Quote:
Originally Posted by Fred Brackin
NAI-5s were also supposed to be available in 2022 and cost $500. Even the most usable interactive programs (probably things like Siri and Alexa) no doubt cost millions and run on server farms.
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That first availability date doesn't have to imply that they cost the same when they first appeared as they do in 2100. Experimental software with a huge development cost in 2015 could have become the oft-the-shelf, consumer-market-priced standard in 2100. And a NAI-5 is by definition Complexity 5, which means (per
High-Tech) it needs a fast microframe, mainframe, or slow macroframe at TL8.
Anyhow, that first availability date is mostly a measure of how old the software could be, and software in TS is clearly often enhanced and upgraded over time, with lots of legacy code still buried in its depths. So what you could find is that the slightly eccentric NAI-5 that runs your building's internal systems actually includes chunks of Alexa, behavioural patterns dating back 80 years, and even fragments of memory from great-grandpa's time.
(None of which means that the TS timeline actually fits recent history. But still, one can kludge.)