4 ms·

Hah we had this too in Holland. Except it was called Kermit, the phone company actually paid millions for the Kermit the frog trademark. Eventually they renamed

Hah we had this too in Holland. Except it was called Kermit, the phone company actually paid millions for the Kermit the frog trademark. Eventually they renamed it to Greenpoint because the brand was so costly. It was only around a few years until it was made obsolete by mobile phones which became small enough to fit in a pocket too. But it looks like it lasted a lot longer than the UK variants of this system did. I think this is because the mobile networks were way too costly at first. Kermit was the poor man's mobile. The hardware was also different, Kermit used pretty thin flip phones that, like Rabbit, were also very popular as home phones.

kwhitefoot 3y ago
Ribbit vs rabbit?
adolph 3y ago
Makes one miss gen-- Internet when things could be named Kermit, Archie and Veronica without involving the vertically integrated marketing apparatus. (I forgot about Jughead) "Kermit was named after Kermit the Frog from The Muppets, with permission from Henson Associates." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kermit_(protocol) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kermit_(protocol) "The name derives from the word "archive" without the v. Emtage has said that contrary to popular belief, there was no association with the Archie Comics.[9] Despite this, other early Internet search technologies such as Jughead and Veronica were named after characters from the comics. Anarchie, one of the earliest graphical FTP clients was named for its ability to perform Archie searches." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archie_(search_engine) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archie_(search_engine)
- wkat4242 3y ago
  Yeah in this case the company (PTT) paid a TON of money to Henson, so much that they eventually had to re-brand to Greenpoint (which mustn't have been cheap). Their logo was all green. They were pretty bad at marketing in those days, they only got better in the 00's when they had moved from a state-owned telco to a private one. They had some hit adverts like one based on common spelling mistakes when texting on the old mobile phones in those days. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuW6Q0NQmps https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuW6Q0NQmps (If you don't speak Dutch you won't get it though)
  - adolph 3y ago
    > texting on the old mobile phones Was this in the T9 days or before then? (I wish the archivist had added metadata to the ad, which seemed to capitalize on similar spelled fish products(?).) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T9_(predictive_text) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T9_(predictive_text) I wonder what it was like for the two communications to Henson: * Hey Jim, we called this computer file transfer protocol after Kermit, is that ok? * Dear Henson Production Lawyers, we wish to engange in an IP partnership...
CoastalCoder 3y ago
I'm surprised that The Muppet Show was well known outside of the US and Canada. Was it broadcast there in the 1970s?
- MarkusWandel 3y ago
  I grew up with it in Germany, dubbed of course. Late 70s.
- jameshart 3y ago
  The Muppet Show was actually shot in the UK at Elstree Studios, produced by Lew Grade at ATV. It was syndicated globally, including to the US, but it was not actually an American show.
  - detritus 3y ago
    Well, Gosh! 'TIL', as they say. Turns out it was first aired in the UK too (according to the following link, anywa)! https://muppet.fandom.com/wiki/The_Muppet_Show https://muppet.fandom.com/wiki/The_Muppet_Show
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
  - twic 3y ago
    That was partly a hiring decision - most of the muppets themselves were alumni of the Royal Shakespeare Company of course.
  - asveikau 3y ago
    Jim Henson was American though and the Muppets were first on American television, first in local Washington DC stations and then apparently (just looked this up) the UK show had two pilot episodes on ABC in the US.
    - jameshart 3y ago
antod 3y ago
I first thought you were referencing a different kermit: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kermit_(protocol) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kermit_(protocol)

kwhitefoot 3y ago

Ribbit vs rabbit?

adolph 3y ago

Makes one miss gen-- Internet when things could be named Kermit, Archie and Veronica without involving the vertically integrated marketing apparatus. (I forgot about Jughead) "Kermit was named after Kermit the Frog from The Muppets, with permission from Henson Associates." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kermit_(protocol) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kermit_(protocol) "The name derives from the word "archive" without the v. Emtage has said that contrary to popular belief, there was no association with the Archie Comics.[9] Despite this, other early Internet search technologies such as Jughead and Veronica were named after characters from the comics. Anarchie, one of the earliest graphical FTP clients was named for its ability to perform Archie searches." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archie_(search_engine) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archie_(search_engine)

wkat4242 3y ago
Yeah in this case the company (PTT) paid a TON of money to Henson, so much that they eventually had to re-brand to Greenpoint (which mustn't have been cheap). Their logo was all green. They were pretty bad at marketing in those days, they only got better in the 00's when they had moved from a state-owned telco to a private one. They had some hit adverts like one based on common spelling mistakes when texting on the old mobile phones in those days. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuW6Q0NQmps https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuW6Q0NQmps (If you don't speak Dutch you won't get it though)
- adolph 3y ago
  > texting on the old mobile phones Was this in the T9 days or before then? (I wish the archivist had added metadata to the ad, which seemed to capitalize on similar spelled fish products(?).) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T9_(predictive_text) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T9_(predictive_text) I wonder what it was like for the two communications to Henson: * Hey Jim, we called this computer file transfer protocol after Kermit, is that ok? * Dear Henson Production Lawyers, we wish to engange in an IP partnership...

CoastalCoder 3y ago

I'm surprised that The Muppet Show was well known outside of the US and Canada. Was it broadcast there in the 1970s?

MarkusWandel 3y ago
I grew up with it in Germany, dubbed of course. Late 70s.
jameshart 3y ago
The Muppet Show was actually shot in the UK at Elstree Studios, produced by Lew Grade at ATV. It was syndicated globally, including to the US, but it was not actually an American show.
- detritus 3y ago
  Well, Gosh! 'TIL', as they say. Turns out it was first aired in the UK too (according to the following link, anywa)! https://muppet.fandom.com/wiki/The_Muppet_Show https://muppet.fandom.com/wiki/The_Muppet_Show
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
- twic 3y ago
  That was partly a hiring decision - most of the muppets themselves were alumni of the Royal Shakespeare Company of course.
- asveikau 3y ago
  Jim Henson was American though and the Muppets were first on American television, first in local Washington DC stations and then apparently (just looked this up) the UK show had two pilot episodes on ABC in the US.
  - jameshart 3y ago

antod 3y ago

I first thought you were referencing a different kermit: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kermit_(protocol) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kermit_(protocol)