clark@beaver.cs.washington.edu> (07/13/90)
In article <9482@accuvax.nwu.edu>, roy@alanine.phri.nyu.edu (Roy Smith) writes: > ........................ A touch-tone phone was clearly visible in > President Kennedy's oval office in numerious bits of footage shot at > the time. The year was 1963 and the students were trying to register > for the summer session, so I would put the date at about May or June > 1963. The phone that Kennedy used most of the time was a multi-line > key set with a rotary dial (looked like about 25 lines) and a ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ > speakerphone attachment. Sitting on the table behind his chair were > about 3 or 4 single line desk sets, one touch-tone, the rest rotary. > Was touch-tone in general use in May 1963, or did the President just > have a pre-release model? I think those same phones are still there :-) Well, almost... I was looking through a {Newsweek} (I think) a couple of weeks back and spotted a photo of President Bush in the Oval Office talking with someone and there on the desk in clear view was an TT version of the unit described above. One of the those big tanks that I used to think looked so neat, cool, etc. Wow! What an improvement in over 25 years! The burning question that Telecom readers want answered is: Why doesn't the President's office have a nice little Merlin (R) or neat IDSN set ??? Roger Swann | uucp: uw-beaver!ssc-vax!clark @ | The Boeing Company |
0004133373@mcimail.com (Donald E. Kimberlin) (07/15/90)
In article <Digest v10, iss 479>, Roger writes: >I think those same phones are still there ... spotted a photo of >President Bush in the Oval Office ... and there on the desk in clear >view was an TT version of the unit described above. One of the those >big tanks... >The burning question that Telecom readers want answered is: Why >doesn't the President's office have a nice little Merlin (R) or neat >IDSN set ??? The answer may range from the sublime to the ridiculous, Roger. It might be: 1.) The White House Communications Agency still insists the President have something that WORKS -- without fear of silent, unannounced failure or software screw-ups; 2.) The WHCA itself still doesn't know how to maintain anything but good old 1A Key Telephone equipment; 3.) The White House PBX may still be one that requires line interfaces of the type 1A Key provides for multi-line telephones (you'd be surprised how much OLD stuff our Federal offices have ... the age of IBM mainframe computers in government is a well-publicized case in point. 4.) Perhaps President Bush has trouble learning the ropes of software-trickery phones ... maybe even Danny Quayle gets in there once in a while! As to those latter points, I refer you to Gary Trudeau. He'll probably respond in an upcoming "Doonesbury."
hwt@uunet.uu.net (Henry Troup) (07/17/90)
In article <9761@accuvax.nwu.edu> 0004133373@mcimail.com (Donald E. Kimberlin) writes: >2.) The WHCA itself still doesn't know how to maintain anything but >good old 1A Key Telephone equipment; Nope, a few years ago (3-4?) I saw a newspaper story - maybe trade press - about the installation of a DMS-100/SL-100 on Pennsylvania Avenue to service the White House. Don't recall if it was a PBX or telco, but I remember that special security - at the locked steel door level - was involved. Henry Troup - BNR owns but does not share my opinions ..uunet!bnrgate!hwt%bwdlh490 HWT@BNR.CA 613-765-2337
peter@ficc.ferranti.com (peter da silva) (07/18/90)
In article <9761@accuvax.nwu.edu> 0004133373@mcimail.com (Donald E. Kimberlin) writes: > >The burning question that Telecom readers want answered is: Why > >doesn't the President's office have a nice little Merlin (R) or neat > >IDSN set ??? > The answer may range from the sublime to the ridiculous, Roger. It > might be: (1-4 omitted) 5) Each department and agency that has a reason to have a line into the President's office insists on having it's own phone. This is somewhat reasonable for the DoD with their own network. I suspect that some countries might have their own access to the President for political reasons. Peter da Silva. `-_-' +1 713 274 5180. <peter@ficc.ferranti.com>