“If you’ve got a browser connected to the Internet, I can show you…”

For the sake of posterity, I’ve uploaded the original VNC video that we made back in 1998.

Lots of nostalgia in here – remember the JavaStation? The WebTV? And the days when we made movies in 4:3 ratios?

A great deal has changed in the last 16 years, but VNC goes from strength to strength!

Starring, in order of appearance:

  • Quentin Stafford-Fraser
  • Andy Harter
  • Ken Wood
  • Tristan Richardson
  • Paul Webster
  • Frazer Bennett
  • James Weatherall
  • Daisy Sadleir

Also available on YouTube. Thanks to Andy Fisher for doing the original transfer from VHS to DVD some years ago.

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6 Comments

For some unknown reason, this reminds me very much of a GethFilm. If you’ve never seen a Gethfilm, that may not mean much to you.

I think my favourite bit is where it says ‘the…Olivetti research laboratory has created an attractive alternative…’ At which point the camera pans out to reveal a (now very old looking) Ford Sierra
😊

    I always intepreted that as, well, we’ve heard a bit about Quentin, but the Olivetti lab has created an attractive alternative.

    I’m also bemused that it took a taxi and a 747 to deliver me to a hotel about a quarter of a mile away from the lab…

Woah, embedded remote control is really only just coming in, music is fair enough but people are still viewing having a remote control thermostat as a breakthrough!

When was the last time anyone printed transparencies for a presentation?

Are the small black devices stuck to the corner of the monitors for the active badge system?

Ian – yes, re the Active Badge system. Stationary or rarely-moving devices such as monitors had small tags which beaconed less frequently than the mobile ones we wore.

You could press the buttons on your badge to select one of the displays in the room, and your desktop would appear there. Initially, this was done with X Teleporting, but it was later replaced with VNC, since VNC was cross-platform.

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