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IBM PC [Aug 12] feature to Multics, the Xerox was so certain, that he promised PARC Alto [March 1], and the to "eat his words" if it didn't. As April 7th IBM PC [Aug 12]. He was also a result, during his keynote one of the developers of the speech at the 6th World Wide token ring LAN [Oct 15], and Web Conference in 1997, he Hoover on TV helped with the IEEE 802.5 placed a printed copy of the token ring standard. article in a blender, along with April 7, 1927 some unspecified liquid, and In 1984, Clark, Dave Reed [Jan consumed the pulpy mixture 31], and Saltzer, wrote the first Dignitaries gathered at the that resulted. AT&T Bell Labs auditorium in paper on the end-to-end NYC to see the first American principle which argued that host Many of his other predictions long distance TV demonstration. computers, rather than network have proved just as successful, The centerpiece was a nodes, should be responsible for such as the demise of open conversation between the US application-specific source software [Feb 3], the Secretary of Commerce, Herbert functionality. This view of the failure of wireless networking, Hoover, in Washington and the network as being purely for data and the inability of Windows AT&T President, Walter Gifford routing is at the heart of today’s and Linux to deal with video [Jan 7; April 15], in New York. net neutrality debate. streaming. His articles on these Hoover’s live picture, rendered matters were collected in the Clark's other work includes the at 50 lines of resolution, and book, “Internet Collapses and Clark-Wilson integrity model, voice were transmitted over Other InfoWorld Punditry” extensions to the Internet to telephone lines using a system (2000). support real-time traffic, and developed by Herbert E. Ives. techniques for the explicit Edna Mae Horner assisted allocation of services and their during the transmission, and pricing over a network. IBM 701 incidentally became the first David D. Clark should not be woman to appear on TV. April 7, 1953 confused with Dave Clark, the An article in The New York Times drummer and manager of the The IBM 701 was often called the following day noted that 1960's rock and roll group the the “Defense Calculator” while in Hoover’s face was rather “Dave Clark Five”. However, in development, and the publicity indistinct at times, and also 1982, Clark produced five RFCs surrounding its unveiling on this quoted knowledgeable (RFC 813 - 817), which some day never mentioned the word Government officials and AT&T observers have termed the “computer”. representatives as having “Dave Clark Five”. doubts about the commercial use of such a device. Nevertheless, a year-long Robert Melancton demonstration began in 1930, consisting of two-way TV booths Metcalfe based in AT&T's New York headquarters and Bell Labs. Born: April 7, 1946; Brooklyn, New York Herbert E. Ives went on to develop a two-way videophone Metcalfe and David Boggs system called the ikonophone, developed Ethernet [May 22] and a means of sending video while working at Xerox PARC. signals over coaxial cable. He He's also known for Metcalfe’s won the Congressional Medal of law: “the power of a network Merit for work on night-vision increases with the square of its goggles during WWII. nodes”. In 1979, he founded The IBM 701 operator's console. 3Com, a networking company Photo by Dan. CC BY 2.0. named in honor of the computer, communication, and David Dana Clark compatibility. IBM felt that particular word was too closely associated with Born: April 7, 1944; Before Xerox, Metcalfe was part the UNIVAC [March 31]. Also, USA of MIT’s Project MAC [July 1], one argument used by Cuthbert and in 1969 helped link MIT to Hurd [April 5] to persuade IBM’s Clark worked on the Multics the ARPANET [Oct 29]. patriotic chairman Thomas [Nov 30] I/O subsystem with Watson [Feb 17] to back the Jerry Saltzer [Oct 9] while a In a 1995 InfoWorld article, he project was that a DEFENSE student at MIT. Later he became wrote, “I predict the Internet Calculator would assist the US in something on an expert on will soon go spectacularly fighting the Korean War. The implementing support for supernova and in 1996 calculator name also helped Internet protocols, adding that catastrophically collapse.” He 1 reduce some of the other storage frame were made The gamble paid off handsomely opposition inside IBM because a opaque to the offending – in just three months, IBM mere calculator obviously posed wavelengths.” received $1.2 billion in orders. no threat to IBM’s punch card In five years, over 33,000 units Nineteen 701's were eventually line. were sold. sold, mainly to the government, The 701 marked many firsts for the military, and West Coast The chief architect was Gene IBM. It was the company’s first aircraft