lazer_gazer @speedofmike - Twitter Profile

about 3 hours ago

for most of the 20th century, Americans were not allowed to own their telephone. you rented it from the phone company. every month. forever. and the company swore the entire network would collapse if you were ever allowed to plug in something of your own. then a radio salesman from a small texas town decided to find out if that was true… his name was tom carter. 1924 mabank, texas. born a radio kid. world war two. juneau, alaska. he runs a broadcast station beaming news to troops scattered across the territory. after the war he starts a small company in Dallas, wiring up oilmen and ranchers with two way radios. and his customers keep asking for the same thing. patch the radio into the phone line, so a man out on a rig can talk to his wife at home. the phone company's answer was no. not because it couldn't be done. because the rules said no foreign attachments. nothing touched the network that the company didn't lease to you. it was the largest corporation on earth, and it had already gone to court once to stop a plastic cup. that was the hush a phone, 1956. a cup that snapped onto the mouthpiece for privacy. the company argued even that would damage the system. in 1959 carter built his thing anyway. a small acoustic cradle. you set the handset in it and it carried the voice across. nothing wired into the network at all. he called it the carterfone. the company responded by threatening to cut off phone service to anyone caught using one. November 29, 1965. carter sues. one small Dallas peon against the biggest monopoly in history. the sensible move was to settle. he spent years and nearly everything he had fighting. june 26, 1968. the FCC rules that any device that does not harm the network may connect to it. that one sentence is the crack the modern world walked through. the answering machine. the fax machine. the modem. when the internet came, it dialed in through the door tom carter opened. even the 1984 breakup of the phone monopoly traces back to his case. carter never made real money from any of it. he died in 1991, running a small mobile phone shop in gun barrel city, Texas. the smithsonian keeps a carterfone. this week the companies that sell games announced the future: streaming only, discs discontinued, ownership retired. access is enough they say. this is the new way now. a company that rents you the thing you use will convince everyone that ownership breaks the 'system'. they said it about a plastic cup. they said it about a cradle for a telephone handset. the system was never the thing that broke. so gamers, let me say the quiet part as a plea. i implore you, even if you're rolling your eyes while the chaos descends - buy some physical. pick your top five games and buy them cheap, now, on disc, while discs still exist. worst case, you spent a few dollars on things you already love and they sit on a shelf. best case, ten years from now you own the only copy anyone can still play. the downside is a shelf. tom carter would have told you the same thing. own the equipment. https://t.co/g28PoSdLM7

CatabolicState's tweet photo. for most of the 20th century, Americans were not allowed to own their telephone. you rented it from the phone company. every month. forever. and the company swore the entire network would collapse if you were ever allowed to plug in something of your own.

then a radio salesman from a small texas town decided to find out if that was true…

his name was tom carter.

1924 mabank, texas. born a radio kid.
world war two. juneau, alaska. he runs a broadcast station beaming news to troops scattered across the territory.

after the war he starts a small company in Dallas, wiring up oilmen and ranchers with two way radios. and his customers keep asking for the same thing. patch the radio into the phone line, so a man out on a rig can talk to his wife at home.

the phone company's answer was no. not because it couldn't be done. because the rules said no foreign attachments. nothing touched the network that the company didn't lease to you. it was the largest corporation on earth, and it had already gone to court once to stop a plastic cup. that was the hush a phone, 1956. a cup that snapped onto the mouthpiece for privacy. the company argued even that would damage the system.

in 1959 carter built his thing anyway. a small acoustic cradle. you set the handset in it and it carried the voice across. nothing wired into the network at all. he called it the carterfone. the company responded by threatening to cut off phone service to anyone caught using one.

November 29, 1965. carter sues. one small Dallas peon against the biggest monopoly in history. the sensible move was to settle. he spent years and nearly everything he had fighting.

june 26, 1968. the FCC rules that any device that does not harm the network may connect to it.

that one sentence is the crack the modern world walked through. the answering machine. the fax machine. the modem. when the internet came, it dialed in through the door tom carter opened. even the 1984 breakup of the phone monopoly traces back to his case.

carter never made real money from any of it. he died in 1991, running a small mobile phone shop in gun barrel city, Texas. the smithsonian keeps a carterfone.

this week the companies that sell games announced the future: streaming only, discs discontinued, ownership retired. access is enough they say. this is the new way now.

a company that rents you the thing you use will convince everyone that ownership breaks the 'system'. they said it about a plastic cup. they said it about a cradle for a telephone handset. the system was never the thing that broke.

so gamers, let me say the quiet part as a plea. i implore you, even if you're rolling your eyes while the chaos descends - buy some physical. pick your top five games and buy them cheap, now, on disc, while discs still exist. worst case, you spent a few dollars on things you already love and they sit on a shelf. best case, ten years from now you own the only copy anyone can still play. the downside is a shelf.

tom carter would have told you the same thing. own the equipment.

https://t.co/g28PoSdLM7

0

2

1

0

55

lazer_gazer

@speedofmike

Who to follow

Last Seen Users on Sotwe

Trends for you

Most Popular Users