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phone systems through the years

Ever wonder how phone systems came into being? After all, as this essay from Connect-9 points out, in those old movies the company president always had a bunch of phones on his desk, furiously ringing in a cacophony of noise, not one streamlined unit with a few gently pulsating red lights. The text here takes you from the advent of the "key phones" in the 1920s, through the era of the switchboard operator, to the contemporary multiline, digital gizmos. What struck me most was how much the look of professional phones have changed in the last few decades. Where were those sleek black cases and LCD readouts that are de rigeur today? My, how times change.

Thu, 06 Jan 2000 10:09:24 -0800