26 Jan
2011
26 Jan
'11
5:45 p.m.
From: Rick Bensene
Sent: Tuesday, January 25, 2011 1:09 PM
Tony wrote:
> (I don't think anyone here would claim the
PDP8/e on my
> desk was anyhting other than a computer).
With tongue in cheek, I suggest that the PDP8/e is
*not* a computer.
PDP stood for "Programmed Data Processor".
DEC specifically did not
want to market their machines as computers, because they feared that the
bean counters that process purchasing requests for potential customers
for this machine might see the word "computer" and freak out envisioning
huge glass-walled rooms with gigantic mainframes and huge air
conditioning systems. The term "Programmed Data Processor" was an
attempt to avoid the stigma (for lack of a better word) that executive
types of the day had attached to the term computer.
Before flaming, please remember...tongue is firmly
pressing on cheek.
Certainly not flaming here. However...
The decision by DEC to name their first entry into the computer industry
the Programmed Data Processor 1, or PDP-1, was based on just such a view
of the market. However, by the time of the PDP-8/e, the naming was such
simply because it was DEC's trademarked designation for all of their
computers, used across 3 architectures (and soon after across 4).
Rich Alderson
Vintage Computing Sr. Server Engineer
Vulcan, Inc.
505 5th Avenue S, Suite 900
Seattle, WA 98104
mailto:RichA at vulcan.com
mailto:RichA at LivingComputerMuseum.org
http://www.PDPplanet.org/
http://www.LivingComputerMuseum.org/