The University of Manchester
Celebrates the Birth of the Modern
Computer
June 18, 1998
Gordon Bell
Microsoft Corporation
Manchester ‘1998
1948… the stored program
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“value of the order codes”
1958 one level stores
ideas and technology transfer--influencing the rest of the world
1998 the best is yet to come
Manchester ‘1998
The stored program concept...
“the most exciting time was June
1948 when the first machine worked.
Nothing could ever compare with
that.” --Kilburn, 1992
anyone who has ever built a
“universal” hardware or software
machine has had this feeling...
Manchester ‘1998
NSF tree
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NSF tree base
Manchester ‘1998
Manchester logic and memory
“Random access”
memory got the
computer started
Manchester ‘1998
Baby
Manchester ‘1998
Wilkes with
EDSAC
Delay line
memory
Manchester ‘1998
On order code compatibility and
program investment
“when a machine was finished, and a number
of subroutines in use, the order code could
not be altered without causing a great deal
of trouble. There would be almost as much
capital sunk in the library of sub-routines as
the machine itself, and builders of new
machines in the future might wish to make
use of the same order code as an existing
machine in order that the sub-routines could
be taken over without modification”
--- Wilkes ‘49
Manchester ‘1998
Three implications… holds for
all order codes
including machines, operating systems,
databases, languages, and some apps
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Very high cost of similar computers
and fatal flaw for most designs e.g.
100 minicomputer companies
The Unix Cartel… high priced apps
and systems, locked-in users
Standards driven “virtuous cycle”
Manchester ‘1998
The law of program and data
inertia sustains platforms!
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The investment in programs and processes to
use them, and data exceed hardware costs
The cost to switch among platforms e.g. IBM
mainframe, VMS, a VendorIX, or Windows/NT is
determined by the data and programs
The goals of hardware suppliers are
uniqueness to differentiate and lock-in
The goals of software/database suppliers are:
to differentiate and lock-in and
operate on as many platforms as possible
in order to be not tied to a hardware vendor
Manchester ‘1998
Software Economics: Bill’s Law
Price =
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Fixed_cost
Units
+
Marginal _cost
Bill Joy’s law (Sun):
don’t write software for <100,000 platforms
@$10 million engineering expense, $1,000 price
Bill Gate’s law:
don’t write software for <1,000,000 platforms
@$10M engineering expense, $100 price
Examples:
– UNIX
versus Windows NT: $3,500 versus $500
– Oracle versus SQL-Server: $100,000 versus $6,000
– No spreadsheet or presentation pack on UNIX/VMS/...
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Commoditization of base software and hardware
Manchester ‘1998
The Virtuous Economic Cycle
that drives the PC industry
Standards
Manchester ‘1998
Deuce Drum:
Imagine synchronizing this drum
with 11, 32-word delay lines
Manchester ‘1998
Deuce Console
Manchester ‘1998
English Electric Deuce…
Commercialisation of NPL Pilot Ace
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Based on Turing’s design - Harry Huskey c1947
After attending Turing’s NPL Lectures in 1947 Kilburn
was not to build a computing machine “like that”
Micro-coded instructions. Direct action … bits
controlled hardware. Lots of bits to chose and get right!
Paging used … matrix packages,
SODA… our desire to make it more“programmable”,
and convert it into an IBM 650
Used by Fortran and George (for KDF9)
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Manchester exports
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Stored program concept “existence
proof”
The first generation memory
Manchester phase encoding
B tubes aka index registers…
–
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Pegasus’ general registers...
Extracodes
Paging & the one level store
Programmed controlled I/O
ICL architecture, Dataflow, Amulet,
Manchester ‘1998