1969 and 1970 at Bell Labs • Hacker News Board

Re: 1969 and 1970 at Bell Labs

#31

Post by drakenot » Fri, Apr 05, 2019, 3:02 AM UTC

I just finished the book "Where Wizards Stay Up Late" about the early history of the internet and I highly recommend it. It covers the invention of packet switching, ARPANET, ethernet, email and a lot of stages the "internet" went through post ARPANET.

Seeing these pictures really helps bring the people from this time period in the book to life for me.

Re: 1969 and 1970 at Bell Labs

#32

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Apr 05, 2019, 3:15 AM UTC

closetohome wrote: post #17

oil25 wrote: post #15

Nothing but blank pages in Firefox without Javascript, which I disable for non-HTTPS protected sites. If your site needs Javascript to display a simple image on an HTML page, please consider your users and their accessibility needs.

I'm in Chrome with...I don't know, some add-ons, and the whole thing is basically broken for me. What an absolute POS gallery app. Something wrong with using static HTML to display all of a couple dozen jpegs?

[deleted]

Re: 1969 and 1970 at Bell Labs

#33

Post by shereadsthenews » Fri, Apr 05, 2019, 3:23 AM UTC

This went around a little while ago and at that time I could find no other information about a Bell Labs facility in Oakland. Does anyone have any information about that? Where was it?

Re: 1969 and 1970 at Bell Labs

#34

Post by shakna » Fri, Apr 05, 2019, 3:28 AM UTC

TooCleverByHalf wrote: post #30

oil25 wrote: post #15

Nothing but blank pages in Firefox without Javascript, which I disable for non-HTTPS protected sites. If your site needs Javascript to display a simple image on an HTML page, please consider your users and their accessibility needs.

Trying to understand how disabling javascript is related to accessibility needs. Mind helping me out?

As someone who uses voice software, sometimes to see, sometimes to control... JS is hell.

It can hijack elements after I think I know what they contain.

It can abandon the DOM and use the canvas.

And most of the time if you're rebuilding elements in JS the developer forgets to tag things correctly... So all I know is that there's an img that has appeared out of nowhere.

Re: 1969 and 1970 at Bell Labs

#35

Post by shakna » Fri, Apr 05, 2019, 3:35 AM UTC

RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #27

One of the things I notice is that there is not a single Asian male in any of the photos. If you went into any software office around Oakland, CA or the larger Bay Area now, I would guess that 30-50% (if not more) of the programmers you see would be Asian males.

Well until '65 there were agressive immigration restrictions on Asians, so I expect that would reduce the number available with the required skills.

Re: 1969 and 1970 at Bell Labs

#36

Post by Gibbon1 » Fri, Apr 05, 2019, 3:58 AM UTC

shakna wrote: post #35

RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #27

One of the things I notice is that there is not a single Asian male in any of the photos. If you went into any software office around Oakland, CA or the larger Bay Area now, I would guess that 30-50% (if not more) of the programmers you see would be Asian males.

Well until '65 there were agressive immigration restrictions on Asians, so I expect that would reduce the number available with the required skills.

I grew up in San Jose. There were Asians most of them were well assimilated Japanese and Chinese who's families immigrated before 1930. Weren't that many maybe 1 out of 10.

The big immigration came later in the 1980's with the end of the Vietnam war/killing fields, and opening of China. A lot of ethnic Chinese in South East Asia fled in the 1970-80's.

And these pictures are from Oakland circa 1970.

Re: 1969 and 1970 at Bell Labs

#37

Post by Aloha » Fri, Apr 05, 2019, 4:01 AM UTC

oil25 wrote: post #15

Nothing but blank pages in Firefox without Javascript, which I disable for non-HTTPS protected sites. If your site needs Javascript to display a simple image on an HTML page, please consider your users and their accessibility needs.

Here is a static gallery version

Re: 1969 and 1970 at Bell Labs

#38

Post by Aloha » Fri, Apr 05, 2019, 4:11 AM UTC

So for those who are curious to know more about this:

https://www.sfgate.com/technology/article/bell-labs-larry-lu...

Re: 1969 and 1970 at Bell Labs

#39

Post by Latteland » Fri, Apr 05, 2019, 4:22 AM UTC

caymanjim wrote: post #21

greggyb wrote: post #4

What happened to all the women? This office would make diversity/inclusion officers salivate.

Not only that, but everyone's got some fashion sense here, while still dressing professionally. Today, there'd be nothing but grey and beige. The office is also colorful and better-decorated than most these days.

It was the end of the 60s, people! My personal experience of that time was that my dad was in his heyday, he worked at IBM as an engineer. I remember seeing equipment like that in the early 70s when I visited him at work. People dressed in flamboyant clothes, had long hair, a lot more counter-cultural acceptance, in certain circles at least.

Re: 1969 and 1970 at Bell Labs

#40

Post by ghaff » Fri, Apr 05, 2019, 4:23 AM UTC

greggyb wrote: post #4

What happened to all the women? This office would make diversity/inclusion officers salivate.

I have a book from a minicomputer company I worked for in the late eighties and nineties. A Year in Development. Basically documentation of projects and people in 1984 or 85. Showed it to a friend of mine and her first reaction was Wow, so many women.