[ih] Speaking of Minitel: Here's an oldie NO one remembers

[Brian E Carpenter]

Reminds me of the ICL "One Per Desk" (yes, that was the name of the product).

Computer? No. Word Processor? No. Telephone? No. In fact, after the sales
pitch I still didn't know what it was or why I'd ever want one (even the
free ones that the rep was offering to CERN as a trial). In all seriousness,
we couldn't see the slightest use for it. In particular, it had no network
connection (except a phone line), so it was a hard sell to a networking
group.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Per_Desk
(Worth reading the "Legacy" section.)

Oh, and a Google search for "Office Humanation" found the ad, no trouble:
Page 65 at http://www.bitsavers.org/magazines/Datamation/198402.pdf
It also found a Computerworld ad and other related stuff, e.g.
https://bizstanding.com/p/the+office+humanation+company-106997146

Regards
    Brian Carpenter

On 28-Mar-22 08:20, Bob Purvy via Internet-history wrote:
> In the late 70's / early 80's, a friend of mine worked at a company CXI in
> Irvine, CA. This was a real company, with maybe 250 people. I can't even
> find it with Google now.
> 
> Their whole thesis was "people in offices don't want computers -- they want
> *telephones*" with a big PBX behind it.
> 
> I distinctly remember a full page ad, probably in *Datamation*, touting
> their system, "The Rose", and calling it Office Humanation.
> 
> Because, you know... office peope don't want a stupid *computer*; they want
> a big fancy phone with all the functions.
>