I'm trying to imagine a mini and Heritage / 1 dedicated to a particular application (only one) in a cooperative environment, for example, a small company selling electronic components.
A team of vendors (say, six), each at his desk, often answering phone calls and a video terminal in front. The minicomputer is away from them, particularly in the engineering room.
Anyway, Heritage / 1 does not use magnetic tapes and disks, but these are too slow to provide an immediate response to the user. The Heritage / 1 I'm imagining running a timesharing operating system (Time-Sharing System) at several users (in particular, these six vendors) can access the system simultaneously. What they can not do is get immediate answers and they know it. Let us see how they do.
Robualdo (seller) receives a call from an old client, John Doe, which requested an estimate for a new order. Robualdo notes (on paper) the details and promises to return your call as soon as possible. Now
Robualdo goes to terminal and use it to get a "request." This involves filling out an electronic form with the name of the customer in question and the types of components and some features thereof, in accordance with the requirements. It would be something like this:
CLIENT: JUAN PEREZ
COMPONENT: COMPONENT IC 74HC163
: IC SOCKET 16 PINS DIP
Robualdo clears the "application" and is engaged in other matters he knows from experience that the answer does not take less than 15 minutes to appear .
The system will search the record of John Smith on the tape of customers to obtain the record key (client_id) and take the opportunity to copy the remaining data in memory for that customer. Then make a consultation on bringing INGREDIENTS tape memory records that match the data entered in the "application", ie all type 74HC163 integrated circuits and all IC Sockets 16-pin DIP. After obtaining information, the system will prepare a report and printed using a printer shared by the six vendors of small business.
So 15 minutes later, Robualdo goes to the printer and returns to his desk with a long printed list ... that is the result of their "application."
From this list, Robualdo select the components that best meet the needs of your customer and goes back to the terminal to "get the order." Now use part numbers instead of descriptions to refer to the required components.
The point is that the concept of "application" is intermediate between "batch processing" and "time-sharing", or what is equal between the sixties and our time.
In the 60s, Robualdo not have a terminal on his desk but a printed catalog, which was produced by a line printer or even ownership of the company but located in a data center that provides such service to that and other companies. The order would be filled by hand on a paper form. A secretary would be responsible for collecting the orders of the day and send them all together at the Computing Center for processing which includes the transcript of the forms to electronic format, possibly punched card.
So the entry of an "application" in a video terminal located on top of bureau is a breakthrough for Robualdo. This simple action replaces the entire papal movement towards (and from) the Computer Centre, transcription mass by third parties, and the consequent delay.
is best to wait 15 minutes a day to prepare an order. The customer will be satisfied (and even admired) to be able to get an answer in 15 minutes by telephone. And the company will be happier still to be able to make sales more quickly.
All this fantasy has had one purpose: to figure out whether a time-sharing system based solely on magnetic tape, can be useful. And I see that the answer is yes but only if I take the "immediacy" of the equation and imagine a workflow according to the time that Heritage / 1 represents.
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