Most 8 bit micros were designed to be just as cheap as possible.

The Beeb was a really well designed machine (both the hardware and the software). You could only expect the next step to be a great machine.

Even so, going from designing computers using off-the-shelf components to creating your own processor design with an innovative architecture was a bold and risky bet. Not many computer manufacturers took this route.

It mostly killed Acorn. Olivetti acquired them.