Spring 2004
Volume 10 Number 1
Recognition at last
AXiS News 1
Networked Personal Computers seem to have been with us forever. Even those of us who remember feeding cards or papertape into hungry peripherals in large computer rooms filled with mainframes, banks of EDS8 or EDS30 and even more banks of magnetic tapes many years ago may need a few memory jogs to recall those pre-PC days. We then stop and think how much of the old technology would be needed to match one of today’s ubiquitous PCs.
It may surprise many readers to discover that a prize has only recently, at the end of February, been awarded to the four computer engineers credited with the development of the first practical networked personal computers. Alan C. Kay, Butler W. Lampson, Robert W. Taylor, and Charles P. Thacker share the $500 000 Charles Stark Draper Prize—often referred to as engineering’s Nobel Prize.
Kay, Lampson, Taylor, and Thacker worked together in the 1970s and 1980s at Xerox Corp’s groundbreaking Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) in California. There they created the Alto, a personal computer system that introduced such features as the networking technology Ethernet, window-based graphical user interface, programming environments, the laser printer, and file, printing, and e-mail servers.
According to Lampson the Alto system did not have a detailed plan, but it was built in pursuit of a clear goal: to make computers better tools for people to think and communicate. Inspired by their colleagues, computer luminaries like Internet visionary J.C.R. Licklider and mouse inventor Douglas C. Engelbart, PARC researchers wanted to transform computers from expensive, refrigerator-sized calculating machines into cheaper, personal workstations that could communicate through a vast network and share resources such as printers and file servers. But despite promising projects like the Alto, Xerox and its executives, seemed to be too busy with the copier business and paid little attention to the revolution germinating at their own laboratory. Xerox marketed just a few of PARC’s inventions. As a result, PARC researchers left and went on to found companies that turned into empires that ultimately changed the way we communicate and work—companies such as Apple, Cisco, Novell, Sun, Adobe, and others.
A quick glance back in time shows that it was in 1973 that the Alto personal computer became operational. It featured the world's first What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get (WYSIWYG) editor, a commercial mouse for input, a graphical user interface (GUI), and bit-mapped display, and offered menus and icons, a link to a local area network and store files simultaneously. Six years later nearly 1,000 Alto personal workstations had been built and were in use throughout Xerox, linked by Ethernet local area networks (LANs) and gateways. Another 500 were in use in universities and government offices.
Today we may not give a second glance to the networked PC but let’s cheer the four worthy engineers.
Chairman
Harold Cloutt
Tel: 01424 838829
Email:
Secretary/Newsletter Editor
Don Folland
Tel 01603 279402 Fax 0870 0524293
Email / Treasurer & Membership Secretary
Harry Barnes
Tel 01305 833242 Fax 01305 834456
Vice Chairman/Trimetra
Ian Myatt
Tel: 02920 366529
Email: / Cross Platform Group
Harold Cloutt
(See above)
Fujitsu Liaison
Geoff Peters
Tel: 0870 325 2273
Email:
Committee Members
Emma Campbell, Email:
Alan Frost, Email:
AXiS News: PO Box 384, Buxton, Norwich, NR10 5RS
AXiS News 1
AXiS News 1
Editorial
Spring is well advanced as I strap in to my editor’s chair and endeavour to concentrate on the Newsletter rather than get side-tracked in the garden by all the exciting new growth. I have held this issue over a couple of weeks in order to capture some new material.
This issue breaks new ground as far as our Group’s newsletters are concerned. The article about 20 years of Apple sent me scurrying through the archives to see which issues had been produced on an Apple Macintosh and a by-product of that search was to discover that this will be the first time in the history of the Group that we have entered a 10th volume of Newsletters. Each time we changed the name of the Group, eg 2900 User Group, to Large Systems User Group, to AMSU a new series of newsletters was introduced and each year was collated as a volume. In the lifetime of AMSU there were 9 volumes. So starting a 10th volume for AXiS means that the name AXiS will soon have existed longer than any other name for our Group. Perhaps the News team can have a celebratory cup of coffee!
