this post was submitted on 29 Jan 2024
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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 ⬇️ (assets.newsie.social)
submitted 10 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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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

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

@[email protected] @[email protected] Sad that they picked the most boring option!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

@[email protected] @[email protected] Dunno how a scanner would, er, scan a Scanner bar code, but I love the typeface.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

@[email protected] @[email protected] 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

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

@[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] Same deal with DEVO's "Duty Now For The Future".

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

@[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] 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. 😄

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

@[email protected] @[email protected] https://www.wisys.com/a-brief-history-of-the-barcode-on-its-40th-anniversary/

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

@[email protected] @[email protected]
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.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

@[email protected] @[email protected] the carecogn disk version is propagated on WeChat now.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (2 children)

@[email protected] @[email protected] 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.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

@[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] likely nothing circular was seriously considered. You could print a usable vertical bar barcode on a 9-pin dot matrix printer.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

@[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected]

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.