The CDC 6600 was used as the student mainframe for George Mason University (GMU) in Northern Virginia in the 1980s. For engineering classes (e.g., electronics engineering) the 6600 was still excellent; it could run simulations far faster than many systems that had been built later, and it was certainly faster at that task than the personal computers of that early time (Apple //es or the original IBM PC). People also used the 6600 for writing text, compiling, etc. The computer was a terrible match for that, but it was fast enough that the mismatch of capabilities still made it useful for the purpose.
Oh, and a quick aside: Today's computers are much faster, but much of that speed is taken away by software that's more functional and less efficient. I once shared an IBM PC (4.77MHz) among 16 users. If your computer software is generally efficient, and you're willing to reduce what it does, a single computer can serve a remarkably large number of users. Nobody worried about font selection, for example. So it was with the 6600; it could serve many users, if carefully managed.
Now for the story, which I can't confirm but I believe to be true. At the time GMU was a scrappy new local university. It was in a great location (Northern Virginia, which was expanding rapidly). However, although it was a state university, it had little support from the capital (power is divided among counties, and the rural counties easily outvoted Northern Virginia).
GMU's president, President Johnson, had much bigger plans for GMU. So Johnson arranged for a hand-me-down supercomputer (the 6600) for nearly nothing. This computer was considered obsolete by then, and it was terrible at text processing. Even so, it was still fast enough to be useful, and more importantly, it was a supercomputer, even though it had been obsoleted. My understanding is that Johnson sold the pitch of "GMU has a supercomputer now" to all the local businesses, asking them to help fund GMU & cooperate in various ways. The local businesses did, greatly so.
I suspect most of the businesses knew the "supercomputer" wasn't a current speed champion, and as I far as I know no lies were told. But that wasn't the point. The pitch "we have a supercomputer" was good enough to make it much easier for some people in various businesses to justify (to their cohorts) donating to GMU & working with GMU. Many businesses in Northern Virginia wanted GMU to succeed, because they would greatly benefit long-term with a good university in their backyard... they just needed a good-enough story to win over those who might veto it internally. This "we have a supercomputer" pitch (and other things) worked. Once GMU got "real" money, they invested it, e.g., they upgraded (and kept upgrading) to better equipment. GMU grew quickly into quite a powerhouse; it's now the largest state university in Virginia. One of GMU's distinctives is the huge number of connections it has to local businesses and government organizations. Originally this was because GMU couldn't rely on state funding, but the need to interconnect with local organizations led over time to an emphasis on applying academic knowledge to real-world problems. It's interesting to see how problems + scrappiness can lead to long-term cultures within an organization. Johnson passed away in 2017 ( https://www2.gmu.edu/news/427091 ), but his legacy continues.
Gopher, not csci. The University certainly did promote their Cray supercomputing connection for local business support, just as GP describes. Cray computer was the cover model for the coursebook, while us plebs really got to timeshare on a BSD VAX :)
Thanks! I think it's important to note that to my knowledge, no lies were told.
Those in organizations who delved into the details found that yes, it's a supercomputer. It's a really obsolete one. But it is more capable than the PCs. More importantly, it showed that the university was very resourceful, and imagine what it could do if it got real money! In addition, having a good university next door was attractive, but only if there was a plausible path to get there.
But that was a complicated story to tell, so this whole thing provided a simpler story: "They have a supercomputer". All big organizations have bureaucratic inertia, and this simpler story was useful for people who didn't want to go into the details but might veto something.
My wife calls this "theater", and that's a good word. In this case, it was theater that helped counter bureaucratic inertia.
GMU took the few resources it had, and did a lot with them. People saw that, gave them real resources, and GMU quick grew into a powerhouse. I think that's an interesting story, and the 6600 played a part in it.
To be fair a 6600 was a great choice too to have students learn on at the time. It's basically a Cray-0, and would be representative of the architecture of supercomputers up through the mid/late nineties.
Hell, at the time, given the choice between a Cray and two 6600s, for students I'd lean two 6600s.
The CDC 6600 was used as the student mainframe for George Mason University (GMU) in Northern Virginia in the 1980s. For engineering classes (e.g., electronics engineering) the 6600 was still excellent; it could run simulations far faster than many systems that had been built later, and it was certainly faster at that task than the personal computers of that early time (Apple //es or the original IBM PC). People also used the 6600 for writing text, compiling, etc. The computer was a terrible match for that, but it was fast enough that the mismatch of capabilities still made it useful for the purpose.
Oh, and a quick aside: Today's computers are much faster, but much of that speed is taken away by software that's more functional and less efficient. I once shared an IBM PC (4.77MHz) among 16 users. If your computer software is generally efficient, and you're willing to reduce what it does, a single computer can serve a remarkably large number of users. Nobody worried about font selection, for example. So it was with the 6600; it could serve many users, if carefully managed.
Now for the story, which I can't confirm but I believe to be true. At the time GMU was a scrappy new local university. It was in a great location (Northern Virginia, which was expanding rapidly). However, although it was a state university, it had little support from the capital (power is divided among counties, and the rural counties easily outvoted Northern Virginia).
GMU's president, President Johnson, had much bigger plans for GMU. So Johnson arranged for a hand-me-down supercomputer (the 6600) for nearly nothing. This computer was considered obsolete by then, and it was terrible at text processing. Even so, it was still fast enough to be useful, and more importantly, it was a supercomputer, even though it had been obsoleted. My understanding is that Johnson sold the pitch of "GMU has a supercomputer now" to all the local businesses, asking them to help fund GMU & cooperate in various ways. The local businesses did, greatly so.
I suspect most of the businesses knew the "supercomputer" wasn't a current speed champion, and as I far as I know no lies were told. But that wasn't the point. The pitch "we have a supercomputer" was good enough to make it much easier for some people in various businesses to justify (to their cohorts) donating to GMU & working with GMU. Many businesses in Northern Virginia wanted GMU to succeed, because they would greatly benefit long-term with a good university in their backyard... they just needed a good-enough story to win over those who might veto it internally. This "we have a supercomputer" pitch (and other things) worked. Once GMU got "real" money, they invested it, e.g., they upgraded (and kept upgrading) to better equipment. GMU grew quickly into quite a powerhouse; it's now the largest state university in Virginia. One of GMU's distinctives is the huge number of connections it has to local businesses and government organizations. Originally this was because GMU couldn't rely on state funding, but the need to interconnect with local organizations led over time to an emphasis on applying academic knowledge to real-world problems. It's interesting to see how problems + scrappiness can lead to long-term cultures within an organization. Johnson passed away in 2017 ( https://www2.gmu.edu/news/427091 ), but his legacy continues.