14 Apr
2014
14 Apr
'14
9:42 p.m.
It begs the question... for the era, what _would_ be
the right thing?
Real DEC VT100s weren't under export restrictions, but they were
expensive in the early 1980s (then when the VT220 came out, _those_
were expensive and VT100 prices dropped quickly on the 3rd-party
market).
Control Data probably would have been most appropriate. They had a
foot on the door behind the Iron Curtain - the current tin foil hat
reason is that it gave the West a chance to look at Soviet weather
models, or more importantly, the data - which is very useful when you
might go to war with nuclear weapons. Control Data managed to do this
using all sorts of tricks, involving Soviet art, vodka, and shotguns -
they traded for these things (don't believe me? Go to Bookfinder, and
you will see that THE way to see Soviet art in the 1980s was the
Control Data press), probably to make the whole deal less visible to
prying eyes.
Control Data also manage to get things made behind the Iron Curtain
during the 1980s as well. Many of their printers and smaller
peripherals were made in Eastern Europe.
As a show, The Americans sort of sucks. I was bored, and tuned out on
two trial run. Skip it.
--
Will