Even for 1980, the computer room was just so old fashioned. Whats with the computer operators lab coats also?

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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Scanners

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robbytara — 12 years ago(July 10, 2013 06:57 PM)

Even for 1980, the computer room was just so old fashioned. Whats with the computer operators lab coats also?

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Yonesy — 12 years ago(December 08, 2013 03:14 AM)

You're mistaken. The computer room was not dated. The computer room was Canadian.

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franzkabuki — 12 years ago(December 15, 2013 06:26 AM)

What did the computer rooms in 1980 look like, then?
"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan

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westal_sage — 12 years ago(December 22, 2013 12:30 AM)

I dunno - 1980 was 34 years ago. Alot happens with computers in that timeframe! Seriously though - I'm an engineer and worked in computer rooms that looked not much different in the early '90s.

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sim7396 — 10 years ago(September 06, 2015 09:00 PM)

By the early 90s the PCs were to be seen everywhere.

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AlanBryan2112 — 12 years ago(January 09, 2014 09:16 AM)

LAB COATS? VERY Common wear for computer operators back in the early 1980s.
Even in the Air Force we wore lab coats (dark blue or white ones) over our uniforms.
When I worked at HUD for the government we again were given lab coats to wear over our street clothes
Back then it was standard wear.
I will not fear. Fear is the mind killer.

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robbytara — 12 years ago(January 09, 2014 01:24 PM)

Guess I should have stated that I have been working in and around computer rooms (now called data centers) since 1983. Our computer room back then was much larger and looked a lot different & no one wore lab coats (but did wear shirts & ties. Only the F.E.'s wore lab coats. Our data center today has three mainframes & thousands of Dell servers & approx. 20,000 terabytes of disk storage.
Cheers.

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surly_human_sidekick — 12 years ago(January 11, 2014 03:29 AM)

I saw this at the movies on first release and thought the technology looked dated even then.

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Druff — 11 years ago(July 17, 2014 02:14 PM)

Well, white lab coats were very common for computer engineers working on big mainframes all through the 50s, 60s, and into the 70s. It had long since become a cliche and it should hardly be surprising that someone would dress a scene like that in a 1980 movie. It's what people would have expected to see back then. "Is that supposed to be a computer lab??? Where are the nerds in white coats???"

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ccorraliza — 10 years ago(September 13, 2015 10:56 AM)

Yep. I wore a lab coat fresh out of college when in the main frame area.

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ccr1633 — 10 years ago(September 17, 2015 10:22 AM)

robbytara wrote:
Guess I should have stated that I have been working in and around computer rooms (now called data centers) since 1983. Our computer room back then was much larger and looked a lot different & no one wore lab coats
In the world of computers things can change dramatically in the span of 3-4 years, particularly during that time period. Scanners was probably shot in 1980.