IBM 7074 and then some: "Systems we love" conference

Mouse mouse at Rodents-Montreal.ORG
Mon Jan 23 14:33:41 CST 2017


>> The 7074 was referred to as a "supercomputer".  Can any decimal
>> machine really bear that title?
> I suppose it could.  I would apply the term to a computer that's the fastest$

Consider Babbage's Analytical Engine.  It was decimal and it was, not
so much by intrinsic merit as by lack of competition, the fastest
machine of its day.

Admittedly, it ended up being little but vapourware until modern times.
But applying "supercomputer" to vapourware machines is a longstanding
tradition (though perhaps not one dating back quite to Babbage's day).

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