I found this InfoWorld article particularly interesting, because one of the “transformational” technologies it mentions that instead “went bunk” is Artificial Intelligence (AI). Well, I did marketing for Texas Instruments (TI) back in the 80s and AI was definitely a technology the entire corporation embraced. We called it “Knowledge Technologies.” The group I worked for had several AI software and hardware products, including the Explorer LISP machine, shown below. (It was named ”Explorer” because the Product Manager’s son was active in the Boy Scouts. I’m not kidding.)
TI Explorer shown in a wickedly cool "designer" shot.
A TI press release in 1987 announced, “A 553K-Transistor LISP Processor Chip. This advanced LISP microprocessor promises to greatly expand the range of AI applications in both commercial and defense systems. With it, intelligent knowledge machines can be much smaller, more powerful and easier to use.”
So much smaller that they eventually disappeared, it seems.
Sentimentality is rampant in a new TechRepublic poll asking IT people: “What classic system do you wish you worked on or miss working on?” As the vote total neared 400, Digital Equipment Corporation’s VAX was the hands-down leader with almost 40 percent of the vote.
Cray came in at 24 percent, Burroughs at nine and the Tandem NonStop at three percent. Numerically, the second-place slot was “other,” which included a number of splinter votes for well-known classics such as the IBM 360/40, Digital PDP-10/11 and even the Wang VS series.
Typical of the nostalgia the poll provoked was this comment by an IT old-timer from Des Moines: “From the early 60’s where the computers such as military or Philco-Bendix analog mainframes were all vacuum tube and core memory, to the transistorized IBM1401 and Honeywell H200, GE 400 and 600 and then integrated-circuit Honeywell 6000 Series and NEC 9000 mainframes, Multics systems, and personal computers from Kaypro to Compac to Dell, I’ve got a lot of memories. Most by now are good ones, with a few not-so-fun memories which still remind me that computers often do what they want to do and it’s up to you to keep up. But it’s been a great ride watching Moore’s law in action.”
I thought this was cool so decided to post it. It seems the first prototype of “a futuristic computing system” was demonstrated by Douglas Engelbart on Dec. 9, 1968 at the Fall Joint Computer Conference at Stanford University. The system, called “NLS” or “the Online System,” included a roughly crafted gizmo that was the mother of all mice. You can read the ITWorld article here.
