The internet and misc computers -- what would survice?

[Legbreaker]

Added to what you said in the Good Vibrations thread:

One thing about pervasive computing: a LOT of it was predicated on the demilitarization of the internet and supporting technologies. Its no mystery as to why suddenly from 1992 until now it seems like there has been an exponential leap in what we can do with computers not just in terms of local technology but with communications, to the point that consumer technology has lapped military tech and COTS is now the rule of the game in the face of an ever-shrinking military budget: the end of the cold war gave birth to a vastly more open internet, and once those technologies were in place it was Katie bar the door!

However, in T2k, that never happens. 1992 sees a USSR just as immovable and belligerent as always; there is no want cause or need for the US Military to open the floodgates of the Internet to even benign developers like Tim Berners-Lee, et al. Oh, sure, there were already "social websites" (for lack of a better term) in place with CompuServe, BIX, GENie, and so on, but the degree of consumer-level networking that we saw even back in the mid 90s is nowhere to be found in the Twilight:2000 universe. I would say its alternate-setting computing would be that individual workstation/desktop PCs would be more-or-less the same, just with less emphasis on networking them - why fiddle around with an ethernet card for your PC or laptop when there's jack-all to do with them save LAN stuff And in the mid 90s most of that is all still do-able via sneakernet anyway.

You're making a hell of a lot of sense to me.

Really brings the Computer skill back into usefulness too.

[TrailerParkJawa]

I well remember reading WIRED magazine in 1991 talking about RS-232 controlled home-milling machines (this 20 years before the advent of home 3d-printing!)

I personally think for a large municipality a group of 10 machines networked together would be an invaluable resource if you're trying to keep track of managing food, people, etc.; I just don't think Joe Everyman would give a fig about having a working PC any more. Time spent playing DOOM, DOOM2, or Quake (all 3 released prior to the TDM) is less time spent chopping organic matter for the still for the generator that keeps other more important electrical devices running (lights, refrigerator).

But a local government would still make good use of them, I'd wager. Hospitals would find them invaluable, not just for patient records but for research purposes...

I still have trouble seeing the need to use computers for inventory but let me elabrate on where Im coming from. In 1991 I worked in a warehouse and we had no computers. Once a month or so we would do inventory and input it all into a computer in the main office. Otherwise daily inventory was simply in our heads or a quick manual count. When it got low orders were made via phone by a manager.

To be fair it wasnt a big warehouse (this was at an amusement park) at least for our section. The other group would have benefited from a computer system. Perhaps its a questsion of scale and scope. The more smallish items you have that have infrequent usage the more a compter would help.

For my team we making deliveies every day over an over so we really could keep it in our heads. Even part numbers.

I totally agree on the games part. Power is so rare in T2k that using to play DOOM would be almost criminal

[raketenjagdpanzer]

I still have trouble seeing the need to use computers for inventory but let me elabrate on where Im coming from. In 1991 I worked in a warehouse and we had no computers. Once a month or so we would do inventory and input it all into a computer in the main office. Otherwise daily inventory was simply in our heads or a quick manual count. When it got low orders were made via phone by a manager.

To be fair it wasnt a big warehouse (this was at an amusement park) at least for our section. The other group would have benefited from a computer system. Perhaps its a questsion of scale and scope. The more smallish items you have that have infrequent usage the more a compter would help.

For my team we making deliveies every day over an over so we really could keep it in our heads. Even part numbers.

I totally agree on the games part. Power is so rare in T2k that using to play DOOM would be almost criminal

I definitely see where you're coming from, and putting important information on non-volatile storage media (e.g., paper) would vastly outstrip the need to use what would be in most basic terms a glorified typewriter that soaks up precious watts that could go to other purposes.

However, with that said, I still think some larger municipalities would want "information technology" of that level. It's not for nothing that they're prominently listed among the loot that can be found in a cache at the end of (I think it is) Allegheny Uprising, some boxed in fully operational condition are mentioned in Armies of the Night, and finally the whole issue of the MacGuffin the Poles were working on (a hard-wired analog CPU replacement that could emulate x86 (Intel/PC Clone) CPUs).

And again, the comms issue is another matter: I definitely think isolated milgov (and civgov!) camps would want to use them to try and get a message to CoG sites.