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JokeI remember my mother was pretty upset when I got 100% in my exams. Pin
OriginalGriff3-Jan-23 5:52
mveOriginalGriff3-Jan-23 5:52 
GeneralRe: I remember my mother was pretty upset when I got 100% in my exams. Pin
Mike Hankey3-Jan-23 6:00
mveMike Hankey3-Jan-23 6:00 
GeneralRe: I remember my mother was pretty upset when I got 100% in my exams. Pin
Gary R. Wheeler3-Jan-23 7:37
Gary R. Wheeler3-Jan-23 7:37 
GeneralRe: I remember my mother was pretty upset when I got 100% in my exams. Pin
Mike Hankey3-Jan-23 7:40
mveMike Hankey3-Jan-23 7:40 
GeneralRe: I remember my mother was pretty upset when I got 100% in my exams. Pin
jmaida3-Jan-23 11:30
jmaida3-Jan-23 11:30 
GeneralRe: I remember my mother was pretty upset when I got 100% in my exams. Pin
Mike Hankey3-Jan-23 11:44
mveMike Hankey3-Jan-23 11:44 
GeneralRe: I remember my mother was pretty upset when I got 100% in my exams. Pin
jmaida3-Jan-23 13:52
jmaida3-Jan-23 13:52 
GeneralRe: I remember my mother was pretty upset when I got 100% in my exams. Pin
trønderen3-Jan-23 8:43
trønderen3-Jan-23 8:43 
Gary R. Wheeler wrote:
The system was used by their sales folks when filling orders for PDP and VAX machines to ensure that the requested configuration included all the components, cables, software, etc. required.
In my student days, in the very early 1980s, I was chatting with an architect about computers. She told that their office had just bought one. If you are old enough to remember computers in 1981-82: We made 'graphics' on the line printer from '|' and '-' characters and pixels from white (space) to black (a lot of characters printed on top of each other). Not quite the quality you would like to present in a prospect presented by a large architecture office. So I asked how they used the PC.

They had a floppy disk with the Norwegian Building Standard (or whatever it is called in English - a set of construction requirements that every contractor must adhere to) in a database format, and a second floppy with the dBase executable. Before they made a bid, they had this dBase application go trough it, checking it against the Building Standard to see if the bid included the cost of every single little piece required by the Standard; invariably, they were reminded of things like door stoppers and cabinet door handles that they had overlooked when making the cost calculations for their bid. In the first bid processed by this software, they were reminded of so many such small cost elements that they increased their bid by more than the cost of the computer and all its software - yet, they won the bid. So the PC paid for itself in full through its first job!

I asked the architect what size hard disk they had. No, they had no hard disk. It was a twin floppy system. The specific bid information was stored on the floppy with the dBase software. But ... I said, if you run it on floppies, then you can start the program before you go to lunch, and it might possibly have completed when you come back! The architect gave me a look as if I was from a different planet. Earlier, they did this kind of checks by hand. For a small bid, it might take a man week, for a large project maybe a man month, maybe more. Now it is done automatically in an hour or two, with no manual effort required at all! Why would they worry about that little hour or two?

This was my first real encounter with The Real World (tm) as a computer man, telling me both that students (I still was one) tend to live in an ivory tower, and customer requirements and expectations may be magnitudes away from what we computer guys dream up in our labs. That goes both ways: Both that reduction from one man month to an hour of waiting is great, and the other way around: We can't do wonders. I have referred to this episode dozens of times as my first real step on the road to becoming a true computer professional.
GeneralRe: I remember my mother was pretty upset when I got 100% in my exams. Pin
jmaida3-Jan-23 11:45
jmaida3-Jan-23 11:45 
GeneralRe: I remember my mother was pretty upset when I got 100% in my exams. Pin
Member 104156114-Jan-23 5:00
Member 104156114-Jan-23 5:00 
GeneralRe: I remember my mother was pretty upset when I got 100% in my exams. Pin
trønderen4-Jan-23 7:15
trønderen4-Jan-23 7:15 
GeneralRe: I remember my mother was pretty upset when I got 100% in my exams. Pin
dandy723-Jan-23 8:27
dandy723-Jan-23 8:27 
GeneralRe: I remember my mother was pretty upset when I got 100% in my exams. Pin
trønderen3-Jan-23 8:44
trønderen3-Jan-23 8:44 
JokeRe: I remember my mother was pretty upset when I got 100% in my exams. Pin
Daniel Pfeffer3-Jan-23 23:39
professionalDaniel Pfeffer3-Jan-23 23:39 
GeneralRe: I remember my mother was pretty upset when I got 100% in my exams. Pin
dandy725-Jan-23 7:48
dandy725-Jan-23 7:48 
GeneralRe: I remember my mother was pretty upset when I got 100% in my exams. Pin
  Forogar  4-Jan-23 7:08
professional  Forogar  4-Jan-23 7:08 
GeneralRe: I remember my mother was pretty upset when I got 100% in my exams. Pin
BernardIE53174-Jan-23 8:39
BernardIE53174-Jan-23 8:39 
GeneralWSO CCC OTD 03-Jan-2023 Pin
DerekT-P2-Jan-23 22:12
professionalDerekT-P2-Jan-23 22:12 
GeneralRe: WSO CCC OTD 03-Jan-2023 Pin
OriginalGriff2-Jan-23 22:33
mveOriginalGriff2-Jan-23 22:33 
GeneralRe: WSO CCC OTD 03-Jan-2023 Pin
pkfox2-Jan-23 22:34
professionalpkfox2-Jan-23 22:34 
GeneralRe: WSO CCC OTD 03-Jan-2023 Pin
DerekT-P2-Jan-23 22:54
professionalDerekT-P2-Jan-23 22:54 
GeneralRe: WSO CCC OTD 03-Jan-2023 Pin
OriginalGriff2-Jan-23 23:04
mveOriginalGriff2-Jan-23 23:04 
GeneralRe: WSO CCC OTD 03-Jan-2023 Pin
jsc423-Jan-23 0:44
professionaljsc423-Jan-23 0:44 
GeneralRe: WSO CCC OTD 03-Jan-2023 Pin
jsc423-Jan-23 0:55
professionaljsc423-Jan-23 0:55 
GeneralRe: WSO CCC OTD 03-Jan-2023 Pin
DerekT-P3-Jan-23 1:57
professionalDerekT-P3-Jan-23 1:57 

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