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MECC

November 12, 2023

For other uses, see MECC (disambiguation).

The Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium (later Corporation), most commonly known as MECC, was an organization founded in 1971 best known for developing the edutainment video game series The Oregon Trail and its spinoffs. The goal of the organization was to coordinate and provide computer services to schools in the state of Minnesota; however, its software eventually became popular in schools around the world.[1][2] MECC had its headquarters in the Brookdale Corporate Center in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota.[3][4][5] It was acquired by SoftKey in 1995 and was shut down in 1999.

Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium
MECC logo, early 1990s
IndustryEducational software
Founded1971 (1971)
FounderMinnesota Legislature
DefunctOctober 1999 (1999-10)
FateShut down by SoftKey
SuccessorSoftKey
Headquarters
Brooklyn Center, Minnesota
,
United States
OwnerState of Minnesota
Website (Archive)

History edit

 
MECC Logo circa 1978

Origins edit

During the 1960s, Minnesota was a center of computer technology, what City Pages would describe 50 years later as a "Midwestern Silicon Valley". IBM, Honeywell, Control Data and other companies had facilities in the state. In 1963, their presence inspired a group of teachers at the University of Minnesota College of Education's laboratory school to introduce computers into classrooms via teleprinters and time-sharing. The group began with long-distance calls to Dartmouth College's General Electric computer to use John George Kemeny and Thomas E. Kurtz's new Dartmouth BASIC language, then moved to Minneapolis-based Pillsbury Company's own GE computer. In 1968, 20 Minneapolis-Saint Paul area school districts and the College of Education founded Total Information for Educational Systems (TIES) to provide time-sharing service on a HP 2000, training, and software. The presence of computer-company employees on many school boards accelerated TIES's expansion and helped make Minnesota a leader in computer-based education.[6][1][7]

TIES's success, and similar projects run by Minneapolis Public Schools and Minnesota State University, Mankato,[6] led to the founding of MECC in 1973[1] by the state legislature. As a Joint Powers Authority, with the support of the University of Minnesota, the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System, and the Minnesota Department of Education,[8] MECC's role was to study and coordinate computer use in schools for both administrative and educational purposes. Schools, including the universities, had to get MECC's approval for most computing expenses, and were also its customers for computer-related services. After study of educational needs, a single educational computer center in the Minneapolis area was recommended for use by schools throughout the state[6] (the University of Minnesota's MERITSS computer provided time-sharing services to its campuses and to state universities).[2][7] MECC hoped that every Minnesota school, regardless of size, would have a terminal connected to the computer center.[9]

Computing facilities edit

SUMITS, a UNIVAC 1110 mainframe was installed at the MECC facility at 1925 Sather, address later changed to 2520 Broadway Drive, next to Highway 280. A sturdy industrial building originally used for electrical maintenance, part of the building was already occupied by the University of Minnesota's Lauderdale computing facility. SUMITS was a batch processing system, however, not time-sharing, and its performance failed to meet the terms of the contract. In 1977 it was replaced with a Control Data Corporation Cyber 73 mainframe,[6] known as the MECC Timesharing System (MTS). It became the largest such system for education in the world, with up to 448 simultaneous connections[7] from up to 2000[7] terminals throughout the state, most of them Teletype Model 33 teleprinters, connected at 110 and 300 baud through telephones by using acoustically coupled modems. After several years most of the phone lines were replaced with direct circuits to schools across the state.

By 1982 MTS had more than 950 programs in its library.[7] One of the most popular was The Oregon Trail, originally written for the Minneapolis Public Schools' computer.[1] Programming was the largest single use for MTS, with up to 45% of the system used for one of almost one dozen computer languages.[7] To support its larger number of users—70 to 80% of all Minnesota public schools in 1981,[8] and available to 96% of Minnesota students from 7 am to 11 pm daily by 1982[7]—primarily using programs written in the BASIC[6][10] language, both timesharing systems developed shared memory (MULTI) BASIC systems. Through this and less efficient methods, multiuser programs and chat systems appeared in addition to electronic mail and BBS programs; some of these were derived from MERITSS programs.[11]

While some of the ideas may have been derived from MERITSS, the multi programs were more efficient. The MERITSS chat program, even though it operated via fast access system files, could not match the efficiency of a MULTI chat program that copied the input/output into memory to be delivered to the user.

The University of Minnesota Computer Center (UCC as it was called then) rejected implementing MULTI due to concerns about system stability. UCC tried to retrofit the MULTI-mail program for its own use because of the good user interface. It was not possible. They then tried again with an older fast access system file version, and while it worked, it was unreliable. After doing test runs with several other Universities mail programs, two developers at UCC implemented their own version, which also contained a message board feature, and was the campus wide e-mail solution for a couple of years.

