21 Aug
2022
21 Aug
'22
11:40 p.m.
-----Original Message-----
From: Fred Cisin [mailto:cisin@xenosoft.com]
Sent: Sunday, August 21, 2022 12:31 PM
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: [cctalk] Re: Wang bar napkin story [WAS:RE: Re: "Revival" of a
dedicated Micropolis webpage on internet]
On Sun, 21 Aug 2022, Tom Gardner via cctalk wrote:
The only person who ever promulgated the "Dr.
Wang bar napkin" story
was Jim Porter who was not in any way involved with
the decision as to
the size of the 5½ drive or media size and only began
telling his tale
many years after the decision.
Both Massaro and Adkisson deny there was ever such a
meeting in a bar
with Dr. Wang.
<snip In
Jim Porter attributes it to Jimmy Adkisson.
If you read further on you will find that Adkisson also has disclaimed the
Porter fable.
FWIW, Porter apparently began promulgating the fable in 1998 at his speech
to 100th Anniversary Of Magnetic Recording, Santa Clara University, Santa
Clara, CA.
http://web.archive.org/web/20071014221838/http://magneticdiskheritagecenter.
org/100th/Progress/Porter/jimporter.htm
<http://web.archive.org/web/20071014221838/http:/magneticdiskheritagecenter.
org/100th/Progress/Porter/jimporter.htm> .
There is no earlier reference that I can find.
I talked to the entire Shugart Associates team (including both Massaro and
Adkisson) involved in the decision to do the 5¼ and its design thereafter -
the Wang story is BS
<snip But, Massaro, who should know, refutes the story.
Although his version is
about a cardboard mockup of the DRIVE, done in the backseat
of a car, NOT
the origin of the diskette size.
>Grumpy Ol' Fred <mailto:cisin@xenosoft.com