23 Apr
2013
23 Apr
'13
5:17 p.m.
And it comes 'round on the guitar again. See the archives from February 2010
(excerpt posted below).
-----Original Message-----
From: cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf
Of Steve Lafferty
Sent: Monday, April 08, 2013 4:44 AM
To: cctech at classiccmp.org
Subject: Re: Rumors of the Mainframe's death are greatly exaggerated
Date: Sun, 7 Apr 2013 10:16:33 -0700 (PDT)
From: Fred Cisin <cisin at xenosoft.com>
Ken Olsen (DEC) once said that there was only need for half a dozen. So
long as there is still need for half a dozen, then it ain't dead!
--- It sounds like you are referring to the quote which is attributed to Howard Aiken (NOT
Ken Olsen): "Only six electronic digital computers would be required to satisfy the
computing needs of the entire United States."
(Aiken was also known for such prescient positions as being religiously opposed to storing
instructions and data in the same memory space.)
Steve L.
-----Original Message-----
From: cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf
Of Chuck Guzis
Sent: Wednesday, February 10, 2010 2:11 PM
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: Re: "only 5 computers" [was RE: The value of assembler language
programmers]
On 10 Feb 2010 at 13:54, Rich Alderson wrote:
The truth, as is so often the case, is more complex
than that.
According to the source cited above, what Watson reported to the 1953
stockholder's meeting was that their expectation with regard to sales
of the 701, when they visited 20 potential customers, was for 5
orders. Instead, they got 18.
And taken in its context (even allowing for the differing quote in
his autobiography), is a very different kettle of fish. Expectations
for 5 orders for a new "paper tiger" machine on a single sales junket
was quite optimistic for the time.
"The IBM Archives Frequently Asked Questions asks if he said in the
1950s that he foresaw a market potential for only five electronic
computers. The document says no, but quotes his son and then IBM
President Thomas J. Watson, Jr., at the annual IBM stockholders
meeting, April 28, 1953, as speaking about the IBM 701 Electronic
Data Processing Machine, which it identifies as "the company's first
production computer designed for scientific calculations". He said
that "IBM had developed a paper plan for such a machine and took this
paper plan across the country to some 20 concerns that we thought
could use such a machine. I would like to tell you that the machine
rents for between $12,000 and $18,000 a month, so it was not the type
of thing that could be sold from place to place. But, as a result of
our trip, on which we expected to get orders for five machines, we
came home with orders for 18." Watson, Jr., later gave a slightly
different version of the story in his autobiography, where he said
the initial market sampling indicated 11 firm takers and 10 more
prospective orders."
--Chuck