DEC DOS was: PDP1 3623

Sigh! Exactly. So was was a newly installed PDP-10 site supposed to do? Buy a card reader-punch (they did). The kiddies immediately discovered the way around using cards. Sheesh! All IBM source code written with a compiler had to run on a PDP10. Everybodys sources were in some flavor of cards when they bought a DEC machine.

When was this?

bits fly over emoticon's head creating a sonic boom.

ago).

That was useful. What was more important was exposing as many kiddies as possible to machine language, the steps necessary for software to run, and "watching" a machine work. There was no other computer system at that time that could do this. Just think how many kids got started working in the computer biz just because they had an exposure. Microsoft would not exist today if that exposure hadn't happened. If somebody could reach back and whack those kids along side their heads, there may not have been a Micpoo today.

Sure they were interesting, but nobody could get at them other than the elite of the elite of the elite. This produces exotic hacked systems but never produces general computing service systems.

There wasn't a need for more because there wasn't many "users". One cannot make money mbutt producing gear until a certain population of users are out there. That population does not occur until the dirty mbuttes get access to playing with the gear. So how do you get million dollar pieces of gear available to the most kids so they can explore the gear and possible uses?

There is no answer other than time sharing.

Of course there were only a few. Think about it.

A couple may have been JMF's roommates. I no longer remember names. But, yes, these guys were really bright.

I must be going nuts. This is the second post where I have no idea what the last line meant.

BAH