The following quote is from the article "A History of MTS: 30 Years of Computing Service" in the farewell to MTS issue of the University of Michigan Information Technology Digest, Volume 5, No. 5, 13 May 1996: The timesharing experiment began as a "half-page of code
on the kitchen table." By combining this new code with a
version of a small multi-programming system (LLMPS) from MIT
Lincoln Laboratories — which was modified and became the U-M
Multi-Programming System (UMMPS) — MTS architects Mike Alexander
and Don Boettner were able to create a prototype timesharing
system.
The kitchen table was in a house at 810 Sylvan Street in Ann Arbor that
was rented by Don Boettner, Mike Alexander, and Fred Swartz. As of 2010 the house is still there:View a map And the "S" in UMMPS stands for Supervisor rather than System. See Myth #10. In the following Mike is Mike Alexander, Fred is Fred Swartz, Chris is Chris Wendt (Merit) and Dick is Dick Salisbury. Unless noted otherwise everyone mentioned worked for the UM Computing Center. --On November 21, 2010 4:12:42 PM -0500 Jeff Ogden wrote: Does the house on Sylvan still exist? . . . Who other than the two of you lived there? Fred? Chris? -Jeff On Nov 21, 2010, at 9:19 PM, Mike Alexander wrote: It's still there. It's 810 Sylvan. Don and Dick lived there until they moved to the house in Barton Hills. Dick moved in after (immediately after?) I moved out or maybe even before. He might have moved in when Fred and Chris moved out. When I lived there (from Jan 1965 until the summer of 1967) Fred and Chris lived there too, although Chris didn't move in until we'd been there a year or so. Fred, Chris, and I all left more or less the same time after Fred and Chris got married, although I think they left a few weeks before I did. After that others moved in including, I think, Bruce Bolas. Don will be able to give you a complete list, I'm sure. It's the second or third house from White St., depending on whether you count the one facing White. Mike On Nov 25, 2010 4:48:18 PM EST Don Boettner wrote: Well, I hauled out all the old House Account books from 810 Sylvan and have produced the following timeline:
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