Since we switched to electronic delivery for AXiS News we have not carried any significant advertising though it is still open for any company to advertise their services. Basic rates for the current year are shown on page 2. However it is now proposed to offer advertising space on the public pages of the AXiS web site. Please contact me for more details and proposed rates.
Don Folland
Chairman’s Column
In my last newsletter piece I mentioned the problem of Spam emails. I have decided to keep a record of the numbers involved. I was rather surprised that I have reported over 500 in the last month – these are the ones not caught by my service provider’s Spam filter. In that same period – the filter on the main email account which I use incorrectly identified 20 emails as Spam.
I had a telephone call from a company which does email marketing – I told him that I didn’t believe this to be effective since the majority of such emails are caught by Spam filters. He offered to email me some details I agreed to giving him an email address which I have set up for such purposes – you’ve guessed it – his email was caught by my filter.
Planning is well advanced for the Spring event at the Earth Centre and bookings are coming in at a steady rate. So if you haven’t booked already, please do so as soon as you can. Bookings received so far suggest a rise in the numbers attending this time. The conference programme is very interesting and we will be having a larger showcase this time. The venue is fascinating and well worth a visit. I look forward to meeting you there.
Can I make a plea for more members to join the committee. Running events is a very rewarding task and the more that can assist the better. We also value the contribution from members sites when preparing the programme. What are your concerns and interests. So if you can help – please let either myself or Don Folland know.
Harold Cloutt
AXiS News 1
Obituary: Dr Chris Cheetham (1943 - 2004)
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AXiS members who remember Chris Cheetham will have been saddened by his death at the beginning of January after losing the fight against cancer.
He read Chemistry at Brasenose in 1960 and finished with a First. He joined the Physical Chemistry Laboratory and there achieved his doctorate. He became interested in computing as it took off during the sixties and soon became a front-runner.
His achievements led him to become head of software at the Oxford University Computing Service which is a remarkable achievement for a man trained as a chemist. He had joined the Service when the KDF9 was "on its last lap" and was largely responsible for the successful software developments achieved on Oxford’s ICL 1906A. Also he was responsible for much of the detail which was incorporated into the contract for the ICL 2980. During this time at Oxford he became Chairman of the George 3 User Group and demonstrated his enthusiasm to strive for improvements in software and service quality not just for his own organisation but for the greater good.
In July 1977 he left Oxford to take up an appointment with ICL during the early days of the 2900. He worked in the UKD 2900 Support Team based in Putney as Head of the VME/B team reporting to Richard Dean. Richard takes up the story:
In this post he played an important part in the ICL interface to the growing 2900 User Group, building a strong team of specialists who were key players staffing the Technical Workshops which became such a significant component of the 2900 User Group Conferences.
After some years he moved to Marketing in Slough and initially worked on Mainframe Systems but continuing for a while to represent ICL to the 2900 User Group. Whilst in Marketing he was seconded to the Department of Trade and Industry for a significant assignment which involved the promotion of Open Systems and associated standardisation. He left ICL in 1992 and worked thereafter as an independent consultant. For a while he was CEO of the BSI DISC standards organisation.
Richard recalls that Chris lived for a time in a flat in Fulham, overlooking the Thames, where he held parties to watch the early stages of the Boat Race.
In recent years he returned to Oxfordshire taking up residence in the charming village of Noke. He contributed to village life with the same enthusiasm that he showed for computing activities. A further tribute to him can be found on a local web site: http://oxford-consultants.tripod.com/noke.htm
AXiS News 13
AXiS News 13
AXiS Spring Conference 28th April 2004: VME – Down to Earth
AXiS News 13
The relatively new Earth Centre at Doncaster is the venue for this year’s Spring Conference. In the spirit of the Centre which encourages visitors to make best use of the Earth’s finite resources, this Conference will look at making efficient and effective use of your IT resources using VME and relevant products and services from Fujitsu Services and a number of partner suppliers.
This Conference provides the opportunity to receive a strategic update from Fujitsu Services especially in the context of the future of VME to learn about OpenVME 5, and obtain product and service updates from partner suppliers.
The main event will take place on Wednesday 28th April culminating in what should prove to be a fascinating tour of the Earth Centre. During the afternoon of Tuesday 27th April it is planned to hold Workshop and Masterclass sessions to facilitate technical discussion under the guidance of respected leaders.
