Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.
Re: After the scanner, the newspaper ???
Author: Ralph Hempel Posted: 5/3/2000; 9:00:43 AM Topic: After the scanner, the newspaper ??? Msg #: 16921 (In response to 16917) Prev/Next: 16920 / 16922
I totally remember the Softstrip too. It was a great idea that was made necessary and at the same time crippled by the technology of the day. Back then, there was no easy means to distribute software. Remember that there was no Internet! Most people had cassete tapes for mass storage, since many computers didn't even have a hard disk!It was crippled because it counted on special drivers, you needed to accurately scan the strips of code, and the magazine copy had to be perfect and not smeared at all. In the end, the relatively high cost of the reader, and the high cost of printing the strips reliably killed the product.
That and the advent of the 3 1/2" floppy.
Dave, I'll have to admit that as I get older, the benefits of hindsight are becoming much more apparent. The benefit of actually living through those formative years of the PC gives us a better historical perspective than just reading about failed products.
Cheers, Ralph Hempel - P.Eng
This page was archived on 6/13/2001; 4:55:03 PM.
© Copyright 1998-2001 UserLand Software, Inc.