Friday, October 4, 2024

Computers: Expressway to Tomorrow

Sometimes you click around on Internet Archive and end up in 1983. I found this cache of feedback letters for the delightfully named "Computers: Expressway to Tomorrow" presentation that went around to high school gymnasiums in 1983, sponsored by Atari. It is interesting to see which IBM Selectric typeballs were in fashion at the time (Letter Gothic, always my favorite), how many ways the name Ronnie Anastasio can be misspelled, how high school administrators expressed themselves through people taking dictation. Other fun stuff too.

I like these bits of arcana from the dowdy 1980s, the 80s that happened in fluorescent-lit buildings in beige outfits rather than in neon leg warmers under bright lights in the aerobics studio.