Microcomputer technology edit

As MECC's Cyber 73 entered into service, microcomputers began to appear. In 1978 it appeared that features wished for in the classroom, such as a graphical display,[6] were available. Through an evaluation and bidding process, the Apple II was chosen by MECC for state schools over other candidates, such as the Radio Shack TRS-80; the win was an important early deal in the history of Apple Inc.[1] Any school in the state could buy Apple computers through MECC,[8] which resold them at cost,[12] without having to go through complex evaluation and purchasing procedures. Through what InfoWorld described as an "enviable showcase" for its products Apple sold more than 2,000 computers during the next three years[13] and more than 5,000 by 1983,[12], making MECC the company's largest reseller.[6] In late 1981 MECC switched to a discount agreement for the Atari 400 and 800,[13] and distributed software through the Atari Program Exchange.[14] The use of microcomputers quickly increased, with 85% of school districts using them by 1981 compared to 75% for time-sharing,[7] and the Cyber 73 shut down in 1983.[11] By then each Minnesota public school had an average of three to four computers, compared to only 20 Milwaukee elementary schools of 110 with computers. MECC offered computer training to teachers and administrators, and 10 consortium consultants traveled throughout the state assisting school districts.[12]

MECC developed hundreds of microcomputer educational programs,[1] many converted from the time-sharing original;[6] by 1979 some MECC programs for the Apple II could be downloaded from the timesharing system.[2][11] MECC distributed The Oregon Trail and others in its library to Minnesota schools for free, and charged others $10 to $20 for diskettes, each containing several programs.[6] By July 1981 it had 29 software packages available. Projector slides, student worksheets, and other resources for teachers accompanied the software.[15]

As control over computer resources moved to local levels within Minnesota, MECC's focus on selling software grew.[6] Beginning in 1980 with the Iowa Department of Education, 5,000 school districts around the world purchased site licenses for MECC software.[1][6] It distributed 250,000 copies of MECC software around the world by 1982,[7] and the "Institutional Membership"[16] business became so successful that state subsidies ended. In 1983 MECC became a taxable, profit-making company, owned by the state of Minnesota but otherwise independent.[1][6] By the 1985-1986 school year MECC offered more than 300 products[16] and had about $7 million in annual sales.[17]

Activities edit

During its lifetime, the company produced a number of programs that have become well-known to American Generation X and Millennial students.[1] Besides Oregon Trail, others were The Secret Island of Dr. Quandary, The Yukon Trail, The Amazon Trail, Odell Lake, Zoyon Patrol, Number Munchers, Word Munchers, Fraction Munchers, Super Munchers, Lemonade Stand, Spellevator, Storybook Weaver, My Own Stories, Museum Madness, Jenny's Journeys, and DinoPark Tycoon. The game Freedom!, which had the player try to escape from slavery on the Underground Railroad, was released in 1992 but pulled from the market in 1993 following complaints from parents about its classroom use.[18]

Acquisition by SoftKey edit

MECC was financially successful and dominated the market for Apple II software used within schools, but its management believed that the company needed more capital in order to compete for the home market and to develop software for other platforms, such as the IBM PC and the Macintosh. As the state of Minnesota did not have the capital to fund such plans, it spun off the company as a private corporation in 1991 to the venture capital fund North American Fund II[6][19] for $5.25 million. An IPO followed in March 1994. In October 1995, the publicly traded company, with about $30 million in annual revenue—about one third from The Oregon Trail[6]—was acquired by SoftKey for $370 million in stock as part of a series of consolidations in the educational software market.[1]

Although MECC continued to develop software after its acquisition, including the successful Oregon Trail II in 1995, Softkey (then named The Learning Company) was acquired by Mattel in 1999 in what Businessweek called one of "the Worst Deals of All Time",[20] leading to the a great deal of financial repercussions that year including closing the MECC offices in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota in October 1999.[1][21]

