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From: henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer)
Newsgroups: net.rumor
Subject: Re: Catastrophic failures
Message-ID: <6526@utzoo.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 19-Mar-86 17:59:20 EST
Article-I.D.: utzoo.6526
Posted: Wed Mar 19 17:59:20 1986
Date-Received: Wed, 19-Mar-86 17:59:20 EST
References: <2019@gondor.UUCP> <15400002@ti-csl>, <2040@gondor.UUCP>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 33

Pat Hume, one of the very senior profs in CS at U of T, once told the
story of how he broke the FERUT.  FERUT was FERranti U of T, one of
the first computers in Canada -- a great vacuum-tube monster.  It had
something like a ten-step procedure for powerdown.  From time to time
this machine got modified.  One day Hume was the last user of the day,
and the time came to shut it down.  Somebody had added an extra step
to the shutdown procedure, presumably as the result of some modification,
but either the writing was illegible or the instructions weren't clear.
He did the best he could, and smoke started coming out.  He hastily
finished the powerdown procedure, and called Ferranti.  They naturally
said "your service contract is nine to five, we'll be there tomorrow
morning".

Next morning, the Ferranti technical crew showed up and spent all morning
in the machine room.  From Hume's description, one got the impression of
technicians half-inside the computer briskly hurling parts out.  Hume, a
rather junior professor at the time, sat in his office all morning waiting
for the word on the multi-million-dollar computer he'd broken.  People
walking past in the hall would look in with pitying expressions.

Towards noon, the Ferranti senior man walked into Hume's office with a
double armload of parts, dumped them on his desk, and said "that's it".
Machine restored to operation, junior professor not having to contemplate
spending the next fifty years paying back its price...  But the really
cute part was that the machine's reliability was markedly better after
this episode.  He'd managed to apply just enough stress	to blow out all
the marginal parts.

[I don't vouch for the precise accuracy of the above, as it's been a
while since I heard him tell this, but I think it's about right.]
-- 
				Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
				{allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!henry