Fenestrae
"As soon as the senate had gathered, it was announced that Tiberius was going to make a speech. Silence was ordered, and the Emperor addressed the senate with the following words:
'Conscribed Fathers', he said, 'for centuries have tasks like book-keeping and reproduction of documents been carried out by slaves, as no free citizen ever would dream of waisting his time on such lewd matters. The same can truly be said about the handling of messages: Do you know any honourable man who delivers his letters to his friends with his own hands? But now, all this will change. With the advent of a new invention, called computator, we will be able to carry out these things ourselves, with a speed and simplicity that cannot even be imagined! And even more: These new devices will enable us to send messages all over the Empire, within seconds instead of weeks or months. This will, of course, require means to connect all these devices to each other. That can only be achieved if we build a network that covers the whole Empire. Conscribed Fathers, I ask for your support in this matter, as it will be of vital importance to us all. It will cost innumerable millions, but I promise you that it will be worth every single denar!'
As everyone understood that this was an order, though disguised as an appeal, the speech was recieved with great acclamation, and no-one dared to vote against the imperial proposition."
This quotation from a historical work from the first century A.D. shows clearly that the Romans not only used computers, but that they also, at least, planned to build a computer network that would cover the whole empire. This account has often been regarded as obscure by earlier classicists, as they couldn't understand the meaning of it, but now, when we have reached the same level of technology as the Romans, the real meaning is at last revealed.
What was a Roman computer like, then? In fact, there is very little evidence left. What we know is that they seem to have used an operating system called Fenestrae ("Windows" in English). Several different versions seem to have been in use, all of them were manufactured by a company called Minimusmollis (That would be something like "Microsoft" in English). Reliable sources show that the company was founded by a certain Guillelmus Portae ("Bill Gates" in English). Unfortunately, we have nothing but fragments of the logotypes left. Much work has been spent on reconstructing these logotypes, and we are proud to be able to present the first two complete reconstructions ever made. One is from the
Fenestrae VC ("Windows 95") system, the other one from Fenestrae MM ("Windows 2000").
Fact Sheet, Fenestrae VC
| Download size: | 289 k |
| Animation: | No |
| Sound: | No |
| Erasing | No |
| Repetition: | No |
| Download this item: | fenestrae.zip |
Fact Sheet, Fenestrae MM (Fen2k)
| Download size: | 621k |
| Animation: | Yes |
| Sound: | No |
| Erasing | No |
| Repetition: | Yes |
| Download this item: | fen2k.zip |
