Reading MT/ST Tapes

[Fred Cisin]

I would think that an engineer would realize that the glass is neither 
half-full NOR half-empty; it is merely that the glass was spec'ed with the 
wrong size.


Yes, I am too cynical to be in marketing.


On Fri, 30 Jul 2021, Mike Stein wrote:

> And here I've always thought of you as a pessimist who would have called it
> 'Half Empty ST'...
>
> On Fri, Jul 30, 2021 at 9:17 PM Fred Cisin via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
> wrote:
>
>> Yep.
>>
>> And, it was not appreciated when I suggested an interim release between
>> the MT/ST emulator and "Full-ST" to be called "Half Full ST"
>>
>>
>> On Fri, 30 Jul 2021, grif615 at mindspring.com wrote:
>>
>>> Scope Creep.. no telling how many projects died in stalled development.
>>>
>>> On Jul 30, 2021 16:36, Fred Cisin via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>       On Fri, 30 Jul 2021, Chuck Guzis via cctalk wrote:
>>>      > Not really--it's very old technology, (1964), of limited
>>>       capacity (about
>>>      > 20 KB per tape), was a hideously expensive way to buy a
>>>       typewriter
>>>      > (about USD$7000 in 1964, or about USD$61,000 today), used
>>>       almost
>>>      > exclusively in large corporate offices to create form
>>>       letters and
>>>      > documents.  In other words, it was not intended as an
>>>       archival medium.
>>>      > The effort required in preparing a document was
>>>       considerable (one used
>>>      > the mini-keypad for various functions).  For a memo, it was
>>>       easiest to
>>>      > use the typewriter as a typewriter.
>>>      > There are more interesting things to look at.
>>>
>>>       Well, form letters are "important".
>>>       But, once microcomputer word processing matured, they could
>>>       be done easily
>>>       and much better.
>>>
>>>       An acquaintance was working on creating an emulation of the
>>>       MT/ST, as a
>>>       way for those who were familiar with the MT/ST and/or
>>>       actually liked it,
>>>       to be able to continue unchanged on a microcomputer.
>>>
>>>       But, then he started adding features.  Besides delaying the
>>>       completion
>>>       until it was no longer relevant, it was suggested that he
>>>       change the name
>>>       from "MT/ST" (pronounced "empty ST") to "FULL ST".