[COFF] Re: White Backgrounds on GUIs after Dark Backgrounds on Terminals?

[segaloco via COFF <coff@tuhs.org>]

> The phosphors on CRT screens don't last forever. You only want to
> light them when necessary.

So once upon a time I went to one of our labs for an implementation project.  One of the local techs was showing me around the server room and among the various bits was a probably early 2000s CRT that was just collecting dust.  It was an eMachines flat screen with the silver bezel.  Well, being the proud owner of a silver-bezeled Trinitron, I asked if I could take it off their hands on the way back and have myself a decent CRT monitor again to match my TV.  I was told no can do, and in the process learned why it was sitting there.  It had been a display for a piece of equipment that ran all sorts of radiochemistry stuff and had been on so frequently that critical identifying information re: the lab was burned into it from the LIMS system landing page that was on the screen daily for years.  They legally had to destroy it at some point and just kept it around as a test monitor in the meantime.  I've heard similar stories with screens used in sensitive sites like military installations, that the retentive properties of the phosphor screen made them a legitimate security concern.

- Matt G.