Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2016/02/24
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Herbert, I am sorry to hear about this. I saw the Difference Engine (along with the Wang minicomputer which was the first computer I learnt to program on) a few years ago when I was in San Jose for some meetings. I guess I will have to visit London Science Museum if I actually want to see it working. Without the Difference Engine, steam-punk fiction would never have been created. :-) In time, Myhrvold?s estate will probably donate it back to the Computer Museum. Not everyone wants a 5 ton machine sitting in their living room (and, of course, the tax break). Regards, Spencer > On Feb 24, 2016, at 20:52, Herbert Kanner <kanner at acm.org> wrote: > > > Over eight years ago, at the instigation of Bill Gates, the Science Museum > in London approached Nathan Myhrvold, former Chief Technology Officer for > Microsoft, for financial help in completing the Babbage Difference Engine. > The Museum had built the larger component, the one that did the actual > arithmetic. The additional financing was to enable them to build the > smaller but very complex component that would print the results on a paper > roll and, most important, create a mold in soft plaster of paris, that > when hardened would enable the creation of a full-page plate, ready to go > into a printing press, by pouring molten type metal into the mold. [?]