cowboy n.
[Sun, from William Gibson's cyberpunk SF] Synonym for hacker. It is reported that at Sun this word is
often said with reverence.
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CP/M /C-P-M/ n.
[Control Program/Monitor; later retconned to Control Program for
Microcomputers] An early microcomputer OS written by hacker Gary Kildall for 8080- and
Z80-based machines, very popular in the late 1970s but virtually
wiped out by MS-DOS after the release of the IBM PC in 1981.
Legend has it that Kildall's company blew its chance to write the
OS for the IBM PC because Kildall decided to spend a day IBM's
reps wanted to meet with him enjoying the perfect flying weather
in his private plane. Many of CP/M's features and conventions
strongly resemble those of early DEC
operating systems such as TOPS-10,
OS/8, RSTS, and RSX-11. See MS-DOS,
operating system.
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CPU Wars /C-P-U worz/ n.
A 1979 large-format comic by Chas Andres chronicling the
attempts of the brainwashed androids of IPM (Impossible to
Program Machines) to conquer and destroy the peaceful denizens of
HEC (Human Engineered Computers). This rather transparent
allegory featured many references to ADVENT and the immortal line "Eat flaming
death, minicomputer mongrels!" (uttered, of course, by an IPM
stormtrooper). The whole shebang is now available on the
Web.
It is alleged that the author subsequently received a letter
of appreciation on IBM company stationery from the head of IBM's
Thomas J. Watson Research Laboratories (then, as now, one of the
few islands of true hackerdom in the IBM archipelago). The lower
loop of the B in the IBM logo, it is said, had been carefully
whited out. See eat flaming
death.