What is Digg?105 Comments
- geoboy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+20As long as they still keep making Teddy Grahams. Those things are freakin' delicious.
- theone3, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11But how else will Mr. Burns be able to send his reports to the Tsar?
- jon13210, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7What a squandered PR opportunity. Every newscast and paper in the country would've put up their logo and done stories on Western Union "sending the world's last telegram."
Maybe a contest for school kids to decide what the last telegram will say. You could even send it live on the Today show.
And every story would've ended with a mention of how Western Union is still in business sending money grams. Sigh. - einfeldt, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8Hi Kenyacock,
Ironic that I would just stumble over this quote: "This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us."
--Western Union internal memo, 1876.
There is a further irony here. Western Union rejected the telephone because they couldn't see a way to make money with it. Now, Microsoft faces the same "innovator's dilemma" in trying to figure out a way to make money on distributed code production, as is done with Linux and most open source projects. Microsoft can't figure out how to make money off something that is free. But Google has figured it out: vast, powerful and cheap server farms. Hewlett Packard and IBM also have figured it out: sell hardware that runs Linux. Novell, Linspire, and Red Hat have figured out that you can sell services associated with the code, or repackage the code in convenient, easy-to-install formats. Western Union is potentially Microsoft's future. The RFA says that Western Union makes lots of money today, but it is a blip on the radar compared with the telecommunications giant that it was back in the late 1800s:
"Western Union leads off in the study as the quintessential victim of the innovator's dilemma. In the 1870s, the company passed up an opportunity to buy the patents for the telephone, because it could not envision any market demand.
"The decisions of Western Union management, Christensen points out, were perfectly logical given their view of the market and technology. They were focused on long-distance communications, and the early telephones worked only over short distances.
What they overlooked, he notes, was the disruptive nature of the new telephone technology. It met the needs of a different market—people who wanted to send a message across town instead of across the country. Because these people didn't consume telegraph services at all, they were of no concern to Western Union. But as other companies developed the telephone, it soon eclipsed the telegraph.
http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/careers/careerstemplate.jsp?ArticleId=i040605 - KenAycock, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Ironic that I would just stumble over this quote: "This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us."
--Western Union internal memo, 1876. - mbwilliamson, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6As soon as I saw this, I immediately thought of Back to the Future Part II where Marty gets a telegram from 1885 lol.
- Rhinobird, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4It didn't "stop" working. They turned it off.
- cosmicv, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Crap, so I cant send a telegram to my friend 85 years from now telling him the delorean is ok...
- Murdock, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Yeah..same here...
I would have sent one if I knew they were going away... - Computer_Kid, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4It would be great sending one in leet speak or in hex!
WTF!? U n00b, stp h/k1ng! - beejay, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3http://www.westernunion.com/info/osTelegram.asp
- raccettura, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Smell-o-grams still work though. Email me for details if your interested.
- justinaugust, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Statements like this crack me up. We use thousand year old technology when we light a campfire, or when we put shoes on. Everything is technology, as technology is basically just knowledge.
- chaosbuddha, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2dang nabbit, than 'ow are i supposed ta know when that there civil war ends?
- PlaidPhantom, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2IIRC, the note Doc sends to Marty wasn't a telegram. It was just a plain letter. It was sent by Western Union, however.
- aspirinetu, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3 .. + ... . . + -.. . .- -.. + - . -.-. .... -. --- .-.. --- --. -.--
- dyessdawg, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"What God Hath Wrought"
Thank you Morse - butchcassidy503, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I POST TO DIGG USING A TELEGRAPH [OVER]
- butchcassidy503, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2[STOP]
- rc_collins, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I have always wanted to send a telegram, I guess I should have done it before now... Crap!
--dan - JimXugle, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1wow.
I hear a niche company coming along
"GrameTele Inc; supporting your telegram needs since 2006"
eh.. naw
thats sad that they're shutting it off...
I say we look towards the future. 802.16e GoogleNet for All! - dag68, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1This is like reading some old famous actor dies and thinking, "I didn't know he was still alive"
I suspect they stopped using morse code some time ago, simply phoning the message from one office to another. Did they actually still do hand delivery?
