Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!servitude!rogerk
From: rogerk@mips.COM (Roger B.A. Klorese)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: Single user vs. shared (was Re: Killer Micros and vectorized code)
Message-ID: <37192@mips.mips.COM>
Date: 20 Mar 90 20:54:22 GMT
References: <51771@lll-winken.LLNL.GOV> <100598@convex.convex.com> <52661@lll-winken.LLNL.GOV> <1990Mar18.023523.4034@ultra.com> <52817@lll-winken.LLNL.GOV> <2165@crdos1.crd.ge.COM>
Sender: news@mips.COM
Reply-To: rogerk@mips.COM (Roger B.A. Klorese)
Organization: MIPS Computer Systems, Sunnyvale, CA
Lines: 21

In article <2165@crdos1.crd.ge.COM> davidsen@crdos1.crd.ge.com (bill davidsen) writes:
>  The problem with sharing a computer is that someone gets to be
>administrator. And that means making decisions about software and o/s
>versions which will impact users. On of the nicest things about a system
>of your own, even is small, is that backups happen when you want,
>upgrades happen when you want (and more importantly don't happen when
>you don't want), and the configuration is dedicated without compromise
>to the productivity of one user.

...all of which, of course, presumes no connection to a network, which
requires at least as much administration as each standalone system would.
It assumes that economies of scale with regard to shared costly resources
such as peripherals are unimportant. It assumes that site licenses and
other schemes which may be dependent on running like software revisions
are unimportant.  Most important, it assumes that the productivity of one
user is more important than the total productivity of the organization.
-- 
ROGER B.A. KLORESE      MIPS Computer Systems, Inc.      phone: +1 408 720-2939
MS 4-02    928 E. Arques Ave.  Sunnyvale, CA  94086             rogerk@mips.COM
{ames,decwrl,pyramid}!mips!rogerk                                 "I'm the NLA"
"Two guys, one cart, fresh pasta... *you* figure it out." -- Suzanne Sugarbaker