12 Oct
1997
12 Oct
'97
10:05 p.m.
On Fri, 3 Oct 1997, Charles E. Fox wrote:
Have you ever heard of the Icon computer?
It seems that back in the late '70s the poobahs at the Department of
Education for Ontario (Canada) were upset because incompatable computers
were finding their way into classrooms, and the programs for these C-64s
and Apple ][s could not be used on each other. Being bureaucrats they came
up with a solution: design and build their own computer which would be
installed in all seventy five thousand Ontario classrooms! Naturally this
was designed by a committee, and since it was to be for educational
purposes they consulted with one (1) teacher and no students.
Amazing! This sounds even dumber that what the Quebec government was
doing at the time! :)
I saw one of the machines purchased by the Quebec government from France,
in a Salvation Army store about a year ago. It was running and appeared
to be in good shape. I just wish I could remember now what the name of it
was. The father of a friend of mine was on the local school board,
though, and I think he still has some promotional material about them.
I think they were just MS-DOS machines with a French keyboard and shipped
with a French-language BASIC variant, but I'm not sure. My high school
actually had some of those things, but I never used one. I only used the
TRS-80 Model IIIs the few times I bothered with the high school computer
lab (I had a ][+ clone at home, and my brother had a PET 2001 and C64, who
needed the computer lab?).
The Icon sounds familiar for some reason. I suspect it may have been
pictured in an issue of Computing Now! that I have from 1983. As soon as
I regain access to my magazines (locked in my father's bedroom - he's
currently sleeping) I'll look it up.
Doug Spence
ds_spenc(a)alcor.concordia.ca