19 Sep
2011
19 Sep
'11
8 a.m.
Amazing, I
didn't realize any were still running. Last time I saw
PLATO was in the 1970s. The terminals were touch screens, they blew .>
everyone's minds. .
With plasma screens yet. I understood that the screen was much of the
cost of one of those terminals. CDC had a difficult time marketing the thing.
The one place I saw them was a university, and if I remember right, it
wasn't even in the data center but in the Social Sciences building. I
believe the CDC machine itself was also over there. I guess they probably
got the whole thing on an academic grant, but they may have paid for it
"with your tax dollars". Either way, the stuff must have cost a fortune and
PLATO seemed to be targeted at academic settings.
I remember one year at NCC, the folks at the CDC booth
looking bored with
the attendees sort of shuffling through. I noted that they had a PLATO
terminal, so I asked one of the booth jockeys if I could try it. I
brought up Airfight and immediately collected a crowd. The folks at the
booth were a little upset at the idea of playing a game, when they were
tasked with selling "serious" stuff and eventually they put a stop to it.
Talk about not seeing the forest for the trees.
That's a good story. What a missed opportunity for those guys. They should
have hired you on the spot. I imagine Tekronix sold a lot of 4051s by
demoing that old golf game, it was superb. Sometimes simple stuff like
that gets a lot more attention than more arcane things. To sell 'em you
first have to get their attention.