'Arrogance' to blame for UK tech inferiority

Arrogance and hesitancy are holding back the UK IT industry according to a leading industry pioneer.

David Caminer, who was involved in LEO, the world's first business application to go live on a stored program computer, called the UK vision "blinkered" as he delivered the Pinkerton lecture at the 50 Years of Business Computing conference at the London Guildhall today.

Companies such as Microsoft and Dell favour a US base because they are at odds with European attitudes according to Alan Lawson, research analyst at the Butler Group.

Lawson said: "In the 1950s the US hit the ground running, made mistakes along the way but they took the risk. Because European companies are older and more established they are more arrogant and think they have more to lose, so hesitate.

Caminer blamed a lack of financial assistance for the UK losing its superiority over the US in the computing sector as early as the fifties.

Caminer said: "In the States we found highly expensive machines installed in quantity. At home we were still fighting to convince big businesses that computers were the gateway to the future."