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Lussenhop, Jessica (2011-01-19). . City Pages. Archived from the original on 2011-01-23. Retrieved 2011-01-20.
  2. ^ a b c and Canada. "ED220932 - Managing Technology Change. "MECC: A Management History."". ERIC. Retrieved 2007-01-03.
  3. ^ . MECC. 1997. Archived from the original on 1997-02-03. Retrieved 2014-03-27.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  4. ^ . U.S. Census Bureau. Archived from the original on 2011-06-06. Retrieved 2010-06-01.
  5. ^ . MECC. 1997. Archived from the original on 1997-02-03. Retrieved 2014-03-27.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n LaFrenz, Dale Eugene (1995-04-13). "Oral history interview with Dale Eugene LaFrenz". Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Office of Technology Assessment (1982). Informational technology and its impact on American education. United States Government Printing Office. pp. 214–218. ISBN 9781428928299.
  8. ^ a b c Mace, Scott (1981-12-07). "Minnesota's MECC educates next generation of computer users". InfoWorld. Retrieved 2011-01-20.
  9. ^ "Hendricks may have computer in future". Hendricks Pioneer. 1974-05-09. p. 1. Retrieved 31 December 2014.
  10. ^ "MECC Quick Reference Guide for BASIC Language Version 3.1" (PDF). Former MECC User. Retrieved 2008-01-28.
  11. ^ a b c Steve Taffee. . MECC Alumni. Archived from the original on August 10, 2009. Retrieved 2007-01-03.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  12. ^ a b c Resler, Jerry (1983-01-26). "Pupils byte into computer age". Milwaukee Sentinel. p. 6. Retrieved 31 December 2014.
  13. ^ a b Freiberger, Paul (1981-11-02). "Atari and MECC reach an agreement". InfoWorld. Retrieved 2011-01-22.
  14. ^ "Programs by the Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium". APX Product Catalog. Fall 1983. pp. 32–33. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
  15. ^ Zamora, Ramon (1981-07-20). "MECC's Educational Software Packages". InfoWorld. Retrieved 2011-01-22.
  16. ^ a b Bouchard, R. Philip (1986-02-24). "Letters". InfoWorld. Retrieved 2011-01-22.
  17. ^ Mace, Scott (1985-12-02). "Christmas Contenders". InfoWorld. Retrieved 2011-01-22.
  18. ^ Whitaker, Robert (November 3, 2020). "The 'Oregon Trail' Studio Made a Game About Slavery. Then Parents Saw It". Vice. Retrieved November 3, 2020.
  19. ^ . Archived from the original on 2009-08-10. Retrieved 2014-03-27.
  20. ^ "Kevin O'Leary: He's not a billionaire, he just plays one on TV". from the original on September 2, 2016. Retrieved September 10, 2016.
  21. ^ . Archived from the original on 2009-08-10. Retrieved 2014-03-27.

