Choice of a Terminal

Abstract

To many of the users of a data communications network the terminal is their only contact with the system. To a user, a terminal effectively is ‘the computer’. This feeling often exists in an environment in which psychological fears of automation, redundancy or simply change are not far from the surface. For this reason the careful selection of terminals becomes a matter of particular importance which extends beyond the technical and economic considerations usually applied to equipment acquisition. This is especially true when the terminal is used for a major percentage of the working day and becomes the principal (perhaps only) work station. The latter phenomenon, already familiar in order entry and similar on-line systems, is likely to become increasingly important as the integration of data-communications-based computer systems into an expanding range of jobs occurs.