Tuesday afternoon will also see several vendors setting up a showcase for their current products and services. Whilst the exhibition is intended particularly for the main Conference on Wednesday it will be open for preview from 3pm on Tuesday.
A Conference Dinner is planned for Tuesday evening.
Main Conference Programme
Wednesday 28th April 2004
9.30 Registration & Coffee
10.00 Welcome from AXiS
Chairman, Harold Cloutt
10.05 Keynote address: Mark Cartwright
Head of Business Critical Computing, Microsoft
10.20 Fujitsu Strategy and Future Directions. Neil Stevenson Director, Core Services Division, Fujitsu Services
10.45 Fujitsu Services’ Product and Services Update: John Popplewell, Distinguished Engineer, Fujitsu Services
11.15 Refreshment break
11.45 OpenVME: Derek Harrison, Consultant, Fujitsu Services
12.15 Practical experience of OpenVME: Ian Spence, Northern Rock plc
12.35 StorageTek Tape Strategy and Roadmap
12.45 Lunch
2.15 Introduction to the Earth Centre: An outline of features of the Tour
2.30 VME Top Ten – most effective features and functions: Alan Frost, Miracle GA and Harold Cloutt
3.00 Competition Prizegiving
3.10 Guided Tour by ‘train’ of the Earth Centre
Pre-Conference Activity
Tuesday 27th April 2003
Registration from: 1.30 pm
2.00 / Workshop: Web ServicesImproving Accessibility. RNIB Consultant
3.00 /
Workshop: Open Source
SUSE LINUX4.00 /
VME Masterclass
Margaret Leigh, Systems Architect, Fujitsu ServicesVendor Showcase: from 3.00 pm
Exhibitors will include Fujitsu Services, Gresham Enterprise Software, Miracle GA, Seagull Software, Thesaurus Computer Services
Conference fee
£100 plus VAT for AXiS Members, £130 plus VAT for non-members. Fee includes lunch and refreshments on 28th April. For delegates wishing to take Dinner in the evening of 27th April the cost will be £40 per person.
For further information and booking details contact AXiS Secretary via email:
AXiS News 13
Around the Earth Centre
AXiS News 13
After a few years down south AXiS is moving further north this year for the Spring Conference, choosing the relatively new Earth Centre, just outside Doncaster, as the venue.
The Earth Centre park has been developed above two old mine workings, Denaby Main deep mine (first opened in 1868) and Cadeby Colliery (first opened in 1893). The pits closed in 1968 and 1986 taking away coal and livelihood from the local people. In 1990 the area was chosen as a site for the Earth Centre. Work commenced in 1995 and became the first Landmark Millennium project to open in 1999.
The Castle View Conference Centre where the AXiS Conference takes place is a good example of contemporary sustainable architecture. It is largely constructed of reusable materials and is heated by natural resources.
History
The river Don (then called Dun) at the time of the Roman Empire was once an unpolluted, wide, gravel-bed river with deep pools interspersed by low rocky outcrops and fast flowing sections. On either side there would have been large flooded areas of reed beds, willow carrs and small pools used by fish and other creatures as breeding and nursery areas and these, in turn, provided a rich larder for water birds such as herons, kingfishers, ospreys and mammals such as otters.
A ford existed at Strafforth Sands immediately west of the Earth Centre and was the lowest easy crossing point between what are now Sheffield and Hull and consequently the area was strategically important for the pre-Saxon Celts, Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Danes and Normans, all of whom had a strong influence on the history of the area. The ferry at Conisbrough was also key in the defence of the area as is witnessed by the castle towering above it.
At the first millennium, the river Don enjoyed a reputation for being a great fishery with large stocks of salmon, sturgeon and eels. In AD1004 Wulfric Spot, Minister to King Ethelred, was recorded as having bequeathed to Aelfred certain lands and fisheries of Cunuzesbury (sic), including the esteemed eel fisheries of the Soke of Hatfield (located 15 kms. downstream). At this period the river would have been harvested by 'fishgarths' consisting of a wooden weir superstructure with a basket or net located in the centre to trap the fish.