Drop everything and watch this
2006-03-20 08:26 | Permanent Link | GeneralOriginally seen on Google Video, this is a 1972 documentary on the technology and future benefits of the internet (of course, they were talking about the ARPAnet). Entitled "Computer Networks - The Heralds of Resource Sharing", the people in the film touch on topics near and dear to our hearts today. They talk about what will become web services, collaborative editing, file sharing, access to immense files... all things that the geo community is working on today, 34 years later.
For those of us who got their start in the 70's, this is doubly as interesting. I first used a computer in 1971, went on to MIT where I had two of the people in this film as professors, and then ended up at BBN (but not until 1987) where networking research and applications were very much the lifeblood of the company.
Ah, the days of clunking teletypes, spinning tapes, and humming fans cooling massive computers that now sit quietly tucked away in the nooks and crannies of our lives.
[update: March 21 - the video seems to be "unavailable" at Google. I hope they didn't pull it...]
[update: March 22 - the video can be found here http://servage.bibi.org/joe/arpanet-72.wmv
