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

[Charles Anthony]

On Mon, Jan 23, 2017 at 12:33 PM, Mouse <mouse at rodents-montreal.org> wrote:

> >> 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).
>
>
"The Holy Roman Empire, which was neither Holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire"

-- Charles