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4 | <head><!--#set var="title" value="What was the price one had to pay for an UNIVAC 9400?" |
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5 | --><!--#set var="location" value="univac-kosten" |
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6 | --><!--#set var="part" value="extra" |
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7 | --><!--#set var="url_de" value="geraete/univac9400/kosten.shtm" |
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8 | --><!--#set var="title_de" value="Wie viel kostete eine UNIVAC 9400?" |
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9 | --><!--#set var="prev" value="/en/computer/univac9400.shtm" |
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10 | --><!--#set var="prev_title" value="Univac 9400 overview" |
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13 | --><title>technikum29 - <!--#echo var="title" --></title> |
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14 | |
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15 | <!-- |
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16 | Some notes about prices: |
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17 | |
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18 | * USD to German Mark currency rate: 3,6 DM = 1 US $ |
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19 | Taken from http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsche_Mark#Wechselkurs_zum_US-Dollar |
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20 | with the value of the year 1970 |
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21 | |
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22 | * Price of a VW bug: 2000 US $ |
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23 | Taken from http://dev.technikum29.de/mails/archive/0016.html |
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24 | |
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25 | * Problem: Car number must match to german car number. If calulating the right |
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26 | way, |
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27 | German price / (currency rate) = USD price |
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28 | USD price / (USD price of VW bug) = No. of VW bugs |
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29 | you'll get a lower VW bug number. |
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30 | Therefore I calculated the wrong way: |
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31 | No. of VW bugs * (USD price of VW bug) = USD price |
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32 | Which makes the currency rate between USD and German Marks quite strange. |
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33 | But the USD number is always even, thats good ;-) |
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34 | |
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35 | --> |
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36 | |
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37 | <!--#include virtual="/en/inc/head.inc.shtm" --> |
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38 | <meta name="keywords" lang="de" content="" /> |
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39 | <meta name="DC.Title" content="technikum29 - <!--#echo var="title" -->" /> |
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40 | <meta name="t29.SVN" content="$Id: costs.shtm 201 2010-10-14 23:02:12Z sven $" /> |
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41 | <meta name="t29.germanoriginal" content="14.08.2008/v5.8" /> |
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42 | <meta name="t29.thistranslation" content="09.08.2008/v5.8.0" /> |
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43 | <meta name="t29.comment" content="Only design (Sidebar)" /> |
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44 | <!-- |
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45 | Changelog of this file: |
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46 | * 14.08.2008/v5.8BETA based on 09.08.2008/v5.8BETA: Initial translation |
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47 | --> |
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48 | </head> |
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49 | <body> |
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50 | <!--#echo encoding="none" var="heading" --> |
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51 | <div id="content"> |
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52 | <h2><!--#echo var="title" --></h2> |
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53 | |
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54 | <p>40 years ago, computer systems were incredibly expensive. The prices in the |
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55 | following abstract are taken from the original UNIVAC price list from 1968 |
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56 | to 1970. To visualize what this mainframe is worth, we also investigated the |
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57 | prices of a Volkswagen Type 1 (commonly known as beetle), a typical economy |
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58 | car produced in Germany in the 1960/70s. In 1970, a 55 HP model cost |
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59 | about 6000 DM. In the USA, it was sold for approximately 2000 US $.</p> |
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60 | |
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61 | <table cellspacing="1" width="100%"> |
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62 | <colgroup> |
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63 | <col width="10%" /> |
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64 | <col /> |
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65 | <col width="15%;" align="right" /> |
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66 | <col width="15%" /> |
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67 | <col width="20%" /> |
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68 | </colgroup> |
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69 | <tr> |
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70 | <th>model number</th> |
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71 | <th>Name</th> |
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72 | <th>price in DM</th> |
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73 | <th>price in US $</th> |
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74 | <th>Number of equivalent Volkswagen beetle</th> |
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75 | </tr> |
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76 | <tr> |
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77 | <td>3019</td> |
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78 | <td>Main processor cabinet (CPU and console)</td> |
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79 | <td>258,000 DM</td> |
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80 | <td>86,000 $</td> |
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81 | <td>43</td> |
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82 | </tr> |
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83 | <tr> |
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84 | <td>7010 *)</td> |
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85 | <td>Plated wire storage 24 KB (minimum)</td> |
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86 | <td>272,000 DM</td> |
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87 | <td>90,000 $</td> |
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88 | <td>45</td> |
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89 | </tr> |
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90 | <tr> |
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91 | <td>7010 *)</td> |
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92 | <td>Plated wire storage 131 KB (maximum)</td> |
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93 | <td>900,000 DM</td> |
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94 | <td>300,000 $</td> |
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95 | <td>150</td> |
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96 | </tr> |
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97 | <tr> |
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98 | <td>716</td> |
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99 | <td>Punch card reader</td> |
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100 | <td>70,000 DM</td> |
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101 | <td>22,000 $</td> |
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102 | <td>11</td> |
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103 | </tr> |
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104 | <tr> |
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105 | <td>768</td> |
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106 | <td>High speed printer</td> |
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107 | <td>252,000 DM</td> |
