Touchscreen in 1983? - WarGames (1983) Discussion

[–] Doc80 13 years ago

It doesn't do anything when she touched the screen though. It's not an oversight, she was just touching the screen. Maybe there was a smudge or something. Plus her character wasn't computer savvy, like most people at that time, so maybe she thought something would happen if she touched it and she went ahead and did it to see.

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[–] jcshetler 13 years ago

omg really op? cmon.

The Dumbing-Down of America
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumbing_down

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[–] MrT1979 13 years ago

she clearly touched the screen trying to get an interaction.

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[–] jcshetler 13 years ago

oh i see troll.

The Dumbing-Down of America
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumbing_down

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[–] david-3444 13 years ago

By the way, dumbass, touch screen computers were demonstrated and used at the 1982 World's Fair in Knoxville. They were NOT invented in 1985.

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[–] gabby_bm 13 years ago

She was obviously aroused by David's power and wanted to caress the source of that power and feel it surge through her.

Speak louder, Mr. Hart! Fill the room with your intelligence!

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[–] Phydeaux50 13 years ago

A little turned on now.

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[–] fastobe 13 years ago

I think she was just supposed to be fascinated by the screen and put her fingers to it. This behavior was common with computer novices back then.

One of the first commercially available PC's with a touchscreen was the HP 150 which came out in 1983:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP-150

The touch screen actually worked pretty well, but the screen surface would get dirty with fingerprints when touched. The screen required constant cleaning to remove the smudges, as opposed to just using the keyboard and arrow keys.

Computer mice were not in common use yet on PC's at that time, only with Apple Lisas and later with Macintoshes.

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[–] MissGoldHeart 13 years ago

Even if she did touch the screen and get an interaction, how could it be an oversight? The movie was released in 1983. Its not as if it was released year or two ago but was supposed to have taken place 27 years ago
Point is, if this computer had a touch screen, then they had to have existed by that time for the director to have heard of them.

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[–] falling_into_darkness 13 years ago

She wasn't touching the screen to get a reaction from the computer...she was probably fascinated by the machine itself...since David is so into computers and hacking. You can clearly see her running her hand down the screen, not touching it in specific spots and you can clearly see her facial expression as being in awe.
Touch screen computers were not invented in 1985, as someone has stated. The idea has been in existence since the 60s but didn't really come into use until the 70s. I suggest doing your homework before making odd comments.

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[–] capnmorgan5150 13 years ago

"She wasn't touching the screen to get a reaction from the computer...she was probably fascinated by the machine itself..."

Yes, that's exactly what I got from it.

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[–] 13 years ago

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[–] MrT1979 10 years ago

Was she touching the screen to get it to react though???

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[–] avortac 10 years ago

"if this computer had a touch screen, then they had to have existed by that time for the director to have heard of them. "

So, fiction doesn't exist in your opinion?

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[–] MissGoldHeart 10 years ago

Yes, but then it couldn't have been an oversight as the OP suggested.

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[–] 10 years ago

[deleted]

[–] jchamberlain-2 11 years ago

There was a scene in the NORAD bunker where one of te techs used a stylus and "poked" two points on the grid. That appeared to be some sort of touch screen technology.

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[–] ak47wong 11 years ago

That would be a light pen.

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[–] shoobe01 10 years ago

And those existed in day to day use since the 1960s. SAGE was the first USAF system to use light pens, and it was one of the first serious, working computers at all. Principles they used to create this more or less created the fields of software project management and software development methodologies.

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[–] MrT1979 10 years ago

was the touchscreen wc3 compliant for accessibility? if not i might file suit

Bitches Leave

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[–] shoobe01 10 years ago

Since the computer that controls the US strategic ballistic missiles is not a website, in no small measure because there were no websites for another 10 years, I am gonna say no. Also, W3C has no legal anything so good luck suing over that. If you do, start with IE not ever paying attention to standards.

If perchance you meant Section 508, then that was an amendment to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, but added in 1986. Before that, people with disabilities who wanted to use computing could be legally laughed at.

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[–] MrT1979 10 years ago

you sir have come in under budget and ahead of schedule, i thank thee.

Bitches Leave

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[–] 10 years ago

[deleted]

[–] 10 years ago

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[–] GoodSOVeryVeryGood 8 years ago

It's not a "touchscreen" she's just "touching the screen" and people did this all the time back in the day, even using a finger to point at stuff or to read stuff by following with their finger - I was a programmer back in the late 70s, early 80s and the most irritating thing was to see a bunch of fingermarks all over the screen - think of kids touching the patio door - smudgy fingers.

But no, not a touch screen.

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[–] [deleted] 6 years ago

i do that now!

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