Barry Ditmer

Don't touch me

Barry Ditmer is the head of the Silicon Valley tech company Omnicrom, former business partner of Hiram, and the main antagonist of Dan Vs. Technology

Appearance

Barry Dipmer is a short and pale Caucasian man, with an appearance reminiscent of the aging hippie type. He has long, partially grayed hair(suggesting he's around 50) and loose, futuristic style white clothing.

Personality

Barry shows traits of heavy Narcissism, constantly discussing the superiority of his tech, screwing over his partner Hiram, and seemingly having no problem launching a mass mind control operation. he displays a heavy degree of cockiness as well. He also displays many traits of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, such as an obsession with neatness and cleanliness, and his grand vision of a unified and neat world under his direction, but this is difficult to say. He DOES however, appear to have some form of haphephobia, and possibly microphobia.. He leaves in a sterile environment, hates it when people touch him, hates the sight of filth, and even has a robotic girlfriend(VD free guaranteed)

Events prior to Dan Vs. Technology

At some point prior to 1996, Barry and Hiram co-founded Omnicrom, a tech company which manufactures DvD machines, MP3 machines, and most importantly, computer systems.(likely founded in the late 70s or early 80s, when the market was open to opportunistic investors) and apparently did well for themselves.

During this time, Barry slowly began to develop a grand vision. A world of perfect people operating in orderly fashion, much like the computers he build, all under his central command. He began to shift the company towards this goal, and started to have doubts his partner would go through with it.

In 1996, fearing Hiram lacked his 'grand vision', Barry stole Hiram's half of the company, cut all ties with him, and threw him onto the street. This lead to Hiram suffering a mental breakdown, shunning all forms of technology, and running off to live in a cabin in the woods. It's unclear if Hiram attempted revenge immediately following, though the heavy state of his security force suggests this was a concern.

Barry proceeds to take full control of the company, and, in pursuit of his grand vision speeds up research and development, pushing out a new system every year with the end goal drawing ever closer. Company efforts are diverted to pet projects, like robot guards and anti-gravity waterfalls. He also installs microphones and tracking chips in every system to keep tabs on his users and monitor for potential threats(perhaps spawned out of some concern of Hiram returning.

Barry's lust for security goes further, as he proceeds to construct a robotic girlfriend and body guard by the name of Elsa, along with an entire army of Mindless Elsa Security Drones. He even somehow manages to gain the favor and backing of The Shadow Government, apparently having them on call to deliver agents for protection in the event of a security breach.

Shortly before the events of the episode, he unveils his new system, Omnicrom Violet, to be released that Sunday, and renders the prior OS(Perhaps named Omnicrom Indigo, though this is mere speculation) obsolete.

Events of Dan Vs. Technology

Enraged by his computer breaking and being declared obsolete, Dan swears revenge on Barry, and plans to go to Silicon Valley to assassinate him. This potential threat is picked up by one of his stealth listening devices and he is alerted by Elsa. Despite Barry's lack of concern, Elsa significantly over blows the threat, claiming Dan could be a Chinese backed saboteur working from a front.

Under the recommendation of Elsa, Barry calls upon his contact in The Shadow Government, Eagle's Nest, and orders him to send his best agent to provide protection, who just so happens to be Agent Dancing Shadow, AKA Elise Pearson.

Barry gladly welcomes Elise, happy to have help with the 'security concern' (unaware that by this point Dan and Chris have already become stranded in Los Padres Forest due to car trouble). Elise goes with Elsa to review the facility's security and report back with an overview of potential weaknesses and recommendations. As she leaves, Barry snidely demeans her, claiming that human beings are analog, and inferior.

Elise's intial search for weaknesses and lock checks reveals it to be airtight, so she follows Elsa to the main exhibition room for a tour.