LGR Tech Tales - Quantum Link

LGR

I didn't know that existed! Will have to look into that :) Still planning to do a video on GEOS in general someday

Ed D

Great video, Clint. Don't forget to mention the GEOWorks version of AOL! I love GEOS... if only they could've converted their huge installed base of AOL users over to GEOS users--the computing landscape would've been very different.

LGR

Excellent :)

LGR

Ahead of their time and on a system that not as many people had or were willing to pay for an expensive hourly service on. That all changed so fast though, the next episode is a whirlwind :)

LGR

Haha, yeah I'm curious just how far and widespread those free discs ended up being.

LGR

Thank you, doing my best :)

LGR

For real though, the number of "so close, but not quite" moments these people had is insane.

LGR

Awesome. Feel much attachment to it these days?

LGR

Thanks, I look forward to making that one! Haha, sort of. This one was a ton of work.

LGR

Imagine all the cool videos we could share if it did.

LGR

Thanks, sir!

LGR

Yep, Halt & Catch Fire's storelines are all based on real life events. The Giant was based on the Grid Compass, Mutiny based on Q-Link/PlayNET, McMillan's virus company was based on McAfee, etc.

Maximilien Noal

10:30 So, it's sort of a 8-bit MMO ?! O_O Wow ! Fascinating ! But I bet it's all lost to time, now. :/ I would have loved to play on it back in the day ! (wait, I was a few months old in 1985, so I wouldn't remember anyway... Dang it !). edit : cool choice of background music, especially at the end of the video. :D

mega

Wow, Q-Link reminds me of Mutiny a little bit. Maybe Halt and Catch Fire seasons 2 and 3 were inspired by Q-Link?

pcwzrd13

It's too bad this radical idea if a worldwide network of computers never took off...

Gary DiFiore-Ridolph

Great video!! I'm rly looking forward to the next one on AOL.

I used this service for quite awhile.

Thinking about it... a parody Tech Tales about Project Quantum Leap would be hilariously awesome!

mavrick

the stars of M*A*S*H were still HUGE draws back in the '80s. Alan Alda did a bunch of Atari and IBM commercials on TV. either IBM thought 'hey, why not get the rest of the cast in on this action' or the rest of the cast wanted to the advert as a way to stay in the limelight or as a way to possibly give Alda the middle finger by saying 'we can do IBM too!' - notice how Alda is not in the picture.

SuperBunnyBun

wait... at 11:45.... why is some of the cast of MASH on an IBM/2 advert?

Purple Tentacle

This is insane, all of these ideas that were way ahead of their time! I mean, SCUMM engine alone is impressive enough for me!

Amazing video once again. Love tech tales! 😊 it's amazing how much of this is seemingly used as influence in Halt and Catch Fire.

Manuel Adrian

I've never heard of most of this before, thanks for educating me yet again Clint.

Lindsay Michelle

Very interesting as usual! They seemed to have really unique ideas that were ahead of their time, which really amazed me to see for myself. But I think that they were a bit too ahead of their time and not enough people caught the trend, making them fall behind in the end and letting competitors take over. Can't wait to see the AOL story that follows this video!!

Rob Caporetto

The weird thing about Q-Link, was that for some reason, the systems diskettes which were shipped with C64s down here… happened to include a demo for the service. It could only be classic Commodore cheapness… because why else would you do that? ;) But it's incredible to see the twisted, bewildering path that lead up to it as a service - and I'm really looking forward to seeing how they transformed into AOL (and yes, the plague of free time discs also would reach us down here).

Deryn L.

One of your best to date, I want more! Keep up the good work Clint!

My first glance reaction was, "What?? Quantum Leap?!"