Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!helios.ee.lbl.gov!pasteur!ucbvax!hplabs!hpda!hptsug2!taylor
From: eugene@aurora.arc.nasa.gov (Eugene Miya)
Newsgroups: comp.society
Subject: Re: "Personal" Computers
Message-ID: <455@hptsug2.HP.COM>
Date: 25 Aug 88 20:55:27 GMT
Sender: taylor@hptsug2.HP.COM
Organization: NASA Ames Research Center, Calif.
Lines: 31
Approved: taylor@hplabs

Ian Macey lists four types of computers:

> 1) Micro computer
> 2) Mini computer
> 3) Mainframe
> 4) Super computer

There's more, but I would like to point out two things.

1) Mini computers are largely a thing of the past, sure lots
in obscure dark labs, but these are going to cause catostrophic
which we will read about in comp.RISKS some day.  They will disappear.

2) Ditto mainframes. (hope I don't lose too many pay checks.)

I recommend a paper by Gordon Bell (architect of the PDP-11 and VAX,
now at Ardent.) in the book The History of Personal Workstations edited by
Adele Goldberg, ACM Press with Addison-Wesley (I think).

In the near future there will only be 2 kinds of machines: fast machines
(but never fast enough) and fast/cheap machines.

Personal computing is the way to go.  There will be limits, but
they are not completely intractable.  Try a GRiD Compass, too bad
they are so expensive and have a few problems (just started running
Unix).

Remember: (half serious) Xerox did it all 10 years ago, and Apple, SUN,
and NeXT will market it all.  Everything else is catch up.
IBM Corp. does not read the net, so they can't be responsive. But then...

Eugene Miya