things happen - it's important that people can do things. To be physically engaged with the artefacts really puts the whole thing in context.
"You see that with kids, they stand in front of the Colossus and I say to them, do you realise this is a computer? And they say, 'it's very big!', and it catches their imagination."
The contribution by PGP Corporation and computer giant IBM, follows a campaign by the museum launched by a competition challenging volunteers to crack one of the toughest codes of WWII.
In July about 100 academics signed a letter to The Times saying the code-cracking centre, and crucible of the UK computer industry, was being allowed to fall into decay.
