CS2642 & SWE2643 Computers and Society/Professional Practices and Ethics
Lecture 7--Whose Machine Was It, Anyway?
© 2001 Richard Halstead-Nussloch, Ph.D.
All Rights Reserved
Overview
Whose Machine Was It, Anyway?...
Loose lips and other leaks...
Designing the second computer
Scientists versus engineers
The First Draft -- A critical document
Patents and Battles over Patents
Later in life...
Summary
Loose lips and other leaks...
By chance, Lt. Goldstine met von Neumann at the Aberdeen train platform in ‘44
Goldstine introduced himself
von Neumann uninterested until...
Goldstine brought up ENIAC project
von Neumann quickly warmed
Goldstine’s invitation to see ENIAC was accepted
What’s wrong with this picture?
What’s right with this picture?
von Neumann became a regular visitor, and set his sights on the second computer, the EDVAC
Designing the Second Computer -- The EDVAC
By the time von Neumann arrived, the riddles of making an electronic computer work were solved
Many unreliable tubes were configured and made to operate reliably
It made accurate computations very fast
It was overly complicated
It was very difficult to program
BUT it was…A patentable art had been demonstrated in the ENIAC
Eckert began to design a second, improved computer in 1944
Designing the Second Computer -- The EDVAC
Eckert’s engineering design of computer #2
Simpler, more elegant
Utilized his mercury-delay-line for memory
Memory would contain both program and data
Built with single channel for moving numbers around
von Neumann played a key role in logical design
Logical design, not engineering design
Many unreliable tubes still had to be configured and made to operate reliably
von Neumann’s five tube circuit was overly simple
"That’s five tubes for logic and five tubes for electronics."
Scientists versus Engineers & other pettiness at the Moore School
In this corner, Pres Eckert and his engineers -- the "tinkers"
In the classroom mostly, John Mauchly
In that corner, John von Neumann and his Scientists -- the "thinkers"
In service of von Neumann, Herman Goldstine
Eckert and Mauchly lost control of the EDVAC and even credit for the ENIAC
von Neumann won control and credit
By quickly grasping good ideas
By articulating & documenting them clearly & simply
The First Draft -- A Critical Document -- Genie out of bottle
Typed by Goldstine for von Neumann in June ‘45
Goldstine mimeographed it
with only von Neumann’s name
"for Moore School use only" (verbal only)
Added clarity to the logical design of computers
Avoided details and engineering specifics
Did not attribute credit, e.g., for memory design
Was initially ignored by Eckert and Mauchly
Goldstine sent 24 copies externally, thus placing it in the public domain
The First Draft -- A Critical Document -- Genie out of bottle
Eckert and Mauchly followed with their own report, which was classified by Goldstine and not allowed to distribute.
Homework:
What was good about distributing von Neumann’s report?
What was bad about distributing von Neumann’s report?
Patents and Battles over Patents
A patent is a claim to intellectual property (IBM Brochure)
New - different from available technology or "art"
Non-obvious to a person with ordinary skill in the technology of the invention
Useful - achieve a beneficial result
Governments register patents and give inventors rights to prohibit use and/or collect royalties
For the ENIAC
Army sponsor gave the right to patent to Moore School, but retained royalty-free rights to use
Eckert and Mauchly obtained the right to patent from Moore School
Patents and Battles over Patents
Since a patent is a claim to intellectual property, it needs to be filed, just like a deed to property - In U.S., 1 year after disclosure
The ENIAC patent(s) were
very late in being filed
very naively handled by the Moore School
changed to be assigned to the Moore School for the EDVAC project
a source of hurt and bitterness for many involved
so badly handled by the Moore School that it got out of the computer business after the EDVAC
Later in life...
Today, if you have a good idea
Think about patenting it... Now!
So that later in life
You can enjoy the fruits of your labor
And bask in the credit of a job well done
And, you can be an old gloat instead of being a bitter old goat
Summary
Whose Machine Was It, Anyway?...
Loose lips and other leaks...
Designing the second computer
Scientists versus engineers
The First Draft -- A critical document
Patents and Battles over Patents
Later in life...