Collection list (just for phun)

From: Mark Gregory <gregorym_at_cadvision.com>
Date: Thu Apr 12 09:08:34 2001

----- Original Message -----
From: "Bryan Pope" <bpope_at_wordstock.com>
To: <classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org>
Sent: Thursday, April 12, 2001 6:52 AM
Subject: Re: Collection list (just for phun)


> In all the collections I am seeing I am surprised no one has listed an
ICON.
> I believe this system was local to Ontario, Canada. The systems were
made
> especially for schools, with a bunch of them in my high school. Either
the
> GUI or the paint package included was called AMBIENCE. The OS was QNX.
The
> case was like the PETs - steel one piece with monitor. But it was a
colour
> monitor and there was also a trackball.
>

I remember the Icons well from my school days. I have a semi-serious belief
that the Ontario government and/or the Toronto Board of Education has
attempted to erase all evidence that the Icon ever existed. For those who
didn't grow up in Southern Ontario, the Icon project was an ambitious early
attempt to put a computer in every school. Unfortunately, it was sabotaged
by the politically motivated insistence on a "made in Canada" solution.

A consortium was put together that created proprietary hardware running a
Unix variant (years before Linux put Unix in the mainstream). In a world
rapidly being swamped by the enthusiasm and high hopes of the "Home
Computing" revolution, where Commodore, Apple and Atari were king, the Icon
was a costly failure. It limped along for a few years, but once the
government lost its initial enthusiasm for computer-assisted learning, the
plug was quickly pulled. The last place I remember seeing an Icon was at
the Ontario Science Centre, where they were used to run programs like
Forest fire fighting simulations. I'd love to get one if I ever run across
one.

Regards,
Mark.
Received on Thu Apr 12 2001 - 09:08:34 BST