From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on inbox.vuxu.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.0 required=5.0 tests=MAILING_LIST_MULTI autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 Received: (qmail 8726 invoked from network); 24 Jan 2023 21:09:29 -0000 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (50.116.15.146) by inbox.vuxu.org with ESMTPUTF8; 24 Jan 2023 21:09:29 -0000 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [IPv6:::1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 79F7A42400; Wed, 25 Jan 2023 07:09:27 +1000 (AEST) Received: from mercury.lcs.mit.edu (mercury.lcs.mit.edu [18.26.0.122]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 45D10423FE for ; Wed, 25 Jan 2023 07:09:24 +1000 (AEST) Received: by mercury.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11178) id 22CAC18C080; Tue, 24 Jan 2023 16:09:23 -0500 (EST) To: coff@tuhs.org Message-Id: <20230124210923.22CAC18C080@mercury.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Tue, 24 Jan 2023 16:09:23 -0500 (EST) From: jnc@mercury.lcs.mit.edu (Noel Chiappa) Message-ID-Hash: TXCD44YCWSGWETEMW6JSCIJAHLBGDGA7 X-Message-ID-Hash: TXCD44YCWSGWETEMW6JSCIJAHLBGDGA7 X-MailFrom: jnc@mercury.lcs.mit.edu X-Mailman-Rule-Misses: dmarc-mitigation; no-senders; approved; emergency; loop; banned-address; member-moderation; nonmember-moderation; administrivia; implicit-dest; max-recipients; max-size; news-moderation; no-subject; digests; suspicious-header CC: jnc@mercury.lcs.mit.edu X-Mailman-Version: 3.3.6b1 Precedence: list Subject: [COFF] Re: [TUHS] Fwd: How did Bell Labs start to work on Project MAC? List-Id: Computer Old Farts Forum Archived-At: List-Archive: List-Help: List-Owner: List-Post: List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: > I have yet to look at the oral history things from Corby, etc which may > answer this in passing. This page: https://multicians.org/project-mac.html links to oral history transcripts from Fano, Corby and Dennis. Only Corby: https://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/107230 http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/access/text/2013/05/102658041-05-01-acc.pdf was involved when Bell Labs came on board; he says: "Also Bell Labs was interested in acquiring a new computer system. They were quite intrigued and sympathetic to the notions of what we were doing. Ed David down there was a key figure and an old friend of Fano. They decided to become partners (pg. 16, CHM interview) "Simultaneously, Bell Labs had been looking for a new computer acquisition for their laboratories, and they had been scouting out GE. There was some synergism: because they knew we were interested they got interested. I think they first began to look independently of us. But they saw the possibility of our developing a new operating system together." (pg. 43, CBI interview) So it sounds like it was kind of a mutual thing, aided by the connection between Fano and David (who left Bell after Bell bailed on multics). Noel