The Cambridge Multiple-Access System

Barry Landy

14:00 – Login and networking

14:30 Main presentation, Q&A and networking

17:00 – Close

This webinar will be hosted on Zoom

In 1965 Maurice Wilkes visited MIT and sampled CTSS. On his return to Cambridge he told the team developing the TITAN operating system that they need to design interactive access.

Barry will describe the background to this decision; the many changes that had to be implemented to achieve the goal; some of the design challenges and how the system looked to the user. We did not realise how such systems could be misused and I have one example which, had we known it, was a portent for the future.

After completing his Cambridge Maths degree, Barry Landy started doing research in high energy Physics. After two years he realised that the computing he was doing (using EDSAC 2) to evaluate the solutions of his complicated equations was much more exciting than the Physics, and so he asked Professor Wilkes if he could join the Mathematical Laboratory.

In September 1963 he joined the small Cambridge team writing the operating system for TITAN – the Cambridge Atlas 2 – and quickly realised he had found his niche.

His computing journey has spanned Atlas, IBM operating systems (MVT and MVS), and small computers. His most recent employment was as an expert in a lawsuit concerning IBM copyright.

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