15 Sep
2012
15 Sep
'12
1:22 p.m.
-----Original Message-----
From: cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org
[mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Chuck Guzis
Sent: 15 September 2012 20:55
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: Re: Microsoft cordless phone
On 15 Sep 2012 at 20:01, Tony Duell wrote:
We were very slow in upgrading exchanges to handle touch tone phones, and
System-x
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_X_(telephony)
was only deployed from 1980 onwards nearly 20 years after the USA. The Post
Office and then British Telecom were directly owned and managed by the
Government. (Actually some say they were managed by the Unions). This made
us very slow to deploy new technology as convincing a government to invest
in new technology ...
As an aside, much of the electronicv work for
codebreaking
in the UK
in WW2, including Colossus, was done, IIRC, by
people from the GPO
research labs. GPO = General Post Office, who at the time ran the
telephone system in the UK, and who therefore had great
expereience of
switching systems.
Maybe, but in the 70s when I visited, telephones in Britain were a
nightmare compared to their US counterparts--particularly pay
telephones. And doesn't England still have coin-op residential
electrical service? When I heard this referred to on an old
"Steptoe and Son" broadcast, it seemed very backward to me (you
apparently needed a lot of 1s coins to keep out of the dark).
I don't think we still have coin fed utility meters, but they were common
place for many years. I well remember my Gran counting the coins out of one
of the meters, and getting some back. We do however have pre-payment meters.
Not sure if this link is visible out side the UK...
http://www.uswitch.com/gas-electricity/guides/prepayment-meters
but it explains the hows and whys...
And how many
computer debvelopments came from the Bell
Telephone labs?
A lot, granted. But that came from a time when Ma Bell was
prohibited from getting into the computer business. After the
consent decree and breakup, she went downhill fast.
--Chuck