Master of disguise

It’s about 20 years ago, and this pilot fish travels around the U.S. demonstrating his company’s network computer at trade shows.

“The device,” says fish, “was basically a dumb terminal connected to a PC server instead of a mainframe, and therefore capable of serving up Windows and web applications. Since the product was small and easy to miss, I would always attach an impressive 17-inch LCD flat-screen monitor that retailed for $2,000.”

In 1998, most people have never seen a flat-screen monitor, so conference attendees regularly flock to fish’s booth at the exhibit hall. After answering a few basic questions about the display, fish would shift customers’ attention to the network computer beside it and go into his spiel. The approach works every time, until fish works a government industry conference in Washington, D.C.

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from Computerworld https://ift.tt/2ozIfOy