[cctalk] Re: OS/timeshare discussion (VCF)

Looked at microprocessor code development on TymShare for my postgrad days in Bangor University, in sunny North Wales, 1974-1977. Realised early on that 'on the meter' coding was not a good economic model, which rationalised the purchase of an intellec MCD 4/40 and a TTY instead. Coding then was down to how much midnight oil you were willing to burn, rather than how much it cost the research grant budget. And I've still got the original intellec running on my adjacent home office desk! Regards Sid Jones -----Original Message----- From: jim stephens via cctalk Sent: Saturday, August 29, 2026 11:08 PM To: Steve Lewis via cctalk Cc: jim stephens Subject: [cctalk] Re: OS/timeshare discussion (VCF) On 8/23/26 03:47, Steve Lewis via cctalk wrote: I think this is the company which was the carrier involved in Clifford Stoll's "Cuckoo's Egg" story. Nit picking time billing lead to finding a hacker guy. My friend Ron Vivier who was a co-worker before the issue moved to the Bay area and is mentioned in Cliff's book. He worked at Microdata in Irvine when I worked with him and moved north and went to work for tymshare. BTW, the timesharing model sucks if you're forced into it. Never ending charges for service vs. having a system. In the early 80s i went to work with a company which had a timesharing business they'd inherited. We had minicomputer which at the time for cost considerations and needs allowed for sharing the resources. But some companies were predatory and not nice with rates or services. Our business went away when the PC version of the Pick Operating system came out and the customers drifted away onto their own owned machines. FWIW one customer which had been on our system for years was Western Digital thanks Jim