Hot Seat - Alistair Behenna

Looking for an excuse to

What was your first job and how did you get into IT?
My first job was as a police officer in what is now Zimbabwe. Sadly, my career there was cut short by injury and I spent the next few years in a variety of occupations interspersed with territorial and reserve obligations to the military machine. I fell into IT purely by chance as I became fascinated by the potential of the personal computer in the early 1980s. I bought my own and taught myself the rudiments, then boldly decided to sell my interests in the property company I had built with a partner and devoted my time to designing and producing presentation graphics and desktop publishing projects for commercial use.

Which IT vendor do you think has been the most influential in the past 20 years?
I suppose I should really say IBM as, in my head, I believe it has been the most fundamental architect of home-based computing and concomitantly the business PC. However, in my heart I would have to say Apple because it has done so much to consumerise technology and awaken the imagination of the individual to the enjoyable potential of everyday technology.

What technology would you save in a fire?
None. That way, I could justify buying myself the latest versions.

If you were not in IT, what would you be doing?
I would probably be a wealthy international playboy married to the doting and delightful heiress to a brewing fortune. Back here on Earth, I would follow my first love and be back in the bush in Africa.

Which technology would you most like to have invented?
The digital camera. I tested the very earliest Sony version in the late 1980s and continue to be amazed every time I take a digital picture. It fills me with a kind of childish wonder at the sheer magic of it.