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Asri-unix.1389 net.works utzoo!decvax!cca!Crocker@USC-ISIF@sri-unix Mon May 3 23:09:29 1982 Cooperative Personal Computers From: Steve Crocker <CROCKER USC-ISIF AT> At the Aerospace Corp, where I run the computer science lab, I am being peppered with queries about whether to get "terminals" or "workstations."

The corporate computing facility runs large CDC and IBM mainframes. Terminals exist around the company, but they are not located in individual offices and are shared among all who need access. Consideration is being given to acquiring a substantial number of additional terminals, but there is concern that additional terminals will lead to increased load on the mainframe with poor consequences.

It has been observed that workstations and personal computers cost only slightly more than terminals, so it has been proposed that we buy personal computers instead of terminals. While this sounds attractive, I don't see any product line that combines the known advantages of the personal computer with the known advantages of large-scale central computers. Users who move from the corporate machine to a personal machine -- even one with communication facilities -- are going to be pleased that they get immediate and consistent response from the machine, but they will be horrified that they can't do real work, they can't coordinate their work with the "real" computer, they don't have a fully developed file system, etc., etc.

I have a miniature version of the same problem cropping up within my lab. We're bringing up a large VAX under UNIX. Everyone has his own terminal, and we expect to support some experiments in electronic mail and word processing with a few people outside of the lab. These people too are asking why they shouldn't get personal computers and tie them in to our lab computer instead of settling for simple HP2621 style terminals. While their impulses are understandable, how do I explain to them that the editors and formatting systems available on their personal computers are far less powerful and completely incompatible with the corresponding facilities on the VAX. On the other hand, I certainly do not want to support an arbitrary number of users on the VAX...

Any ideas? -------

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