manufacturers. That was Amdahl [Nov 16], and the commercially available scientific seen as remarkable since IBM project was managed by Fred computer, the first computer had predicted a market for at Brooks [April 19] (only 30 years produced in any quantity, and most five. The success meant old at the time). The commercial the first IBM system that stored that the 701 became the first release was led by John R. Opel. programs in internal, member of the IBM 700 series, The S/360 architecture addressable, electronic memory which went on to include the introduced a number of industry (it employed 72 Williams- 704 [May 7], 705 and 709. standards, such as binary Kilburn tubes [Dec 11]). It was addressing, the 8-bit byte, and designed by Nathan Rochester the 32-bit word. It supported [Jan 14] and Jerrier Haddad, floating point operations, virtual based in part on the IAS machine IBM System/360 memory, and caching (which [June 10]. Launched IBM unsuccessfully tried to call It could perform about 2,000 the “muffer”, short for “Memory multiplications/sec, which was April 7, 1964 Buffer”). A multiplexer channel slightly faster than the UNIVAC The IBM System/360 became let the machine handle I/O from 1103 [Oct 00], it’s closest the most successful mainframe several devices simultaneously. competitor. family in history, but was The OS [March 31] utilized More importantly perhaps was initially seen as an amazingly micro-instructions for low-level the discovery that several risky business gamble which programming, which hid instructions executed in cost IBM over five billion dollars differences between each succession could produce a to develop. model’s processor. This made musical tone that could be heard It was called the “360″ because the code more portable, easier by connecting a small speaker to different configurations of the to write, and made it simpler to appropriate pins on the front basic system aimed to satisfy upgrade the hardware. This panel. “Three Blind Mice” was every type of customer. The wasn’t just good for IBM; an soon orchestrated, and initial announcement included entire industry was created for Christmas tunes also became Models 30, 40, 50, 60, 62, and companies supplying plug- popular. However, the 701 70, with the largest about 25 compatible peripherals. wasn't the first computer- times faster than the smallest. Through the 1960's, the S/360 musician; that was the BINAC occupied a 65% share of the [April 4], almost four years computer market, prompting before. observers to nickname the The first 701 was installed in the industry “Snow White and the same showroom at 590 Madison Seven Dwarfs” [Dec 21]; IBM Avenue previously occupied by was Snow White. the SSEC [Jan 27], but the 701 was some 25 times faster and occupied less than one-quarter of the space. Halt and Catch Fire “Things went pretty well at the April 7, 1964 dedication.” said D.E. Rosenheim, one of the The “Halt and Catch Fire” (aka engineers, “until the HCF) instruction causes a CPU to photographers started taking immediately lock up, typically pictures of the hardware. As An IBM System 360/30. Photo by requiring a reboot of the soon as the flash bulbs went off, ArnoldReinhold. CC BY-SA 3.0. computer. The “catch fire” part the whole system came down. refers to how the CPU's sudden Following a few tense moments cessation will somehow cause on the part of the engineering certain circuits to overheat and crew, we realized with some spontaneously combust. consternation that the light from the flash bulbs was erasing the Legend speaks of an HCF information in the CRT memory instruction on the IBM [the Williams-Kilburn tubes]. System/360 [previous entry], Suffice it to say that shortly but extensive investigations only thereafter the doors to the CRT 2 found HCF in a list of proposed those for the ARPANET, the They were created by Robert operations. Internet, the Web, and more. Deodaat Emile "Ootje" Oxenaar, Head of the Art and Design A collection of humorous Crocker coined the term RFC to bureau at the Dutch Post Office, instructions, including HCF of avoid the reports sounding too and were drawn by the Cora course, appeared in the April prescriptive, based on a (the first Swiss transistorized 1980 issue of Creative suggestion by Bill Duvall. He computer) at the Technical Computing. Other jocular hoped that everyone would feel University of Eindhoven, examples included PBC (Print comfortable enough to offer attached to a high-precision and Break Chain), SD (Slip Disk), suggestions for improving the plotter called the Coragraaf. and LMB (Lose Message and proposals. Branch). Oxenaar also worked on adding RFC is now an official word in computer generated lines to the The collection formed part of an the Oxford English Dictionary.
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