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From: omondi@unc.UUCP (Amos Omondi)
Newsgroups: net.arch
Subject: Computer Skin
Message-ID: <358@unc.unc.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 20-Oct-85 21:57:51 EDT
Article-I.D.: unc.358
Posted: Sun Oct 20 21:57:51 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 22-Oct-85 05:23:39 EDT
Distribution: net
Organization: CS Dept, U. of N. Carolina, Chapel Hill
Lines: 30

The realization that it is not what is inside the box, but rather what
the box looks like, is a long overdue one ! Things like parallel proce-
ssing will not save computer architecture if the packaging is not right.
The reason that architectures like the IBM 360s were so successful
commercially had to do with the box which diplayed an impressive array
of switches and lights; put inside a large room with large glass
windows for users to gawk through, this made everyone happy. The PDP11s
were largely successful because of the front loading switches and
register displays which allowed one to hand-bootstrap the thing and
watch the happenings on the displays. Similarly, the CDC 6600 still
holds the record as the largest selling supercomputer because of its
shape and the array of start-up switches. Seymour Cray continuing the
trend of the CDC machines clearly made the right decision in going
for the brightly coloured love-seat design, and the blue glass with
fluorescent lights will make the Cray-2 another success.

The current plain-white-box approach is obviously a retrograde step in
computer architecture and explains many of its current woes. PCs have
gone for this new-fangled style in a big way and their only saving
grace is that one can usually hear the machine think ( ocassionally
this is mistaken for disc-drive noise ).

The other wrong idea that currently pervades computer architecture is
the idea that "small is beautiful"; anyone who has sat in a room with
a CDC 6600 on a cold winter day will have no doubts about why the
machine was so successful.

Let's get things right ! All this dataflow, demandflow, shmenalflow
stuff will not save the day ! Get the box right--then worry about
what to put inside !