Re: Worlds Chat
JueyChong Ong ([email protected])
Thu, 4 May 1995 12:24:29 -0400
On May 3, 4:52pm, "Thorne.Kontos"Kris Kontos wrote:
> Subject: Re: Worlds Chat
> Having gone for a quick browse of http://www.kaworlds.com, they claim it
> to be the world's first Social Computing Application. NOTHING could be
> further from the truth. For those following the Snow Crash thread,
> the concept of avatars in the novel came directly from a program
> originally written for the C-64 called "Habitat". Apparently this
> software made a quick migration to a Japanese network where it has
> been running for years now. More typical marketing hype...
>
> I also recall reading that one of the major consumer service providers
> (possibly CompuServe) was going to start using something called
> CyberWorld (done by I believe SONY) which will also be a 3D world
> where subscribers can interact via "cartoonish" avatars. If I can
> dig up the references to various pointers on this information, I'll
> send them to this alias.
The WorldsAway thing announced on CompuServe is indeed an offshoot of
Habitat. Fujitsu is a/the developer of WorldsAway and Fujitsu brought
the Habitat system to Japan years ago. The demo screen dumps on CompuServe
look similar to screen shots found in Brenda Laurel's book "Computers
as Theatre".
--jc
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JueyChong Ong [email protected]
Senior Research Engineer
Monkey Products Software Technical Support and Development
inScape Products Technical Support and Development
Cricket Technical Support
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