If WU had any vision, we might be sending e-grams instead of emails. - elias, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1damn this would of been som much cooler to know on the 25th
but o wells
still i dugg it - Aloiv, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2The telegram was a good thing to us. It provided a safe and easy way to send messages, but now, as we progress in the world of tech, we must be strong, and let go those that are old. Farewell old friend
Telegram (1844-2006) - ironbear, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The last telegram I sent was over 20 years ago, and it was exorbitantly expensive. Good riddance.
- tzuriel, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2"Everything is technology, as technology is basically just knowledge."
"That's interesting, but I'm not sure I agree. I have the knowledge of how to speak French; that doesn't have anything to do with technology."
Technology being knowledge doesn't mean that knowledge is technology. - englishman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"This is like reading some old famous actor dies and thinking, "I didn't know he was still alive"
I suspect they stopped using morse code some time ago, simply phoning the message from one office to another. Did they actually still do hand delivery?"
Á la Beavis: He said "hand delivery". - dhughes, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1 Thanks @ beejay
...but the Telegram link is grayed out already. I wanted to send one :( - bizarrorollins, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Actually Marty got the telegram in 1955
- NV0U, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1For those of you wanting to send a telegram, sorry you can't do it any more. However, you can always find a local ham radio operator and they will be more than happy to get your message sent for you. And the message will be passed along a myrid of different ways, including Morse code - the way the telegram was meant to be sent!
I can't tell ya the number of amateur radio radiograms I have passed over the years. The coolest part is being the station that gets to deliver the message to the person the message is addressed to. It is a lot of fun trying to explain that I pass messages for fun, over the radio, and I don't (and can't) get compensated other than a thank you. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"technology is basically just knowledge."
technology is basically an application of knowledge ;-) - icannotfly, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Dude, it's not "over," it's "stop."
- canucksin2006, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I owe you a coke
- Al3xander, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I want know what the last telegram ever sent was.
- zbeast, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1You know I've never seen a real telegram.
I would have liked to have gotten one to add to my Dead Dot Com and Dead Tech collection. - pranay, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1According to google cache of their telegram page, it cost USD 14.99 to send one telegram. I doubt if any of you mourners would use it even if it was 14 cents.
- revka, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1digg for einfeldt's comment
- zbilly, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0""Everything is technology, as technology is basically just knowledge."
That's interesting, but I'm not sure I agree. I have the knowledge of how to speak French; that doesn't have anything to do with technology."
Technology is the use of knowledge to makes things easier (applied knowledge) - retawd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Why exactly were you using the internet to send a telegram? Isn't that like driving to a bike path?
- cyborgO, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Excellent info. I was in the dark on this company. And for some reason I thought the telegram had already passed away.
- angloafro, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Um, ok, try www.sendatelegram.com if you're so damn concerned with sending one! telegrams haven't stopped, just Western Union's messaging service. Dear god people this is not the "END OF AN ERA." LiveScience is misleading when it states you can no longer send a telegram after the 31st....
here's their link btw, http://www.westernunion.com/info/bsMessaging.asp?country=U1 - llbbl, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I wonder if they used TCP/IP packets to transmit the telegrams in the past couple of years. I know at one time they had laid copper wire specifically to be used as telegraph cable.
- velvetshark, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Well--I'm not sure, Western Union might be the only operator in the US to still use telegrams, but I bet they're still in use in Europe, Asia, and Africa. Still a good read, and a little sad. Dugg.
- GiggleStick, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I don't know about the veracity of this story. I mean, what is a "Telegram"? It's not like they were still propogated with morse code, or even over dedicated morse code lines. It was basically just a email to snail-mail kind of service, which I think there are still others that will do this, perhaps including the US Post Office.
Has anybody else ever gotten that spam snail mail that looks like a telegram, even has Western Union on it, but's it just from like the local dealership telling you about their great sale on Toyotas or something stupid? I won't miss those. - vcudigg, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Well at least there's still the Pony Express! Oh... wait...
- Sippi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Now thats old school!
- Aslan72, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Good thing Marty McFly didn't land in 2006 instead of 1986, he would have never have gotten the telegram from the doc letting him know that he landed in the 1880s!
--pete - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I didn't know they launched the first commercial communications sat. pretty kewl.........DUGG
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