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Cyhist Apr 15 1997 F
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Date: Tue, 15 Apr 1997 12:14:12 -0500
Reply-To: "CYHIST Community Memory: Discussion list on the History of
Cyberspace" <CYHIST@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU> Sender: "CYHIST Community Memory: Discussion list on the History of
Cyberspace" <CYHIST@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU> From: Peter da Silva <peter@BAILEYNM.COM>
Subject: An interesting URL...
In-Reply-To: <199704151624.LAA22556@web.nmti.com> from "Wesley J. Miller" at
Apr 15, 97 09:09:57 am
Content-Type: text
______________________________________________________________________
Community Memory: Discussion List on the History of Cyberspace ______________________________________________________________________
http://www.wired.com/news/story/3140.html?norecurse
"History's Code Will Run an Infinite Loop
-- by Chris Oakes <chriso@well.com>
"Programmers wrote the code that computers brought to life. But then
the machines died. Now Fred Davis is resuscitating their work for posterity.
"If Davis' grand vision is fulfilled, visitors to San Francisco in 2097
will be able to walk into the computer institute and museum and see the pioneering spreadsheet application, VisiCalc, running on an original Tandy TRS-80. Or maybe an Apple Lisa emulating a Macintosh. Or the first version of Windows, also - as some might argue - emulating a Macintosh."
All well and good, but we're talking about machines barely old enough to be obsolete. They're not antiques. They're not the systems that really need to be preserved NOW, while there's time. They need the EDSAC emulator, they need the 1620s and the PDP-1s and even things like Sixth Edition UNIX on a PDP-11, teletypes and flexowriters and card punches. IBM 360s and DECSystem-20s and Unisys 1100s and Honeywell 6000 series boxes...
______________________________________________________________________
Reply-To: "CYHIST Community Memory: Discussion list on the History of
Cyberspace" <CYHIST@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU> Sender: "CYHIST Community Memory: Discussion list on the History of
Cyberspace" <CYHIST@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU> From: Peter da Silva <peter@BAILEYNM.COM>
Subject: An interesting URL...
In-Reply-To: <199704151624.LAA22556@web.nmti.com> from "Wesley J. Miller" at
Apr 15, 97 09:09:57 am
Content-Type: text
______________________________________________________________________
Community Memory: Discussion List on the History of Cyberspace ______________________________________________________________________
http://www.wired.com/news/story/3140.html?norecurse
"History's Code Will Run an Infinite Loop
-- by Chris Oakes <chriso@well.com>
"Programmers wrote the code that computers brought to life. But then
the machines died. Now Fred Davis is resuscitating their work for posterity.
"If Davis' grand vision is fulfilled, visitors to San Francisco in 2097
will be able to walk into the computer institute and museum and see the pioneering spreadsheet application, VisiCalc, running on an original Tandy TRS-80. Or maybe an Apple Lisa emulating a Macintosh. Or the first version of Windows, also - as some might argue - emulating a Macintosh."
All well and good, but we're talking about machines barely old enough to be obsolete. They're not antiques. They're not the systems that really need to be preserved NOW, while there's time. They need the EDSAC emulator, they need the 1620s and the PDP-1s and even things like Sixth Edition UNIX on a PDP-11, teletypes and flexowriters and card punches. IBM 360s and DECSystem-20s and Unisys 1100s and Honeywell 6000 series boxes...
______________________________________________________________________
