« Restoring a Vintage Hewlett-Packard 410B Vacuum Tube Voltmeter | Main | Squirrel Confidence Course »
Thursday, May 20, 2021
CONTINUITY: American Information Exchange (AMIX), Split Contracts, Computational Law, and Decentralised Arbitration
Chip Morningstar begins this discussion with a look at the American Information Exchange (AMIX), the first on-line information market, which included mechanisms for digital contracts and dispute resolution. Autodesk invested in AMIX in June of 1988, and funded its development through pilot production launch. AMIX was so far ahead of its time it was difficult to explain the concept, potential scope of the market, and magnitude of the opportunity in getting there first. In September of 1989, I wrote a brief memorandum, “Understanding AMIX” to try to explain this to Autodesk senior management. In August, 1992, before the planned official launch of the service, Autodesk decided to divest AMIX, leaving the project without the resources to establish itself and create this new market.
I have often remarked that had Autodesk pursued AMIX, it is entirely possible the product would have evolved to occupy the market niche that eBay later created with the emergence of Internet access for the general public.
Posted at May 20, 2021 13:57