computer was premised on the dubious assumptions that every American housewife would (a) want a massive computer in her kitchen and (b) know how to program it. Neiman Marcus failed to sell a single unit.
The idea Clark became wedded to, albeit briefly, was that the computer would become the most important household appliance. Information appliance, was one term used to describe it back then. The company that built the first information appliance would sit in the middle of all human communication; it would be the McDonald’s of information. It could play the same role on the television that Microsoft played on the PC. “The telecomputer was a direct result of the frustration I felt watching Silicon Graphics continually fall behind the PC in market share,” Clark says. “I was trying to do an underbelly thing with Microsoft—come in under their monopoly and take it away.” The telecomputer would be the most fabulous toll booth ever built. But before it happened, a question needed answering: Why would people rush out to buy a telecomputer? What would a telecomputer do that people simply could not live without?
Clark had no great hope that Americans wanted their computers to educate themselves. He assumed they wanted their computers to play Nintendo and otherwise divert themselves from the poverty of their existences. The answer he finally came up with was that people wanted to watch any movies they pleased, whenever they pleased. The telecomputer would be many things, but at first blush it would be a virtual VCR.
Of course, Ed McCracken wanted nothing to do with a virtual VCR, at least initially. It was just another flaky idea from his flaky chairman, who refused to leave him to run the company alone. And so Clark found another outlet for his ambition, the media. Once he’d recovered from his motorcycle accident, he shared his thoughts freely with journalists. “I might not have any power at Silicon Graphics,” he says, “but they didn’t know that. I was still called the chairman. And most journalists think a chairman of a big company is an important person.” He knew perfectly well that McCracken disapproved of his talking to the press. But hype had its own wonderful generative power: the more he talked about his telecomputer, the more people wanted to hear about it. It was almost as if by talking about the telecomputer he made it happen. “I would go out, and I would just say all this shit to reporters,” he recalls. “And they’d print it! And people inside SGI started to talk about it. And I thought, ‘Fuck Ed McCracken. I can say whatever I want. And by God if I go out and talk about it enough, Ed won’t have any choice but to build it.’”
Clark’s opinions found their final published form in 1992 at the annual trade show for the computer graphics industry, called Siggraph. Clark delivered as a speech the paper he’d written while he was laid up in bed recovering from his motorcycle accident. The paper described “the consumer’s computer.” Clark guessed it could be built in “two to three years.” He explained that, although computer memory in 1992 made such a device too costly to be mass-marketed, computer memory in 1995 would be a different story. He outlined the basic technologies—digital audio, digital video, transmission-reception decoupling, resolution decoupling—all of which existed in one form or another. But he dealt with the technical side of things in only the sketchiest form. Mostly his paper was a bit of political propaganda, aimed at raising the heat on McCracken. In Silicon Valley political propaganda took the form of futurology. “Over the next four to five years,” Clark told his audience,
unprecedented change will occur in the computer, telecommunications and television industries as Multi-Media technology enters the home via the telecomputer…. The present “local loop” of the telephone system and the “cable franchise” for television will become one
The idea Clark became wedded to, albeit briefly, was that the computer would become the most important household appliance. Information appliance, was one term used to describe it back then. The company that built the first information appliance would sit in the middle of all human communication; it would be the McDonald’s of information. It could play the same role on the television that Microsoft played on the PC. “The telecomputer was a direct result of the frustration I felt watching Silicon Graphics continually fall behind the PC in market share,” Clark says. “I was trying to do an underbelly thing with Microsoft—come in under their monopoly and take it away.” The telecomputer would be the most fabulous toll booth ever built. But before it happened, a question needed answering: Why would people rush out to buy a telecomputer? What would a telecomputer do that people simply could not live without?
Clark had no great hope that Americans wanted their computers to educate themselves. He assumed they wanted their computers to play Nintendo and otherwise divert themselves from the poverty of their existences. The answer he finally came up with was that people wanted to watch any movies they pleased, whenever they pleased. The telecomputer would be many things, but at first blush it would be a virtual VCR.
Of course, Ed McCracken wanted nothing to do with a virtual VCR, at least initially. It was just another flaky idea from his flaky chairman, who refused to leave him to run the company alone. And so Clark found another outlet for his ambition, the media. Once he’d recovered from his motorcycle accident, he shared his thoughts freely with journalists. “I might not have any power at Silicon Graphics,” he says, “but they didn’t know that. I was still called the chairman. And most journalists think a chairman of a big company is an important person.” He knew perfectly well that McCracken disapproved of his talking to the press. But hype had its own wonderful generative power: the more he talked about his telecomputer, the more people wanted to hear about it. It was almost as if by talking about the telecomputer he made it happen. “I would go out, and I would just say all this shit to reporters,” he recalls. “And they’d print it! And people inside SGI started to talk about it. And I thought, ‘Fuck Ed McCracken. I can say whatever I want. And by God if I go out and talk about it enough, Ed won’t have any choice but to build it.’”
Clark’s opinions found their final published form in 1992 at the annual trade show for the computer graphics industry, called Siggraph. Clark delivered as a speech the paper he’d written while he was laid up in bed recovering from his motorcycle accident. The paper described “the consumer’s computer.” Clark guessed it could be built in “two to three years.” He explained that, although computer memory in 1992 made such a device too costly to be mass-marketed, computer memory in 1995 would be a different story. He outlined the basic technologies—digital audio, digital video, transmission-reception decoupling, resolution decoupling—all of which existed in one form or another. But he dealt with the technical side of things in only the sketchiest form. Mostly his paper was a bit of political propaganda, aimed at raising the heat on McCracken. In Silicon Valley political propaganda took the form of futurology. “Over the next four to five years,” Clark told his audience,
unprecedented change will occur in the computer, telecommunications and television industries as Multi-Media technology enters the home via the telecomputer…. The present “local loop” of the telephone system and the “cable franchise” for television will become one
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