On Tue, Dec 27, 2011 at 2:13 PM, James Bowery <jabow...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > My particular part in this effort was that I was to prototype a > mass-marketable version of the PLATO network, which I did circa 1980. I > won't go into the details of that network except to say that the > contribution it would have made to national security would have been to > connect "smart" rural homesteads with information, education and business > resources that would contribute to their self-sufficiency. Yes, I know, > this is starting to be realized today, but a lot of water has passed under > the bridge since 1980, no? <SNIP> > > The reason you never heard of these things is that they were in direct > conflict with Wall Street's interests and Wall Street made no secret of its > hatred of Bill's vision. > > I succeeded in prototyping the mass market PLATO system and it was quashed > by a mutinous middle management more identified with Wall Street than the > "crazy old koot" in the executive suite. Unlike many of Bill's other > technology directions in support of decentralized population structure, the > PLATO system was poised to make immediate profits and roll out mass > produced Macintosh equivalent network computers for a service that would > have cost $40/month in 1980 dollars -- and that includes terminal rental. > So it was particularly egregious that this technology was killed for the > noble purpose of making America vulnerable to 9/11 type attacks. > Hi Jim. I don't know if this is on topic for Vortex. As it happens, at one time, I studied the history of PLATO and what I read and heard wasn't the same as what you just recounted. PLATO was incredibly advanced for its time. But it wasn't "Macintosh-like" for the most part. There was no mouse and all menus were accessed with key stroke combinations or a very clumsy touch panel. Graphics were slow and 512 x 512. Color was experimental in 1980 if I read it right -- most displays were monochrome. Sound was experimental. And networking outside a small local area required expensive leased telephone lines in those days because there was no internet. Your figure of $40/month per station is unlikely because of the large and expert central staff required to maintain the system and provide user service over the network. What I do find strange and unfortunate is that the wonderful PLATO attention to user requirements, rapid fixing of system flaws and bugs, and it's user-friendly and unique menu structure have not been properly incorporated, even now, in modern systems. An example of that is that in many programs and apps, you can't return to a previous screen conveniently, use of keys and buttons isn't consistent from app to app, you can't get help, you can't always interrupt animations or computations, and you can't get a human to assist you -- all those items were almost taken for granted on the few properly run PLATO systems in the 1970's (for example the medical school PLATO). And nowadays, if you have trouble, you usually end up waiting hours to speak or chat with some Sam or Susie in a third world country who knows little, often provides disastrous advice (reformat your hard drive for example) and rarely helps with the current problem. On the other hand, we have Google and the internet to help us, something barely dreamed of in PLATO days. > Bottom line, as technology advances, there is an increasing call for > oppression to maintain the centralized population structure, just as there > was to create it by moving the boomers out of their small midwestern towns, > through universities and into the sterilizing urban environments in which > they could not afford children<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akVL7QY0S8A> -- > but the attack on national security was conducted by Wall Street against > the traditional American way of life. Any discussion, nowadays, about the > threat to national security represented by attacks against centralized > symbols like the World Trade Center on 9/11/2001 is utter misdirection. > I'm not sure what you're saying here. I am certain that militants would be only too happy to use a dirty bomb, biological or chemical weapons or a crude nuclear bomb to attack the government centers in Washington which are unsafely too close together. They would also love to attack any population center. But surely you're not saying you can do away with cities are you? Not with PLATO like systems? Not with any current technology. Maybe when we have unlimited energy? Anyway, those wanting to read more about PLATO can look at these links. And there was a PLATO reunion recently-- the fiftieth anniversary. Too bad it petered out and Control Data went belly up! David Woolley's web site and an excellent Youtube video panel discussion: http://thinkofit.com/plato/dwplato.htm Brian Dear's PLATO history page: http://platohistory.org/ PLATO at Fifty -- conference program: http://www.computerhistory.org/events/listing/plato-at-50/ The history of PLATO provides another lesson -- a lesson about how new discoveries evolve and are brought forth. It doesn't work like the model Jed and others would have us believe Rossi and Defkalion are following. PLATO and the inventions related to it, like Don Bitzer's original plasma display panel, made most original developers, especially Bitzer, very rich. And they didn't have to hide anything from the competition -- they simply got patent protection for their inventions and developed and marketed them in the open. And the rest is history -- much of modern computing followed to some degree or other the PLATO model. Email has multiple origins but one is from PLATO. Flight Simulator and dozens of other games started with PLATO. Xerox Parc and the Macintosh evolved from PLATO and employed people who trained and worked with PLATO. And so on... Funny you should mention it, Jim.
