If history had taken another path, bar codes would look dramatically different today. Pictured: Here’s some of the options that were being considered, and the bull’s-eye was a favorite ⬇️
“Even in their wildest dreams, [the committee members] could not have imagined how consequential their decision ended up being,” writes Jordan Frith of Clemson University.
https://theconversation.com/how-we-almost-ended-up-with-a-bulls-eye-bar-code-219194
@histodons #histodons #history #technology
@TheConversationUS@newsie.social @histodons@a.gup.pe I remember buying this issue of MAD Magazine back in the day. They were pissed about being forced to deface the cover with a bar code, so this was their response.
#Magazine #Publication #UPC #BarCode
@DukeDuke@mastodon.social @TheConversationUS@newsie.social @histodons@a.gup.pe Same deal with DEVO’s “Duty Now For The Future”.
@mathew@universeodon.com @TheConversationUS@newsie.social @histodons@a.gup.pe I saw them in concert in Seattle in '83. At the end of the show, they tossed their hats into the crowd. To this day, I still wish I’d been able to grab one. 😄
@DukeDuke@mastodon.social @TheConversationUS@newsie.social @histodons@a.gup.pe You can buy them!
https://shop.clubdevo.com/collections/accessories/products/energy-dome-hat-dev
@TheConversationUS@newsie.social @histodons@a.gup.pe Sad that they picked the most boring option!
@TheConversationUS@newsie.social @histodons@a.gup.pe
I worked in the IT department at Wrigley for many years. The very first product sold by barcode was a pack of Wrigley’s gum. 1973, I think.@TheConversationUS@newsie.social @histodons@a.gup.pe the carecogn disk version is propagated on WeChat now.
@TheConversationUS@newsie.social @histodons@a.gup.pe Dunno how a scanner would, er, scan a Scanner bar code, but I love the typeface.
@TheConversationUS@newsie.social @histodons@a.gup.pe Litton and RCA designs are quite pleasing. I wonder what the committee’s reasons were for selecting IBM in the end. Presumably it just worked better. Also wondering if RCA wound up retaliating at all as they threatened.
@ConstableJelly@mastodon.social @TheConversationUS@newsie.social @histodons@a.gup.pe
Going to guess that IBM was shortlisted for having the physical numbers under the bar code with biggish and easily read font. Back in the day I remember cashiers having to resort to it with some regularity, perhaps due to the scanners not being as advanced back then.
@ConstableJelly@mastodon.social @TheConversationUS@newsie.social @histodons@a.gup.pe likely nothing circular was seriously considered. You could print a usable vertical bar barcode on a 9-pin dot matrix printer.
@TheConversationUS@newsie.social @histodons@a.gup.pe https://www.wisys.com/a-brief-history-of-the-barcode-on-its-40th-anniversary/
