Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!genrad!decvax!harpo!floyd!vax135!ariel!hou5f!orion!houca!hogpc!houxm!houxu!welsch From: welsch@houxu.UUCP Newsgroups: net.movies Subject: War Games (The lady doth protest too much) Message-ID: <158@houxu.UUCP> Date: Wed, 29-Jun-83 11:40:00 EDT Article-I.D.: houxu.158 Posted: Wed Jun 29 11:40:00 1983 Date-Received: Thu, 30-Jun-83 23:45:51 EDT Lines: 42 I have read a number of reviews denouncing the movie because it is not realistic. The reviews are so strong that I wonder if the reviewers are afraid that the movie is too realistic. I find I can either find reasonable explanations for many of the objections or I am willing to give the director dramatic license. For example some "experts" have claimed the the baud rate that the hero's terminal is running at could not possibly have been as fast as shown in the movie. First, do we really expect an audience to sit there while the data comes up at 300 baud. Second, the terminal was not directly connected to the modem, but passed through a personal computer. The personal computer could certainly have driven the terminal at the speed given. Another example, the speech synthesis. The "experts" say WOPR couldn't possible have driven the unit. True, but who says the kid's personal computer couldn't have driven it. After all it was the hero who turned it on. The next claim is how secure our systems are. No kid could possibly break into them. I hope your right, but remember the military is where "Murphy's Law" came from and the term SNAFU. Face it, if there is a way to screw something up the military will probably find it. As for security, I recall a recent episode described on 60 minutes where a person stole top secret information from TRW, by walking out the door to buy some liquor. His big problem was bringing the secrets back to TRW. The same person later literally walked out of prison. Finally, the "experts" don't like the computer types shown. The computer types shown here were certainly more realistic than the hackers in TRON. To me they were diverse and funny. Cann't people laugh at themselves. In conclusion, I hope the film was not "realistic." I don't want the world to end in global thermal nuclear war. Larry Welsch