yo

From: Brett <danjo_at_xnet.com>
Date: Tue Apr 29 09:29:59 1997

On Mon, 28 Apr 1997, Sam Ismail wrote:
> On Mon, 28 Apr 1997, William Donzelli wrote:
> > > > Some show features:
> > > > Classic Computer Spotlight - every year a
> > > > first show are Altair 8800; Apple ][; Commodore
> > > > PET; ???).
> > >
> > > Yes - give the Altair it's time in the spotlight.
> > > Next year do the PET.
> >
> > PDP-8, PDP-11, IBM S/3xx, Nova, etc. Computers were not invented in 1974,
> > guys.

Well, I also have a Abacus 8-) NOW THAT IS AN OLD HARDWARE DESIGN!

> Yes, I realized that. The PDP-8 and PDP-11 are definitely worthy of
> mention, but did they really make the impact and have significance equal
> to the Altair and the others? I'm sure you could argue to that effect.
> Care to?

Well, I think the point the mini's made was fundamental to the micros
history. Coming from the 60's (oops) I remember the ?joy? of realizing
that you didn't need a powerplant and a huge room of boxes with spinning
tape drives chilled to just above freezing to have a computer 8-)
That is what the minis did, for me and businesses. There were
technological advances sure, but if you wheren't IN the know, very few
people know the processor was that desk over there and not all that
*other* stuff. Once seeing a PDP-8, it kind of hit home that, Yes you
could pack all the power of a room full of stuff into one half hieght
19" rack with a mini and a tape reader with one ASR-33. It changed the
way people *viewed* the computer.

> > > > Classic Computer Pioneer - every year an
> > > > computer industry, but is not necessarily active
> > > > anymore (ie. this precludes Bill Gates from
> > > > qualifying). Nominees: Gary Kildall, creator of
> > > > CP/M; Steve Wozniak; ???
> > >
> > > How about Babbage??? I'd bet a dollar anyone
> > > running Winders never heard of the guy 8-)
> > > Naw - go for Gary - without him there would
> > > not have been a home computer (pulling up the
> > > zipper on my flame proof suit)
> >
> > Cray, Amdahl, Olson, etc. - same reason as above.
>
> Good suggestions. But for the first year, recognizable names from the
> annals of computer history would go a longer way towards gaining support
> from sponsors and such. This is in my opinion. Anyone care to offer a
> challenge to this?

I don't know Sam, (as I stated before 8-) maybe if you specialized you
could get support from those involved. I mean Cray is loosing market
share but might fork over some bucks/equipment/mock-ups if you said -
"Look, we want to feature Cray as founding father who help make desktop
computers a reality. Without his foresight, we could not have gotten
where we are today." Gee, advertizing! And then find out who he had a
running battle with and ask them too! Explain how the *battle* improved
the world for everyone. Nobody was right - nobody was wrong. It's just
how things went.

BC
Received on Tue Apr 29 1997 - 09:29:59 BST