Re: [TUHS] core

[Dave Horsfall <dave@horsfall.org>]

On Fri, 15 Jun 2018, Lyndon Nerenberg wrote:

>> E.g. Watson was talking about the multi-megabuck 704/709/7094 etc, and 
>> I think that Olsen's quote was about the DEC-System 10...
>
> At the time, those were the only computers out there.  The "personal 
> computer" was the myth of the day.  Go back and look at the prices IBM 
> and DEC were charging for their gear.  Even in the modern context, that 
> hardware was more expensive than the rediculously inflated prices of 
> housing in Vancouver.

Precisely, but idiots keep repeating those "quotes" (if they were repeated 
accurately at all) in some sort of an effort to make the so-called 
"experts" look silly; a form of reverse jealousy/snobbery or something? 
It really pisses me off, and I'm sure that there's a medical term for 
it...

I came across a web site that had these populist quotes, alongside the 
original *taken in context*, but I'm damned if I can find it now.

I mean, how many people could afford a 7094, FFS?  The power bill, the air 
conditioning, the team of technicians, the warehouse of spare parts...

Hell, I'll bet that my iPhone has more power than our System-360/50, but 
it has nowhere near the sheer I/O throughput of a mainframe :-)

-- Dave