Tron 25th Anniversary

“Yes I’m old. Old enough to remember when the MCP was just a chess program!” - Dumont

Another formative movie for this particular geek was released 25 years ago today — Tron (IMDB | Wikipedia). Truly a multimedia experience: arresting visual style that still looks ultra-modern, killer electronic score by Wendy Carlos, video games in the movie that could be played in the local real-life arcade, and a classic good-vs-evil story. And how about that Apple/Linux vs Microsoft presaging? ;)

Dr. Walter Gibbs: “User requests are what computers are for!”

Ed Dillinger: “DOING OUR BUSINESS is what computers are for.”

Sometimes — like right now — it hits me the computing power I have at my fingertips (not to mention the various servers I’m responsible for) compared to the Apple ][+ I had back in 1982. If I wanted to this evening, I could simultaneously watch the Tron DVD in one window, listen to the soundtrack, play any arcade game from 1982 in another window, whilst video chatting or otherwise communicating with anyone, anywhere in the world, browsing overhead photography of any spot on the globe, and looking up any tidbit of data or factoid my imagination might desire.

And I’ll be honest with you, even these years later I half-expect to get dematerialized and sent to the game grid to fight for the Users.

“All that is visible must grow beyond itself, and extend into the realm of the invisible.” - Dumont