The past future of new media

[kestrell]

This is a fascinating article on all sorts of new media that never was or almost didn't happen.

Bob Stein
in conversation with
Dan Visel

From Mao to Microsoft, a conversation on the unrecorded history of online publishing.
http://canopycanopycanopy.com/9/mao__king_kong__and_the_future_of_the_book

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DV: Did it seem at this point like LaserDiscs were about to take off?

BS: No. VHS was exploding. It was like being in the CD-ROM business when the Web was exploding. I was at a meeting one day with the president of RKO Home
Video, and I said to him, “So, what’s the chance you would sell me the rights to Citizen Kane and King Kong for LaserDisc?” He said, “Well, they’re not
worth anything to us. Of course I’ll sell them to you.” So I bought the rights to two of the most famous movies ever made. I had a choice: I could make
stuff for the Apple II, but aesthetically I just couldn’t stomach it. (That was the age of pea-green text on a black screen.) So I went with LaserDiscs.
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