On Sun, 2005-05-29 at 23:10 -0500, Ed Gould wrote:
> I never did hear (nor cared) what happened to the UNIVAC machines.
> Knowing the army they are still running them.
At SHARE 78 (March 1992, Anaheim) I toured the Jet Propulsion Lab with a
busload of other SHARE tourists. One of the staffers who had been
assigned to entertain us was a computer systems engineer named Gary
Friedman.
>From my notes of the time:
"Friedman says that one of the problems with being on
the leading edge of technology and being a government
agency is that the leading edge equipment you bought
years ago is still in service. He showed us a photograph
of an ancient Univac system: big cabinet, core memory
and a lighted panel you could use to get a respectable
suntan. They use this machine to crunch satellite data
overnight, the output of which is produced on 9-track
tapes, which in turn are mailed to appropriate
scientists. The Powers That Be like this system; it
works (slowly) and is paid for. 'And' said Friedman,
'if it ever breaks, no problem! They'll simply move
the workload' -- he paused for effect -- 'to the Univac
across the aisle!'."
--
David Andrews
A. Duda and Sons, Inc.
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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