The implausibility of the hacking scene
I am trying to figure out the technical side of how this 'hacking' supposedly took place.
I mean, we can assume there's a card modem in the old PC, which is why we don't see a modem anywhere on any table. Ok.
But how can the computer silently and without the user noticing, answer the call, when those modems were usually hardwired to make some noise at the point of connection?
How did Rooney not know what his own (though technically the propertly of the school) computer was doing?
How was it possible in 1986 with such an old PC to multi-task so effectively, that Ferris could not only log in, but also use the same program Rooney was using without, again, Rooney noticing this was taking place? These programs were not designed to support multiple simultaneous users, as far as I know.
So what program answers the call while still keeping Rooney's 'absence score' program running? How does it all work, and how is it even possible to make work on an eighties PC?
I mean, of course primitive multitasking was possible, if you programmed it correctly, but all programs would have to have support them, and with DOS, that was usually some kind of specialized package deal. This looks like something much older, and by 1986, people weren't yet used to multi-tasking anyway, and such packages weren't yet widely offered to schools, as far as I know. Heck, the monitor is friggin' monochrome green screen with absolutely low resolution for the fonts!
By 1986, various multi-tasking environments existed, of course, but Rooney doesn't look to be using any of them, and I'd think they would require a graphics card capable of higher resolutions for the fonts - in other words, a much newer system than the old school's computer Rooney was using.
There was Desq, DESQview, and even early versions of Windows. I am not sure, however, how well a full-screen DOS would have worked with them in 1986, and that school's computer could just as well be from 1983 or 1984, including its software.
Taking all this into account, I'd like to know;
- How was it technically possible for Ferris to just dial into the school computer's modem and let it answer without Rooney noticing?
- How was it possible for Ferris to use that logging-in program (some kind of terminal software was needed in those days), and then switch to the program Rooney was using, without Rooney noticing it happening?
- What kind of multi-tasking environment are we really talking about here?
- Why does the cursor always appear blinking on the lower portion of the screen, as if its waiting for a command (like DOS would do), although it's supposedly suddenly on the upper portion, changing the numbeer, and then immediately appears again on the lower portion, blinking? What program is this, and how is it supposed to work?
This whole hacking sequence just seems so implausible. Rooney should at least see the phone line activated from the light bulbs on the phone, and or at least hear the modem answering a call. Why would he even set up his computer to answer calls automatically? Since when is it a good idea to let the Principal's or Dean's computer be accessed from the outside, to have an answering script waiting for incoming calls, especially when the computer gives ABSOLUTELY NO NOTIFICATION that it is now receiving an incoming call?
Is this movie implying that Ferris actually hacked Rooney's computer and installed such scripts, silenced the modem, and all that? If so, then why wouldn't Ferris just change the amount of absences at that time? Why even call to the school's computer, if you are going to hack it locally anyway?
Something doesn't add up about that. Can someone give a plausible explanation as to how all this would have been possible? Because I sure can't think of one.
While we are at it;
What does the "Periods" signify? I don't get it. 11-13 is LUNCH, for ALL days, but what does 29-32 mean, for example?
Also, how exactly do they add those 'absent days' in the school's computer? What's stopping Rooney from putting it back to "9" after Ferris changed it to "2"?
How does all of this work?