NCC begins major expansion

Rathlyn, HB, Oct 22 – The National Centre of Computing has announced it will be undertaking a major expansion, increasing the size and scope of its exhibitions at a cost of over §230 (NZ$368).

At present the Centre, Sirocco’s largest cultural establishment and sole museum, runs twelve virtual machines ranging from MS-DOS 6.22 to Windows XP on a host machine and two original computers running Windows 98 SE and Windows Me dating from 1998 and 2000-2001, respectively.

The Centre also owns a large collection of computer books from the early 1990s through to the present day.

The museum has reported it has already spent around §211 (NZ$337) on software, hardware, books, and assorted miscellanea, with a further §20 (NZ$32) earmarked for further purchases in the coming days.

The Times understands the required funds were acquired from the Centre’s existing funds and through donations from the Ministry of Culture, the Institute of Scientific Research, and private donors.

Its first purchase, the book Windows 95 At A Glance (Jerry Joyce and Marianne Moon, Microsoft Press, 1997), arrived in Rathlyn yesterday afternoon.

Expected to arrive from New Zealand, Australia, Britain, the United States and Canada in the coming days are purchases including a Windows 95 mug, a rare Microsoft bag from 1997, a large collection of computer books from the 1980s and 1990s, and over 40 pieces of software from around 1995 to 2000.

The Centre was able to negotiate a floppy disk drive, Windows 95 floppy disks and an assortment of Windows 95 games for free.

Also to be housed in the Centre, albeit temporarily, is a Seeburg shirt arriving from the United States. The shirt is planned to be displayed in a proposed atomic age museum.

As a result of the purchases, the Centre has said it will be reorganising its exhibitions into four broad divisions.

The first, Classic Machines, will house the Centre’s virtual machines and Windows 98 and Me computers.

Software will join the former Image Repository in a new Software Repository, while hardware will be devoted to the Hardware Store.

The Centre’s books, possibly the largest collection of all, will be housed in a new NCC Library.

The four divisions are represented in the Centre’s new logo, unveiled yesterday evening. Stylised much like the 2000/Me-era Windows logo, it is intended to mimic the Franklin Gothic typeface choice of Microsoft from 1995 to 2005.

In a statement yesterday evening, the Centre said it was “extremely pleased to have been able to bring these computing treasures to Sirocco.”

“Technology has played a large role in our nation’s development, and as a result of this expenditure, we will be better able to present and understand the golden age of personal computers.”

The Centre also reported that it has successfully installed and run SimCity 2000 Special Edition on its Windows 98 virtual machine and Microsoft Office 2000 on its Windows Me virtual machine.