Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

Back before the PC, didn't IBM and some other mainframe companies try to lease out terminals? This in that you could get a terminal on your home desk, that either via dedicated line or basic dialup would connect to a mainframe where you paid minute or something?

In a sense the web browser, and SaaS, has become a reinvention of that...



Yes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time-sharing

A popular (for the time) example of this type of service was CompuServe (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CompuServe). I had my first online experience connecting to CompuServe on my family's home PC, back in 1985.


Still do, big business. Any data dependent system. Reuters / Bloomberg / Datastream. Rented out terminals of a centralized system.


Ah yes, Bloomberg. Recently heard about those terminals in relation to someone using their service as something of a luxury Craigslist...


With data dependent systems, I assume you pay for access to the data, not just for the ability to use a computer.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: