The Friendly Orange Glow

The Untold Story of the Rise of Cyberculture

Nonfiction, Reference & Language, Education & Teaching, Teaching, Computers & Technology, Computers, General Computing, Reference, Science & Nature, Technology, Engineering
Cover of the book The Friendly Orange Glow by Brian Dear, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Brian Dear ISBN: 9781101871560
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group Publication: November 14, 2017
Imprint: Vintage Language: English
Author: Brian Dear
ISBN: 9781101871560
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Publication: November 14, 2017
Imprint: Vintage
Language: English

At a time when Steve Jobs was only a teenager and Mark Zuckerberg wasn’t even born, a group of visionary engineers and designers—some of them only high school students—in the late 1960s and 1970s created a computer system called PLATO, which was light-years ahead in experimenting with how people would learn, engage, communicate, and play through connected computers. Not only did PLATO engineers make significant hardware breakthroughs with plasma displays and touch screens but PLATO programmers also came up with a long list of software innovations: chat rooms, instant messaging, message boards, screen savers, multiplayer games, online newspapers, interactive fiction, and emoticons. Together, the PLATO community pioneered what we now collectively engage in as cyberculture. They were among the first to identify and also realize the potential and scope of the social interconnectivity of computers, well before the creation of the internet. PLATO was the foundational model for every online community that was to follow in its footsteps.

The Friendly Orange Glow is the first history to recount in fascinating detail the remarkable accomplishments and inspiring personal stories of the PLATO community. The addictive nature of PLATO both ruined many a college career and launched pathbreaking multimillion-dollar software products. Its development, impact, and eventual disappearance provides an instructive case study of technological innovation and disruption, project management, and missed opportunities. Above all, The Friendly Orange Glow at last reveals new perspectives on the origins of social computing and our internet-infatuated world.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

At a time when Steve Jobs was only a teenager and Mark Zuckerberg wasn’t even born, a group of visionary engineers and designers—some of them only high school students—in the late 1960s and 1970s created a computer system called PLATO, which was light-years ahead in experimenting with how people would learn, engage, communicate, and play through connected computers. Not only did PLATO engineers make significant hardware breakthroughs with plasma displays and touch screens but PLATO programmers also came up with a long list of software innovations: chat rooms, instant messaging, message boards, screen savers, multiplayer games, online newspapers, interactive fiction, and emoticons. Together, the PLATO community pioneered what we now collectively engage in as cyberculture. They were among the first to identify and also realize the potential and scope of the social interconnectivity of computers, well before the creation of the internet. PLATO was the foundational model for every online community that was to follow in its footsteps.

The Friendly Orange Glow is the first history to recount in fascinating detail the remarkable accomplishments and inspiring personal stories of the PLATO community. The addictive nature of PLATO both ruined many a college career and launched pathbreaking multimillion-dollar software products. Its development, impact, and eventual disappearance provides an instructive case study of technological innovation and disruption, project management, and missed opportunities. Above all, The Friendly Orange Glow at last reveals new perspectives on the origins of social computing and our internet-infatuated world.

More books from Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group

Cover of the book The Lay of the Land by Brian Dear
Cover of the book Calder: The Conquest of Time by Brian Dear
Cover of the book In Other Words by Brian Dear
Cover of the book For the Relief of Unbearable Urges by Brian Dear
Cover of the book D.B. by Brian Dear
Cover of the book A Whistling Woman by Brian Dear
Cover of the book A Few of the Girls by Brian Dear
Cover of the book A French Wedding by Brian Dear
Cover of the book The Next Fifty Years by Brian Dear
Cover of the book The Death of the Heart by Brian Dear
Cover of the book Quarrel & Quandary by Brian Dear
Cover of the book The World Without You by Brian Dear
Cover of the book Japan 1941 by Brian Dear
Cover of the book Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Brian Dear
Cover of the book Vanished Smile by Brian Dear
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy