26 Sep
2000
26 Sep
'00
6:46 p.m.
From: Bill Pechter <pechter(a)pechter.dyndns.org>
Well, I think he was figuring the killer app was a
smart terminal device
(PDT or better with small local hard disk) and a fast network connection
to a timesharing operation (kind of like a cross between Compuserve
At the time there was a bias toward hardware. Also "services" Like the
Source and Compuserve were new then.
and a kind of Network Utility Company which would
maintain the storage
and apps, fix bugs and supply you with a service.
there was that too.
This would keep Joe User from having to become their
own System
Admin/System Manager/Development Programmer/Hardware Support Tech.
Part of the dream (Billy Gs) was systems would be simple... Who knew?
I think the Oracle Network Computer venture and
NetAppliance was close
to what Ken Olson would've envisioned. ('Course it would've been Vax
Clusters on the server end...)
Yes, Ellison and fiends want to rent us everything... for a price.
> > difference -- the beauty of UNIX is it's
simple; and the beauty of
VMS
> > is that it's all there.
> > -- Ken Olsen, president of DEC, DECWORLD Vol. 8 No. 5, 1984
In 1984 this was largely true. DECnet phase IV was in more places with
more users than TCP/IP was at the time too.
Kool... wish It was scanned somewhere... The color
printer here could
do a pretty good iron-on xfer 8-).
Its a rag now. it would not be hard to do. Blue digital keys on the
back
and the NO symbol with lower case unix (tty font) in the front with the
words "the unsystem, never had it never will". Such irony!
Allison