External links edit

November 12, 2023
mecc, other, uses, disambiguation, minnesota, educational, computing, consortium, later, corporation, most, commonly, known, organization, founded, 1971, best, known, developing, edutainment, video, game, series, oregon, trail, spinoffs, goal, organization, co. For other uses see MECC disambiguation The Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium later Corporation most commonly known as MECC was an organization founded in 1971 best known for developing the edutainment video game series The Oregon Trail and its spinoffs The goal of the organization was to coordinate and provide computer services to schools in the state of Minnesota however its software eventually became popular in schools around the world 1 2 MECC had its headquarters in the Brookdale Corporate Center in Brooklyn Center Minnesota 3 4 5 It was acquired by SoftKey in 1995 and was shut down in 1999 Minnesota Educational Computing ConsortiumMECC logo early 1990sIndustryEducational softwareFounded1971 1971 FounderMinnesota LegislatureDefunctOctober 1999 1999 10 FateShut down by SoftKeySuccessorSoftKeyHeadquartersBrooklyn Center Minnesota United StatesOwnerState of MinnesotaWebsitemecc com Archive Contents 1 History 1 1 Origins 1 2 Computing facilities 1 3 Microcomputer technology 2 Activities 3 Acquisition by SoftKey 4 References 5 External linksHistory edit nbsp MECC Logo circa 1978Origins edit During the 1960s Minnesota was a center of computer technology what City Pages would describe 50 years later as a Midwestern Silicon Valley IBM Honeywell Control Data and other companies had facilities in the state In 1963 their presence inspired a group of teachers at the University of Minnesota College of Education s laboratory school to introduce computers into classrooms via teleprinters and time sharing The group began with long distance calls to Dartmouth College s General Electric computer to use John George Kemeny and Thomas E Kurtz s new Dartmouth BASIC language then moved to Minneapolis based Pillsbury Company s own GE computer In 1968 20 Minneapolis Saint Paul area school districts and the College of Education founded Total Information for Educational Systems TIES to provide time sharing service on a HP 2000 training and software The presence of computer company employees on many school boards accelerated TIES s expansion and helped make Minnesota a leader in computer based education 6 1 7 TIES s success and similar projects run by Minneapolis Public Schools and Minnesota State University Mankato 6 led to the founding of MECC in 1973 1 by the state legislature As a Joint Powers Authority with the support of the University of Minnesota the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System and the Minnesota Department of Education 8 MECC s role was to study and coordinate computer use in schools for both administrative and educational purposes Schools including the universities had to get MECC s approval for most computing expenses and were also its customers for computer related services After study of educational needs a single educational computer center in the Minneapolis area was recommended for use by schools throughout the state 6 the University of Minnesota s MERITSS computer provided time sharing services to its campuses and to state universities 2 7 MECC hoped that every Minnesota school regardless of size would have a terminal connected to the computer center 9 Computing facilities edit SUMITS a UNIVAC 1110 mainframe was installed at the MECC facility at 1925 Sather address later changed to 2520 Broadway Drive next to Highway 280 A sturdy industrial building originally used for electrical maintenance part of the building was already occupied by the University of Minnesota s Lauderdale computing facility SUMITS was a batch processing system however not time sharing and its performance failed to meet the terms of the contract In 1977 it was replaced with a Control Data Corporation Cyber 73 mainframe 6 known as the MECC Timesharing System MTS It became the largest such system for education in the world with up to 448 simultaneous connections 7 from up to 2000 7 terminals throughout the state most of them Teletype Model 33 teleprinters connected at 110 and 300 baud through telephones by using acoustically coupled modems After several years most of the phone lines were replaced with direct circuits to schools across the state By 1982 MTS had more than 950 programs in its library 7 One of the most popular was The Oregon Trail originally written for the Minneapolis Public Schools computer 1 Programming was the largest single use for MTS with up to 45 of the system used for one of almost one dozen computer languages 7 To support its larger number of users 70 to 80 of all Minnesota public schools in 1981 8 and available to 96 of Minnesota students from 7 am to 11 pm daily by 1982 7 primarily using programs written in the BASIC 6 10 language both timesharing systems developed shared memory MULTI BASIC systems Through this and less efficient methods multiuser programs and chat systems appeared in addition to electronic mail and BBS programs some of these were derived from MERITSS programs 11 While some of the ideas may have been derived from MERITSS the multi programs were more efficient The MERITSS chat program even though it operated via fast access system files could not match the efficiency of a MULTI chat program that copied the input output into memory to be delivered to the user The University of Minnesota Computer Center UCC as it was called then rejected implementing MULTI due to concerns about system stability UCC tried to retrofit the MULTI mail program for its own use because of the good user interface It was not possible They then tried again with an older fast access system file version and while it worked it was unreliable After doing test runs with several other Universities mail programs two developers at UCC implemented their own version which also contained a message board feature and was the campus wide e mail solution for a couple of years Microcomputer technology edit As MECC s Cyber 73 entered into service microcomputers began to appear In 1978 it appeared that features wished for in the classroom such as a graphical display 6 were available Through an evaluation and bidding process the Apple II was chosen by MECC for state schools over other candidates such as the Radio Shack TRS 80 the win was an important early deal in the history of Apple Inc 1 Any school in the state could buy Apple computers through MECC 8 which resold them at cost 12 without having to go through complex evaluation and purchasing procedures Through what InfoWorld described as an enviable showcase for its products Apple sold