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But home computer adoption was skyrocketing at the time. My argument here is that once people saw the utility of this then they'd buy modems, the same way they

But home computer adoption was skyrocketing at the time. My argument here is that once people saw the utility of this then they'd buy modems, the same way they saw the utility of printing and bought printers for their computers. At the time, a modem was the same price, if not cheaper, than a printer or a floppy disk drive. It wasn't exactly a luxury expense.

ams6110 9y ago
Ah, you're suggesting Sears could have run their own dial-up shopping service? Maybe, but I think it was too early. It would have been a text mode system (home computers, such as they were in the 1980s, were systems like Apple II or Comnmodore or TRS-80 or maybe CP/M or DOS if you had a "business" computer at home). Macintosh computers were available, but expensive and not a typical home computer. And bandwidth on dial up at that time was maybe 2400 baud, way too slow to send any kind of detailed images of products that consumers would want in a catalog. It might have gained some adoption, but in that era I think most consumers would have found filling out an order form and faxing or mailing it in easier.
- aidenn0 9y ago
  Prodigy was not text-only; it was mixed text and graphics, and 9600 modems were cheap and 14.4 modems were widely available in 1993.
  - dungle6 9y ago
    But let's be real, the graphics of prodigy were not really up to the task of showcasing products. nb: the graphics of prodigy were a semi-standardized limited color pallette vector graphics system called NAPLPS. Benefit was that it was extremely low bandwidth, the limitation was that it had no way to handle bitmap graphics (like GIF). By 1994, prodigy just became an http provider (on top of the existing service).
- drzaiusapelord 9y ago
  I was active in the BBS scene during that time. What could be done over 1200-2400 baud was fairly impressive considering the technical limits. Especially when ANSI and RIP graphics became the norm. Later 4800 and 9600 modems became cheap. By the late 80s these were the norm. Ordering systems would have been trivial to implement if the political and commercial will was there. Not too long after this you had Prodigy, Compuserve, and AOL offering these kinds of services. I remember they let you order flowers, buy software, etc from their online systems. The web and tcp/ip internet replacing it all didn't come until much, much later. From 1983-1995 online services were ruled by non-TCP/IP dial-up BBS services and proprietary services like Prodigy. Home internet didn't take off until 1995-1996 and even then it was fairly limited. >Apple II or Comnmodore On top of all the PC clones running DOS and Windows (Windows 1.0 was 1985), Amigas, Macs (as you mention), Timex/Sinclair, etc. Macs were home computers, there were just less of them. Back in those days people paid large prices for home machines, so the pricetags might seem high today but the utility/novelty factors made up for it.
  - heywire 9y ago
    RIP graphics was like magic in its day!
bdcravens 9y ago
In the mid-eighties to mid-nineties home computers still cost several thousands of dollars. Installing a modem was no small feat either in computers from that time.
- ams6110 9y ago
  Some were cheap. The TI 99/4a was almost being given away in the mid-80s. But I don't ever remember it being popular for accessing dial-up. Its Terminal Emulator implemented a proprietary protocol and was actually more popular for its text-to-speech capability.
- patrickg_zill 9y ago
  My high end 486 dx2/66 was 2000 usd, in 1993, plus monitor.
- dungle6 9y ago
  Meh it was pretty easy. Due to the fact that there were a limited number of peripherals to begin with, getting a modem hooked up to a serial port pretty much always worked. (first one I had was an Atari XM301 in 1982). By 1991 you could buy an IBM PS/1 in any retail store with included internal 2400 bps modem for about $1200. Related to this, PS/1 models included Prodigy (the sears venture) and Promenade a short-lived effort between IBM and Quantum link (ie what became AOL).

ams6110 9y ago

Ah, you're suggesting Sears could have run their own dial-up shopping service? Maybe, but I think it was too early. It would have been a text mode system (home computers, such as they were in the 1980s, were systems like Apple II or Comnmodore or TRS-80 or maybe CP/M or DOS if you had a "business" computer at home). Macintosh computers were available, but expensive and not a typical home computer. And bandwidth on dial up at that time was maybe 2400 baud, way too slow to send any kind of detailed images of products that consumers would want in a catalog. It might have gained some adoption, but in that era I think most consumers would have found filling out an order form and faxing or mailing it in easier.

aidenn0 9y ago
Prodigy was not text-only; it was mixed text and graphics, and 9600 modems were cheap and 14.4 modems were widely available in 1993.
- dungle6 9y ago
  But let's be real, the graphics of prodigy were not really up to the task of showcasing products. nb: the graphics of prodigy were a semi-standardized limited color pallette vector graphics system called NAPLPS. Benefit was that it was extremely low bandwidth, the limitation was that it had no way to handle bitmap graphics (like GIF). By 1994, prodigy just became an http provider (on top of the existing service).
drzaiusapelord 9y ago
I was active in the BBS scene during that time. What could be done over 1200-2400 baud was fairly impressive considering the technical limits. Especially when ANSI and RIP graphics became the norm. Later 4800 and 9600 modems became cheap. By the late 80s these were the norm. Ordering systems would have been trivial to implement if the political and commercial will was there. Not too long after this you had Prodigy, Compuserve, and AOL offering these kinds of services. I remember they let you order flowers, buy software, etc from their online systems. The web and tcp/ip internet replacing it all didn't come until much, much later. From 1983-1995 online services were ruled by non-TCP/IP dial-up BBS services and proprietary services like Prodigy. Home internet didn't take off until 1995-1996 and even then it was fairly limited. >Apple II or Comnmodore On top of all the PC clones running DOS and Windows (Windows 1.0 was 1985), Amigas, Macs (as you mention), Timex/Sinclair, etc. Macs were home computers, there were just less of them. Back in those days people paid large prices for home machines, so the pricetags might seem high today but the utility/novelty factors made up for it.
- heywire 9y ago
  RIP graphics was like magic in its day!

bdcravens 9y ago

In the mid-eighties to mid-nineties home computers still cost several thousands of dollars. Installing a modem was no small feat either in computers from that time.

ams6110 9y ago
Some were cheap. The TI 99/4a was almost being given away in the mid-80s. But I don't ever remember it being popular for accessing dial-up. Its Terminal Emulator implemented a proprietary protocol and was actually more popular for its text-to-speech capability.
patrickg_zill 9y ago
My high end 486 dx2/66 was 2000 usd, in 1993, plus monitor.
dungle6 9y ago
Meh it was pretty easy. Due to the fact that there were a limited number of peripherals to begin with, getting a modem hooked up to a serial port pretty much always worked. (first one I had was an Atari XM301 in 1982). By 1991 you could buy an IBM PS/1 in any retail store with included internal 2400 bps modem for about $1200. Related to this, PS/1 models included Prodigy (the sears venture) and Promenade a short-lived effort between IBM and Quantum link (ie what became AOL).