Notices by Tom Lyon ✅ (aka_pugs@mastodon.social)

Bunch of hot air. #ABQ

OTD 1989: SunLink Channel Gateway released. #SunMicrosystems #Mainframe

Founders of #SunMicrosystems, 1983(?) and 2006 (at CHM). Vinod Khosla, Bill Joy, Andy Bechtolsheim, Scott McNealy. #Suntember

1994: #SunMicrosystems develops SKIP - Simple Key Management for Internet Protocols. SKIP lost out to IPSec in the IETF because (IIRC) it didn't have Perfect Forward Secrecy. A clear case of "perfect" being the enemy of "good" - it took many more years before IPSec had usable key management (or does it yet?). https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E19957-01/805-5743/6j5dvnrfn/index.html #Suntember

Stock price history of #SunMicrosystems, 1990-2010. $2 - $250 is quite a range. But what bubble? https://companiesmarketcap.com/sun-microsystems/stock-price-history/ #Suntember

OS Hype Wars from 1990 - "UNIX/SVr4 & OS/2 Technical Comparison" https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Y7RTlDt2T1vpcwHe63Fdw83HS3h8M9Sw/view?usp=sharing #SunMicrosystems #Suntember #UNIX

OTD 1982: #SunMicrosystems joins #USENET. https://www.krsaborio.net/bsd/research/1982/0908.htm #Suntember

Brian Kernighan recognized for groundbreaking work on computer programming languages https://www.cs.princeton.edu/news/brian-kernighan-recognized-groundbreaking-work-computer-programming-languages

If your wine is made by the founder of Cypress Semiconductors, does that make it a #SPARC-ling wine? (Cypress built the first full-custom SPARC processor). #SunMicrosystems #ClosDeLaTech #TJRodgers

OTD 1974: TCP/IP is born! 50 years!
https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/1092259 #TcpIp

@thomasfuchs I saw 2Mbps 802.11 in use when visiting DEC in 1997.

Born this day 1931: Fred Brooks, software/architecture pioneer.
"Einstein repeatedly argued that there must be simplified explanations of nature, because God is not capricious or arbitrary. No such faith comforts the software engineer." #ComputerHistory

Sun/Oracle hard drive spotted in "DiskMantler" video: https://garnerproducts.com/hubfs/Videos/DiskMantler-Garner.mp4

OTD 1989: #SunMicrosystems announces the #SPARCstation 1. 35 years of pizza boxes with purple feet! https://www.1000bit.it/js/web/viewer.html?file=%2Fad%2Fbro%2Fsun%2Fsparc%2Fsparcstation1%2Epdf

Feb. 24, 1982: Incorporation of #SunMicrosystems. 42 years!

Detailed history of BSD UNIX: https://www.abortretry.fail/p/the-berkley-software-distribution #ComputerHistory

OTD 1991: #SunMicrosystems reorganizes into 'Planets'. Generally considered a bad idea. http://ftp.lanet.lv/ftp/sun-info/sunflash/1991/Feb/26.17.reorg

- Sun Microsystems Computer Corp: Systems business with all the $$s
- SunSoft: Solaris Licensing - compete with Microsoft
- Sun Microelectronics: SPARC licensing - compete with Intel
- Sun Technology Enterprises: Add-On product holding company
--- SunPics: Imaging and Printing
--- SunConnect: Add-On networking (SunLink, etc)
--- SunSelect: PC compatibility (PC-NFS etc)
and ...\

#SunMicrosystems revenue & installed base - 1988 - 1993 - the transition to SPARC.

Question: What are the most important *operating system* improvements of today's Macintosh compared with the UNIX workstations of the '80s?

Everyone talks about how the first 'computers' were people (usually women), but how about the first packet switches? #ComputerHistory