4 ms·

He'd already used Macsyma on MIT-MC, had written his own SMP, left Caltech due to IP issues WRT SMP, and was in 1985 working on cellular automata at the IAS whi

by hga 11y ago

He'd already used Macsyma on MIT-MC, had written his own SMP, left Caltech due to IP issues WRT SMP, and was in 1985 working on cellular automata at the IAS while no doubt arranging for SMP Mark II, AKA Mathematica which he started the next year.... Interestingly, Pournelle was the kind of guy who could exercise Macsyma, or at least his first computer program solved a system of 60 or so linear equations on a IBM 650, an "affordable" machine back in the '50s that used a magnetic drum for its main memory.

DonHopkins 11y ago
Yeah, with turists like Jerry Pournelle, who needs Stephen Wolfram? "Mr. Pournelle bids me tell you that if you intended to annoy him, you have succeeded, and that his next column in BYTE will have a lot to say about the ARPANET...." "One thing that is known about ARPA: you can be heaved off it for supporting the policies of the Department of Defense. Of course that was intended to anger me. If you have an ARPA account, please tell CSTACY that he was successful; now let us see if my Pentagon friends can upset him. Or perhaps some reporter friends. Or both., Or even the House Armed Services Committee."
- hga 11y ago
  Chris was really, really stupid to purge JERRYP for badthink; if Jerry had been intent on revenge vs. reform, he could have done a lot of damage to certain parties, although not of course the Internet itself, which that year was starting to be substantially extended by the NSFNet.
  - DonHopkins 11y ago
    Threatening to sick the House Armed Services Committee on the MIT AI Lab is "badact". And by the way, it was POURNE, not JERRYP: MIT Maximum Confusion PDP-10 MC ITS.1488. PWORD.2632. TTY 57 16. Lusers, Fair Share = 86% *:login pourne That account has been temporarily turned off. Reason: Think of it as evolution in action. Any questions may be directed to USER-ACCOUNTS * And you have to admit, he did asked to be dumped off the net, so he got what he asked for (although he failed to deliver what he promised in return: seppuku): "thank you. if left to you I suppose I cewrtainly will find my accounts terminated. Your nice private message appreciated. seppuku follows.. maybe you ought to have me dumped off the net and be done with it? or must you work through someone else? J. E. Pournelle"
  - DonHopkins 11y ago
    But I have to strongly disagree: POURNE was really, really stupid for thinking AND acting bad, and Chris/Gumby/Klotz made exactly the right call. The ARPANET was not Jerry Pournelle's government sponsored entitlement program.

by hga 11y ago

DonHopkins 11y ago

Yeah, with turists like Jerry Pournelle, who needs Stephen Wolfram? "Mr. Pournelle bids me tell you that if you intended to annoy him, you have succeeded, and that his next column in BYTE will have a lot to say about the ARPANET...." "One thing that is known about ARPA: you can be heaved off it for supporting the policies of the Department of Defense. Of course that was intended to anger me. If you have an ARPA account, please tell CSTACY that he was successful; now let us see if my Pentagon friends can upset him. Or perhaps some reporter friends. Or both., Or even the House Armed Services Committee."

hga 11y ago
Chris was really, really stupid to purge JERRYP for badthink; if Jerry had been intent on revenge vs. reform, he could have done a lot of damage to certain parties, although not of course the Internet itself, which that year was starting to be substantially extended by the NSFNet.
- DonHopkins 11y ago
  Threatening to sick the House Armed Services Committee on the MIT AI Lab is "badact". And by the way, it was POURNE, not JERRYP: MIT Maximum Confusion PDP-10 MC ITS.1488. PWORD.2632. TTY 57 16. Lusers, Fair Share = 86% *:login pourne That account has been temporarily turned off. Reason: Think of it as evolution in action. Any questions may be directed to USER-ACCOUNTS * And you have to admit, he did asked to be dumped off the net, so he got what he asked for (although he failed to deliver what he promised in return: seppuku): "thank you. if left to you I suppose I cewrtainly will find my accounts terminated. Your nice private message appreciated. seppuku follows.. maybe you ought to have me dumped off the net and be done with it? or must you work through someone else? J. E. Pournelle"
- DonHopkins 11y ago
  But I have to strongly disagree: POURNE was really, really stupid for thinking AND acting bad, and Chris/Gumby/Klotz made exactly the right call. The ARPANET was not Jerry Pournelle's government sponsored entitlement program.