Re:Why the Soviet Union did not build a nationwide computer ...
by Florin_Andrei on Wednesday November 01, 2017 @02:00PM
(#15603806)
> The fixed phones were installed only in the homes of people that were part of the regime (even if you had a very simple role like handling money).
Are you talking about landline telephones? Everybody had those, it was not a privilege.
> They invested some on PCs but only until it became clear that they allowed easy access to information. Then it was dead.
OTOH there was an industry that was making 8-bit personal computers, that were using cassette tapes as external memory - mostly Sinclair Spectrum clones, and at least one or two local designs that never quite caught up. Those tended to be owned by schools and other institutions.
> no communist country would invest in a national network because that would make information easier to transmit and this would undermine the regime
Are you talking about landline telephones? Everybody had those, it was not a privilege.
> They invested some on PCs but only until it became clear that they allowed easy access to information. Then it was dead.
OTOH there was an industry that was making 8-bit personal computers, that were using cassette tapes as external memory - mostly Sinclair Spectrum clones, and at least one or two local designs that never quite caught up. Those tended to be owned by schools and other institutions.
> no communist country would invest in a national network because that would make information easier to transmit and this would undermine the regime
Right. That was the real crux of the issue.