NetNews Usenet Archive 1993 #3/NN_1993_3.iso/spool/comp/os/vms/22092

Internet Message Format | 1993-01-28 | 1.5 KB

Path: sparky!uunet!scifi!acheron!philabs!linus!agate!ucbvax!U.WASHINGTON.EDU!DEREK
From: [e-mail]
Newsgroups: comp.os.vms
Subject: Re: computers, automobiles (and bignums)
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: 27 Jan 93 19:13:00 GMT
Sender: [e-mail]
Distribution: world
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 33

Just a word in defense of Nigel Arnot, who wrote:
...
>I don't know how often 1960-era computers crashed, but I'd be surprised if
>it was less often than current ones and I'd guess 10-100 times less often
>which would make the Roller as safe as a train.
...

To which Carl Lydick replied:
...
>In that case, I suppose you're very easily-surprised.  MTBF for many computers
>of the early '60s was on the order of 4 hours.
...

I only expect that Nigel might be surprised by two things.  First, that them
olde computers crashed so often.  Second, that Carl misunderstood the posting.

In Carl's defense, some phrases seem to be inherently difficult to parse.
The difficult phrase is "less often".  (So, it probably isn't a phrase, but
then I was never all *that* good at grammar.)  When I read Nigel's post, I
understood it right away, but Carl's post got me confused.  It took a while
before I thought to think of the converse phrase, which is "more often".

Carl, eat first.    :)

-Derek S. Haining
 University Computing Services
 University of Washington
 Seattle, Washington  98195
 [phone]

 [e-mail]
 [e-mail]