[inforoots] Fwd: The IBM 7090 & Yacht Handicapping

[Barrie Robinson]

Bill,

Then there was the Australian that had a Sytek system installed on 
his tender yacht to link seven on-board  computers

At 02:27 PM 11/13/2005, Bill Selmeier wrote:
>=======================================
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>Posts to inforoots at computerhistory.org is information known to or 
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>I think that IBM executive must have been Vin Learson who followed 
>Tom Watson Jr as CEO.  I understand he had a System /7 installed on 
>his yacht for the race to Bermuda.
>
>Bill
>
>On Sun, 13 Nov 2005, Michael Blasgen wrote:
>
>>Date: Sun, 13 Nov 2005 06:35:14 -0800
>>From: Michael Blasgen <mblasgen at gmail.com>
>>=======================================
>>
>>Posts to inforoots at computerhistory.org is information known to or 
>>the opinions of the poster.  All posts to 
>>inforoots at computerhistory.org are archived.  By posting to this 
>>list you grant a license for use of this material to the Computer 
>>History Museum located in Mountain View, California, USA.
>>
>>=======================================
>
>************************************************************************
>Bill Selmeier           voice  (408)655-3400
>Internet Developer    http://www.inetdevgrp.org     bills at inetdevgrp.org
>or RightNet, Inc.      http://www.right-net.com      bills at right-net.com
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>
>
>
>Quote:
>
>
>
>IBM had been very generous to MIT in the fifties and sixties, 
>donating its biggest scientific computers. When a new top of the 
>line 36-bit scientific machine came out, MIT expecte d to get one. 
>In the early sixties, the deal was that MIT got one 8-hour sh ift, 
>all the other New England colleges and universities got a shift, and 
>t he third shift was available to IBM for its own use. One use IBM 
>made of it was yacht handicapping: the president of IBM raced big 
>yachts on Long Isla nd Sound, and these boats were assigned handicap 
>points by a complicated fo rmula. There was a special job deck kept 
>at the MIT Computation Center, and if a request came in to run it, 
>operators were to stop whatever was runnin g on the machine and do 
>the yacht handicapping job immediately.
>
>http://w ww.multicians.org/thvv/7094.html?1
>
>
>
>As they say, in addition to being a sequence of trade-offs, lif e is 
>also a matter of priorities.
>
>
>
>
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Regards
Barrie

Barrie Robinson
(705) 721-9060 
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