25 Jan
2011
25 Jan
'11
4:08 p.m.
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.
Rick Bensene