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From: spaf@gatech.CSNET (Gene Spafford)
Newsgroups: net.college,net.cse
Subject: Re: Why force the AT&T at UVM?
Message-ID: <172@gatech.CSNET>
Date: Sat, 25-May-85 14:32:01 EDT
Article-I.D.: gatech.172
Posted: Sat May 25 14:32:01 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 26-May-85 01:14:48 EDT
References: <380@uvm-cs.UUCP> <281@tilt.FUN> <239@uvm-gen.UUCP> <284@tilt.FUN>
Reply-To: spaf@gatech.UUCP (Gene Spafford)
Organization: The Clouds Project, School of ICS, Georgia Tech
Lines: 32
Xref: watmath net.college:758 net.cse:412
Summary: 

What I think many of you are failing to question is the nature of the
programs at UVM -- what kind of courses do they teach?  What kind of
major equipment do they have on campus?  It is entirely possible that
they are like the majority of educational institutions in this country
with limited computational resources and a limited faculty.  For the
kinds of courses they are able to offer and support, an AT&T 6300 may
be an entirely appropriate processor which will allow them to offer a
better education than they can right now.

Not a lot of schools have mutliple Vaxen and networks of Suns or
Apollos.  May institutions are limited to a few 11/45's, a small DG or
Prime, and some cycles on the central administration machine.  10
student AT&T 6300s effectively doubles the campus computing power
available for instruction....

I'm not claiming that this is the case at UVM, but I know it is the
situation at a number of small colleges and universities, especially
the colleges that don't have the resources to obtain large research
grants to buy equipment.  For many institutions, an AT&T 6300 has
plenty of power for an undergraduate throughout his/her degree work.

The school I did my undergraduate work at had a Prime 550-I as THE
computational research facility for the whole college.  Despite that,
CS majors got a pretty good education (though it was short on
practical experience) due to the talent and imagination of the faculty.
With that kind of alternative, making every student have a 6300
is a great idea.
-- 
Gene "3 months and holding" Spafford
The Clouds Project, School of ICS, Georgia Tech, Atlanta GA 30332
CSNet:	Spaf @ GATech		ARPA:	Spaf%GATech.CSNet @ CSNet-Relay.ARPA
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