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108 | <td>84,000 $</td> |
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109 | <td>42</td> |
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110 | </tr> |
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111 | <tr> |
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112 | <td>5024</td> |
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113 | <td>Disk drive controller</td> |
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114 | <td>128,000 DM</td> |
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115 | <td>42,000 $</td> |
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116 | <td>21</td> |
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117 | </tr> |
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118 | <tr> |
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119 | <td>8414 **)</td> |
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120 | <td>Removable disk unit (6 drives)</td> |
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121 | <td>764,000 DM</td> |
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122 | <td>254,000 $</td> |
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123 | <td>127</td> |
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124 | </tr> |
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125 | <tr> |
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126 | <td>5017</td> |
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127 | <td>Tape controller</td> |
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128 | <td>121,000 DM</td> |
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129 | <td>40,000 $</td> |
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130 | <td>20</td> |
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131 | </tr> |
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132 | <tr> |
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133 | <td>861</td> |
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134 | <td>UNISERVO 12 (master)</td> |
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135 | <td>102,000 DM</td> |
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136 | <td>24,000 $</td> |
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137 | <td>17</td> |
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138 | </tr> |
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139 | <tr> |
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140 | <td>861</td> |
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141 | <td>UNISERVO 12 (slave)</td> |
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142 | <td>60,000 DM</td> |
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143 | <td>20,000 $</td> |
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144 | <td>10</td> |
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145 | </tr> |
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146 | <tr> |
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147 | <td>862</td> |
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148 | <td>UNISERVO 16</td> |
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149 | <td>157,000 DM</td> |
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150 | <td>52,000 $</td> |
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151 | <td>26</td> |
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152 | </tr> |
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153 | <tr> |
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154 | <td></td> |
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155 | <td>UNISCOPE 100 (CRT terminal) ***)</td> |
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156 | <td>15,000 DM</td> |
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157 | <td>4,000 $</td> |
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158 | <td>2</td> |
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159 | </tr> |
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160 | <tr> |
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161 | <td></td> |
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162 | <td>Hard drive (40 MB), 1 unit</td> |
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163 | <td>2,950 DM</td> |
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164 | <td>1,000 $</td> |
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165 | <td>0,5</td> |
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166 | </tr> |
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167 | <tr style="line-height: 200%;"> |
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168 | <th></th> |
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169 | <th>Sum (with 10 hard drives) about</th> |
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170 | <th>2,800,000 DM</th> |
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171 | <th>940,000 $</th> |
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172 | <th>470 cars!!</th> |
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173 | </tr> |
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174 | </table> |
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175 | |
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176 | <p style="font-size: 90%;"> |
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177 | <span style="visibility:hidden;">**</span>*) We have the semiconductor memory 7028, featuring 262 KB<br/> |
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178 | <span style="visibility:hidden;">*</span>**) We have the successor 8425, with 5 drives<br/> |
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179 | ***) We have the UNISCOPE 200 |
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180 | </p> |
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181 | |
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182 | <p>These incredible prices originated from the very high |
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183 | development costs and the low quantities. The illustration |
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184 | on the right hand shows the curious value comparison: |
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185 | Arranging all these 470 cars successively would result in a |
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186 | 2.3 kilometer long chain of new cars! Therefore computer |
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187 | firms earned quite well in those days and were able to |
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188 | expand very fast.</p> |
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189 | |
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190 | <p>The prices for random access memory are quite outstanding. |
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191 | After the development of semiconductor memories at the early |
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192 | 1970s, RAM got much cheaper.</p> |
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193 | |
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194 | <p>Companies closed deals with UNIVAC for maintenance and paid |
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195 | more than 4,000$. Therefore it was cheaper for them to hire and |
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196 | train own engineers for exclusively this purpose.</p> |
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197 | |
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198 | <p>Enterprises could also lease the mainframes from UNIVAC, which |
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199 | was quite common in the early days of EDP. Our mainframe with |
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200 | 10 hard drives and fully equipped RAM would cost about |
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201 | 18,000 US$ every month. Even at this time machine time was |
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202 | settled to the second, like at today's high end super computers |
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203 | where machine time can be purchased. Thus buying such a mainframe |
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204 | computer was only affordable for very big concerns.</p> |
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205 | |
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206 | <!-- absolut positioniertes Bildchen --> |
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207 | <img src="/shared/photos/rechnertechnik/univac/kosten-gleichsetzung.jpg" |
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208 | style="position: absolute; bottom: 5px; right: 0px;" |
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209 | alt="An illustration: One Univac 9400 equals 470 cars!" /> |
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210 | |
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211 | </div><!--content--> |
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212 | <!--#include virtual="/en/inc/menu.inc.shtm" --> |
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213 | </body> |
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214 | </html> |
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