I got to use a Y/MP-48 (COS with VAX/VMS front ends) in the late 80s. Excellent learning experience. The professor offered something like 10 bonus points on t

I got to use a Y/MP-48 (COS with VAX/VMS front ends) in the late 80s. Excellent learning experience. The professor offered something like 10 bonus points on the final for anyone that could solve a particular problem (don't recall which one) in a faster time than he was able to achieve. Having done the best I could, I called the local Cray office looking for help. It was a sales office, so the person I talked to could only say he'd see what he could do. A couple of days later, they called and asked if I could come to the office for a bit. Turns out, one of the senior compiler engineers was in town, and he took something like 2 hours out of his trip to teach this college kid all the black magic and voodoo compiler switches and optimization techniques that weren't covered in the class. Very generous and great customer service. I ended up about 12% faster than the shocked professor, and got my A.