Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!helios.physics.utoronto.ca!ists!mike
From: mike@ists.ists.ca (Mike Clarkson)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: Politics and Architectures
Message-ID: <3121@ists.ists.ca>
Date: 7 Dec 89 02:59:13 GMT
References: <7145@pt.cs.cmu.edu>
Reply-To: mike@ists.ists.ca.ists.ca (Mike Clarkson)
Organization: Institute for Space and Terrestrial Science
Lines: 43

>From: lindsay@MATHOM.GANDALF.CS.CMU.EDU (Donald Lindsay)

> The Great Secret behind the success of minicomputers (and now
> microcomputers), is the discretionary spending limit.
> 
> Many people are allowed to authorize purchases that are below a
> certain limit. Above that, the purchase must be first reported up
> through official channels for review.  So, back in the minicomputer
> days, DEC found a lot of (say) $15,000 upgrades purchased as two
> $8,000 upgrades, simply because the customer's discretionary limit
> was $9,999. And some PDP's snuck in as "programmed data processors"
> (no kidding).

This is so true.  Where I worked previously, we bought one of the first
Vax 11/780's in Canada by buying a "Level 3 Data Extrapolator" from a
consenting third party.  All to get around the reigning MIS dept. 

> Many early microsystems were semiworthless toys, incapable of solving
> the purchaser's problem. However, the total purchase was below just
> about everyone's discretionary spending limits. Even if management
> had forbidden computer purchases, the things snuck in as "office
> equipment" or "word processors".

We even snuck our word-processors in that way too.  There was a central
typing pool that by decree we were supposed to use.  The average turn
around from the pool was 4-5 days.  We were allowed to have secretaries,
and you guessed it, "Level 1 Data Extrapolators", and all of a sudden we
had 3 hour turn around.  Which meant we could bury "them" in paper faster
than they could bury us.  Sort of like the advent of the Gattling gun.

> This is where today's industry came from. Believe it.

It's still there.

-- 
Don		D.C.Lindsay 	Carnegie Mellon Computer Science


-- 
Mike Clarkson					mike@ists.ists.ca
Institute for Space and Terrestrial Science	uunet!attcan!ists!mike
York University, North York, Ontario,		FORTRAN - just say no. 
CANADA M3J 1P3					+1 (416) 736-5611