Re: DEC and The Americans

From	bleep@compy.0-0 (Colonel Bleep)
Newsgroups	alt.folklore.computers, comp.misc
Subject	Re: DEC and The Americans
Message-ID	<56ac6141.3102871@nntp2.rawbw.com> (permalink)
References	<dgmpjsF24gvU2@mid.individual.net>
Date	2016-01-30 07:07 +0000

Cross-posted to 2 groups.

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On Mon, 25 Jan 2016 17:26:04 +0300, RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> wrote:
>Thought I'd mention it because every scene shot within the Russian 
>embassy to the USA (ie, the USSR's building in Washington DC) features 
>a lot of prominent shots of DEC VT100 terminals gracing everyone's 
>desks.
>
>At first I thought, typical Hollywood - they chose DEC because the 
>terminals look a bit more dated than the more modern PCs sitting on the 
>desks of the FBI, but poking around a bit [2], it might be accurate: 
>the VT100 reigned from about 1978 to 1982, so that would correspond 
>with the show.

Oh, they reigned much later than 1982...

>That got me thinking about how likely it would be for a diplomatic 
>mission to invest in DEC terminals (and presumably a mini somewhere in 
>the basement to which you could connect) to do business.  What would 
>you do with them?  Word processing, maybe database work, but would they 
>have invested in custom software for something or other - processing 
>visas or equivalent?  Then I thought, the Soviets had their own 
>hardware around that time - I'd think they'd have chosen something 
>native to the USSR rather than buying American hardware (which would 
>run the [very real] risk of backdoors).  In 1982 would VT100s still 
>have been anchored in academia, science and research, or would they 
>have already made the jump to other sectors - such as diplomacy and 
>bureaucracy?

Without getting into the weeds of this thread, I'd just like to point out that
VT100s were "standard" serial-line ASCII terminals, and did not necessarily need
to be connected solely to DEC equipment.  DEC had a thriving terminals division
that could well have been a stand-alone business, and the VT100 was just one of
their products, although it was perhaps the most popular.  Many VT100s were used
on non-DEC computers. or paired with a modem for dial-up access.

That being said, in 1982 few companies outside of the computer sector would have
terminals of any kind on every desk.  More likely in many business would be very
selective deployment and/or a shared terminal room.  And I doubt embassies used
computers much at all in the early '80s -- what would be their application?
Certainly not word-processing of sensitive documents -- too many security
problems.  Even if they did have a computer and terminals, they would probably
be located in a back room, out of sight of visitors.

Thread

DEC and The Americans RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> - 2016-01-25 17:26 +0300
  Re: DEC and The Americans Michael Black <et472@ncf.ca> - 2016-01-25 10:58 -0500
    Re: DEC and The Americans Dan Espen <despen@verizon.net> - 2016-01-25 11:47 -0500
    Re: DEC and The Americans John Levine <johnl@iecc.com> - 2016-01-25 16:47 +0000
      Re: DEC and The Americans Stan Barr <plan.b@bluesomatic.org> - 2016-01-25 17:41 +0000
        Re: DEC and The Americans mm0fmf <none@mailinator.com> - 2016-01-25 19:25 +0000
        Re: DEC and The Americans Walter Banks <walter@bytecraft.com> - 2016-01-25 16:15 -0500
      Re: DEC and The Americans Michael Black <et472@ncf.ca> - 2016-01-25 13:17 -0500
        Re: DEC and The Americans Stan Barr <plan.b@bluesomatic.org> - 2016-01-26 08:20 +0000
          Re: DEC and The Americans mausg@mail.com - 2016-01-26 11:32 +0000
          Re: DEC and The Americans "Charles Richmond" <numerist@aquaporin4.com> - 2016-01-26 17:23 -0600
        Re: DEC and The Americans Eric Pozharski <whynot@pozharski.name> - 2016-01-26 19:08 +0200
        Re: DEC and The Americans "Charles Richmond" <numerist@aquaporin4.com> - 2016-01-26 17:20 -0600
          Re: DEC and The Americans scott@alfter.diespammersdie.us (Scott Alfter) - 2016-01-27 19:40 +0000
        Re: DEC and The Americans Yeechang Lee <ylee@columbia.edu> - 2016-01-27 22:40 -0800
      Re: DEC and The Americans Eric Pozharski <whynot@pozharski.name> - 2016-01-26 21:16 +0200
        Re: DEC and The Americans "Jack Myers" <jmyers@n6wuz.net> - 2016-01-28 10:07 -0800
    Re: DEC and The Americans "jack" <jkl8976@nospam.com> - 2016-01-26 05:48 +1100
    Re: DEC and The Americans jmfbahciv <See.above@aol.com> - 2016-01-26 13:56 +0000
      Re: DEC and The Americans "Charles Richmond" <numerist@aquaporin4.com> - 2016-01-26 17:43 -0600
        Re: DEC and The Americans jmfbahciv <See.above@aol.com> - 2016-01-27 15:42 +0000
          Re: DEC and The Americans pechter@pechter.dyndns.org (William Pechter) - 2016-02-03 00:36 +0000
            Re: DEC and The Americans jmfbahciv <See.above@aol.com> - 2016-02-03 14:25 +0000
  Re: DEC and The Americans Rich <rich@example.invalid> - 2016-01-25 17:27 +0000
    Re: DEC and The Americans Anne & Lynn Wheeler <lynn@garlic.com> - 2016-01-25 11:18 -0800
  Re: DEC and The Americans "jack" <jkl8976@nospam.com> - 2016-01-26 05:40 +1100
  Re: DEC and The Americans "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2016-01-25 19:12 -0500
    Re: DEC and The Americans RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> - 2016-01-26 14:22 +0000
      Re: DEC and The Americans Morten Reistad <first@last.name.invalid> - 2016-01-26 16:20 +0100
        Re: DEC and The Americans Peter Flass <peter_flass@yahoo.com> - 2016-01-26 11:36 -0500
        Re: DEC and The Americans "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2016-01-26 18:37 -0500
          Re: DEC and The Americans Roger Blake <rogblake@iname.invalid> - 2016-01-27 03:58 +0000
            Re: DEC and The Americans Ahem A Rivet's Shot <steveo@eircom.net> - 2016-01-27 06:16 +0000
            Re: DEC and The Americans jmfbahciv <See.above@aol.com> - 2016-01-27 15:42 +0000
            Re: DEC and The Americans Charlie Gibbs <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> - 2016-01-27 18:14 +0000
      Re: DEC and The Americans "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2016-01-26 18:34 -0500
  Re: DEC and The Americans bleep@compy.0-0 (Colonel Bleep) - 2016-01-30 07:07 +0000
    Re: DEC and The Americans "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2016-01-30 09:43 -0500
      Re: DEC and The Americans Marek Novotny <marek.novotny@marspolar.com> - 2016-01-30 09:02 -0800
    Re: DEC and The Americans Alfred Falk <falk@arc.ab.ca> - 2016-01-30 20:36 +0000

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