5 ms·
If you read about computer history much, and the university of utah is mentioned quite a bit. They were one of the first four computers on the ARPANet, a hotbed
by cleverjake 15y ago
If you read about computer history much, and the university of utah is mentioned quite a bit. They were one of the first four computers on the ARPANet, a hotbed for graphics research, and the alma mater of Alan Kay, Ed Catmull and John Warnock. A bunch of early Pixar people came from there, and a number from PARC. Perhaps its because I don't know much about Utah, but it always surprised me how important it was to computer history, especially in relation to graphics.
- juiceandjuice 15y agoAlso, you forgot Ivan Sutherland.
- Turing_Machine 15y agoAlso Jim Clark (SGI and Netscape).
- te_platt 15y agoI don't know if it is related but they seem to have been consistently open and inviting to outsiders. I grew up within walking distance to campus back in the 70s and 80s. Two of my older brothers used to "sneak" computer time on a teletype system they had. I found out later just about anyone could show up and someone was around willing to show how to use it. They often have engineering weekends where high school kids can come through and explore projects other students are working on - more than an open house, less than a course. My oldest son visits regularly and just sent in his application yesterday.
- cleverjake 15y agoI believe it was Dealers in Lightning that had an anecdote about someone piping up with the perfect answer during a all hands meeting, while telling off the bigwig who was saying it wouldn't work. As it turns out, it was someone just touring PARC, who happened to be an expert. That sort of all-comers-welcome mentality seems to be common in many successful hacker spaces. Though I am not sure if it is a cause of a result of it.
- juiceandjuice 15y agoRelated: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah_teapot http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah_teapot