The terminal for the Military Message Experiment

One of the technical challenges faced in the Military Message Experiment (MME) is providing a system that is easy to learn and operate by the typical action officers who are the users of the message service. These people have no computer background and have neither the time nor the inclination to master a complex system in order to accomplish a simple task such as reading their message traffic, which they already do effectively. The system must offer some new capabilities to make it attractive, but above all it must be comfortable and natural to use. A most critical ingredient of the user's interface to the system is the terminal.