COMPUTER MEMORIES, Chapter 72

THE POWER SUPPLY WAS INSTALLED
Thirty years or so ago, I was installing a system that included a minicomputer, at a company in the Los Angeles area. The system was undergoing its acceptance period, and had to perform at a certain operational level, for a predetermined length of time, in order for the contract to become approved and official. As it turned out, just a few days before the contractual deadline, there was a problem with the power supply. A spare power supply was installed, but the problem continued, and we were in danger of losing the contract. I sent the customer engineer to another location where our system was installed, but where they weren’t quite so busy. Since this was a weekend, he “borrowed” the needed part, and installed it on the system still in its acceptance period, and that gave us a day or two of breathing space.

The home office back east had dispatched a new power supply by air, but because of terrible storms, it was lost in the snow somewhere between the coasts. I called an airline and ordered a ticket to be at the airport, near the factory. Then I called the man at the factory, who was supposed to take care of emergencies, and told him to put a power supply under his arm, go to the airport, pickup the tickets and fly to Los Angeles. He was told, “Whatever you do don’t check the package, hold it on your lap.”

Since it was winter, and airports all over the country were closed by storms, I had put him on an airline that flew south, then one that flew west to Los Angeles. When the man arrived at LAX, we met him and picked up the new power supply, and he asked, “What do I do now?” I said, “You have a round trip ticket, use it.” The home office was very unhappy at first, but the contract was approved, and many thousands of dollars were saved.

AN EARLY VIRUS IN A COMPUTER ROOM
The first actual computer program virus I remember was created on an IBM 1401 over 40 years ago. Each morning the young lady who operated that computer would enter the current date into memory, so the reports of the day would contain the proper date. It took only a little effort by the computer programmer to discover the birthday of the young lady, then using just a little additional imagination he programmed an embedded routine that would check the date, then on the proper day, it printed “HAPPY BIRTHDAY.”

Since the computer was not connected in any way to any other computer, it could only effect its own operation. Harmless, but fun. (I heard of similar things, even earlier, on the IBM 701 at RAND Corp. and on the computer at the Western Data Center at UCLA, but am not personally familiar with what they were.)

LUNCH WITH THE INSPECTOR
In the early 1960s, CPA firms were hiring computer analysis and programmers, with the idea they were needed to install accounting procedures on computers. I contacted a couple of those firms, and convinced them the company I represented could do the programming, they could do the accounting. And that worked for both of us on a couple of contracts. One of those companies was talking with the State of Nevada, proposing to design and install a statewide accounting system, so I went to Carson City to see what I could do in that matter.

One day as I was lunching an elected official of the state government, we were surrounded by slot machines and other gambling paraphernalia. I remarked that there were few places where one could legally dine in such surroundings with a government official. He laughed and said, “Well, many things are different in Nevada. The next time you’re in town, I’ll arrange for you to take the Whore-House Inspector to lunch.” Well, another great idea that never worked out.