more than 2 000 computers during the next three years 13 and more than 5 000 by 1983 12 making MECC the company s largest reseller 6 In late 1981 MECC switched to a discount agreement for the Atari 400 and 800 13 and distributed software through the Atari Program Exchange 14 The use of microcomputers quickly increased with 85 of school districts using them by 1981 compared to 75 for time sharing 7 and the Cyber 73 shut down in 1983 11 By then each Minnesota public school had an average of three to four computers compared to only 20 Milwaukee elementary schools of 110 with computers MECC offered computer training to teachers and administrators and 10 consortium consultants traveled throughout the state assisting school districts 12 MECC developed hundreds of microcomputer educational programs 1 many converted from the time sharing original 6 by 1979 some MECC programs for the Apple II could be downloaded from the timesharing system 2 11 MECC distributed The Oregon Trail and others in its library to Minnesota schools for free and charged others 10 to 20 for diskettes each containing several programs 6 By July 1981 it had 29 software packages available Projector slides student worksheets and other resources for teachers accompanied the software 15 As control over computer resources moved to local levels within Minnesota MECC s focus on selling software grew 6 Beginning in 1980 with the Iowa Department of Education 5 000 school districts around the world purchased site licenses for MECC software 1 6 It distributed 250 000 copies of MECC software around the world by 1982 7 and the Institutional Membership 16 business became so successful that state subsidies ended In 1983 MECC became a taxable profit making company owned by the state of Minnesota but otherwise independent 1 6 By the 1985 1986 school year MECC offered more than 300 products 16 and had about 7 million in annual sales 17 Activities editDuring its lifetime the company produced a number of programs that have become well known to American Generation X and Millennial students 1 Besides Oregon Trail others were The Secret Island of Dr Quandary The Yukon Trail The Amazon Trail Odell Lake Zoyon Patrol Number Munchers Word Munchers Fraction Munchers Super Munchers Lemonade Stand Spellevator Storybook Weaver My Own Stories Museum Madness Jenny s Journeys and DinoPark Tycoon The game Freedom which had the player try to escape from slavery on the Underground Railroad was released in 1992 but pulled from the market in 1993 following complaints from parents about its classroom use 18 Acquisition by SoftKey editMECC was financially successful and dominated the market for Apple II software used within schools but its management believed that the company needed more capital in order to compete for the home market and to develop software for other platforms such as the IBM PC and the Macintosh As the state of Minnesota did not have the capital to fund such plans it spun off the company as a private corporation in 1991 to the venture capital fund North American Fund II 6 19 for 5 25 million An IPO followed in March 1994 In October 1995 the publicly traded company with about 30 million in annual revenue about one third from The Oregon Trail 6 was acquired by SoftKey for 370 million in stock as part of a series of consolidations in the educational software market 1 Although MECC continued to develop software after its acquisition including the successful Oregon Trail II in 1995 Softkey then named The Learning Company was acquired by Mattel in 1999 in what Businessweek called one of the Worst Deals of All Time 20 leading to the a great deal of financial repercussions that year including closing the MECC offices in Brooklyn Center Minnesota in October 1999 1 21 References edit a b c d e f g h i j k Lussenhop Jessica 2011 01 19 Oregon Trail How three Minnesotans forged its path City Pages Archived from the original on 2011 01 23 Retrieved 2011 01 20 a b c and Canada ED220932 Managing Technology Change MECC A Management History ERIC Retrieved 2007 01 03 The Road To MECC MECC 1997 Archived from the original on 1997 02 03 Retrieved 2014 03 27 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint unfit URL link Brooklyn Center city Minnesota U S Census Bureau Archived from the original on 2011 06 06 Retrieved 2010 06 01 The Road to MECC MECC 1997 Archived from the original on 1997 02 03 Retrieved 2014 03 27 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint unfit URL link a b c d e f g h i j k l m n LaFrenz Dale Eugene 1995 04 13 Oral history interview with Dale Eugene LaFrenz Charles Babbage Institute University of Minnesota Minneapolis a b c d e f g h i Office of Technology Assessment 1982 Informational technology and its impact on American education United States Government Printing Office pp 214 218 ISBN 9781428928299 a b c Mace Scott 1981 12 07 Minnesota s MECC educates next generation of computer users InfoWorld Retrieved 2011 01 20 Hendricks may have computer in future Hendricks Pioneer 1974 05 09 p 1 Retrieved 31 December 2014 MECC Quick Reference Guide for BASIC Language Version 3 1 PDF Former MECC User Retrieved 2008 01 28 a b c Steve Taffee MECC Timeline MECC Alumni Archived from the original on August 10 2009 Retrieved 2007 01 03 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint unfit URL link a b c Resler Jerry 1983 01 26 Pupils byte into computer age Milwaukee Sentinel p 6 Retrieved 31 December 2014 a b Freiberger Paul 1981 11 02 Atari and MECC reach an agreement InfoWorld Retrieved 2011 01 22 Programs by the Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium APX Product Catalog Fall 1983 pp 32 33 Retrieved 29 July 2014 Zamora Ramon 1981 07 20 MECC s Educational Software Packages InfoWorld Retrieved 2011 01 22 a b Bouchard R Philip 1986 02 24 Letters InfoWorld Retrieved 2011 01 22 Mace Scott 1985 12 02 Christmas Contenders InfoWorld Retrieved 2011 01 22 Whitaker Robert November 3 2020 The Oregon Trail Studio Made a Game About Slavery Then Parents Saw It Vice Retrieved November 3 2020 MECC Timeline 1990 1992 Archived from the original on 2009 08 10 Retrieved 2014 03 27 Kevin O Leary He s not a billionaire he just plays one on TV Archived from the original on September 2 2016 Retrieved September 10 2016 MECC Timeline 1997 1999 Archived from the original on 2009 08 10 Retrieved 2014 03 27 External links edit nbsp United States portal nbsp Education portalMECC Archive The MECC Interactive Catalog maintained by Apple Pugetsound Program Library Exchange History of MECC from Stanford University Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title MECC amp oldid 1183896352, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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