Michael Craze - Computer World 1985
Computer World Jan 14, 1985
- Accounting firm gives 5,000 Macs thumbs-up
- Most people in the company have been issued a mac computer
- Mainly used with auditors to automate record keeping
- Lack of networking and printer didn't hinder their use
Computer World Jan 14, 1985
- Banks insuring DP - Spread of electronic systems renders fraud, malfunction coverage 'critical'
- Survey of a sample of 622 banks in 1983 reported:
- 43% had separate insurance policies to cover data processing
- The DP policies typically cover equipment, media, extra expenses and in some cases, business interruption.
Computer World Jan 14, 1985
- Theft of 100,000 traced to credit bureau system tap
- 24yr old programmer gained illegal access to Greater Houston Credit Bureau
- Obtained the credit histories and info of 38 local residents.
- Took credit cards out in the people's names
- Wore a disguise and withdrew money from ATM's repeatedly
- He was able to post his $30,000 bond when arrested.
- One of the people that he took out a credit card on was a bank employee
- The employee noticed the rogue card in his name and investigated it.
Computer World Jan 21, 1985
- The death of a library tradition is in the cards
- Washington D.C. Library of Congress (worlds largest library)
- Replacing 23 million index cards with automated database system
- Adds 2million index cards each year.
- collection card catalog dates back to 1800 and occupies several rooms
- The room is the size of half of a city block
Unix Version 8 was released in February 1985
- Research Unix OS developed and used internally at Bell Labs and a select number of universities.
- It ran on VAX hardware, and was a variant of 4.1cBSD with some System V.1 features (notably the shell).
- regular expression matching library (de facto standard until POSIX)
- It also introduced the I/O streams,
- the /proc filesystem, and
- kernel support for interpreter directives.
Computer World Jun 3, 1985
- NCR user wins $5.8 million suit
- Claims that NCR lied about the storage capabilities of it's system
- Construction Company bought machine in 1977, and lawsuit took 6 years
- The system lacked the appropriate mass-storage capabilities to meet his company's needs.
Computer World Jun 3, 1985
- Piracy case settled - Defendants admit to unauthorized copying, agree to reimburse vendor
- Out-of-court settlement between American Brands Inc. and The Association of Data Processing Service Organization.
- American Brands admits to unauthorized software duplication.
Computer World Jul 15, 1985
- Software Vendors Now Feel Pinch
- Applied Data Research, Inc. announced that it expects to report a loss for the second quarter of 1985.
- It was the first quarterly loss in two years.
- Industry observers thought that the slump that slammed hardware makers spared large systems software vendors, but it didn't.
- Prediction that the coming months are likely to bring reduced profit and revenue growth.
Computer World Jul 15, 1985
- Credit card scam laid to DP workers
- Two computer operators at a firm in Denver that issues credit cards agreed to plead guilty to participating in a crime ring.
- They created about 40 fraudulent credit cards and ran up charges of $50,000.
Computer World Aug 12, 1985
- Applause for Amiga
- Amiga 1000 was released.
- Innovative personal computer technology
- Ease of use
- Operating System has many limitations, but a true engineering breakthrough
- Advances in graphics capabilities,
- Advances in System speed,
- Advances in sound reproduction
- Advances in multitasking functions
- Such advances are rare in these times of clones upon clones.
Computer World Oct 7, 1985
- Top of the News - at the user group conference
- IBM will release a new System/38 processor called the Model 60.
- It supports up to 512 users!
- It "boasts" 32 megabytes of main memory!
Computer World Nov 18, 1985
- Illegal smuggling of high-tech computer equipment to Russia.
- Russians paying 4-5 times the market value
- US DoD says total value is on a similar scale to sums in drug importation.