> The first people to have home terminals were those system programmers who might be called at any hour to investigate or repair a problem with the time-sharing

> The first people to have home terminals were those system programmers who might be called at any hour to investigate or repair a problem with the time-sharing system. These folks took home a machine that might cost as much as half a year's salary, and had a leased phone line connected to the MIT data PBX installed at home. They discovered that having a machine at home was useful not only for fixing the operating system, but also for programming and writing documents from home, and for sending electronic mail to other users on the MIT system. Imagine being one of the first people in the world to discover that you could sit at home and tap out messages to other people sitting at home, who'd pick them up instantly (or at their leisure).