Why did Plato die (or is it still alive?)...
PLATO "died", or rather, it didn't continue to grow, because it's existence was too closely tied to the Control Data Corporation and it's Cyber computers. As time went on, CDC computers became much more of a tiny niche product, only used for certain limited scientific and engineering apps. Unlike UNIX, NOS and PLATO weren't about to get ported to any new platforms. Even IBM eventually passed CDC in the network front by providing much of the hardware and software that the BITNET ran on. Most important, PLATO "died" due to the rise of more egalitarian computing. In addition to UNIX and it's portability to so many different types of platforms at different costs, the other nail in the coffin was the emergence of the dialup Bulletin Board System, which put the idea of PLATO in the hands of the average person, and took it out of the hands of the elite in universities and research environments. Of course, none of this was unique to PLATO. All the old proprietary systems eventually passed away as people moved on to systems where all could participate. Art McGee Communications & Technology Consultant amcgee@freeshell.org (510) 967-9381