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Librarians Fighting to Save Moore's Law Issue 172
wambaugh writes "As
reported earlier, Intel is offering $10,000 for a copy of the April 19, 1965 issue of Electronics containing Moore's original article predicting
'Moore's Law.' Now it is
being reported that
academic science libraries are having to
make sure no go-getters make off with their copies. At least one
copy is
already missing from the University of Illinois. Too bad Intel won't settle for a pdf."
Ebay Copy For Sale (Score:5, Interesting)
My grand-pappy used to say, "if it looks too good to be true, it is." I'm guessing that Intel's prerequisite about having an intact magazine will put this auction out of the running for the $10k prize, as the pages are all put in anti-acid sleeves, according to the seller.
Not sure if it's legit but if Intel wants to save a buck or two they might call an emergency meeting and head over to buy it. Unless this auction is a hoax. Caveat Emptor sirrahs...
Re:Ebay Copy For Sale (Score:2, Interesting)
For Intel to be so immature as to put a bounty on a copy of a magazine from 1965 is amazing. It feels like bad marketting and bad decisions on someones part.
Intel would do better to fund a project at the Smithsonian that would have a functional example of a computer from every year since 1965. Then at least there would be both
My Theory (Score:4, Insightful)
The funny thing is... they are getting a lot of press over this, so it's a very successful advertising campaign, and for the LOW PRICE of only $10,000. Compared to some ad campaigns? That's NOTHING!
Re:My Theory (Score:2, Interesting)
What bothers me is that $10K is nothing ( an accounting rounding error ) for Intel and thus they should have exercised some intelligence in honour of Moores Law and Intel engineering traditions.
They should have "thought" a little bit and done something worthwhile for the world instead of sending money crazed loons after an old magazine.
Hopefully, please, Intel did not do this simply to save marketting budget. I would like to think that a company with such a
a *rounding* error? (Score:2)
Re:a *rounding* error? (Score:3, Funny)
"I am pentium of the borg.
Division is futile.
You will be approximated."
hawk
Ummm, you can't be serious (Score:2)
Re:My Theory (Score:1, Funny)
2. Sell magazine for $100k
3. Profit
Re:LOW PRICE (Score:1)
Re:My Theory (Score:2)
Don't you think they would lose some credibility when the whole world knows the _WANT_ this magazine, and afterwards they sell it at eBay? Their business is making chips, no trading magazines.
Re:My Theory (Score:2)
You are right up until the second sentence. I seriously doubt though that they intent to profit from a later sale. The money is small fry to them, even if they would be able to quadr
Re:Ebay Copy For Sale (Score:2)
No one cares about the text. I'm sure they have lots of copies of that around. People want to preserve the real thing and have it. The magazine is the law. And they probably want to have it on display someplace. Or it's the only one missing from their archive of that magazine.
I suppose your the same type of person who see's no value in preserving national parks since we have photos of them. Or the type of person who sees no point in going outside and looking
Re:Ebay Copy For Sale (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Ebay Copy For Sale (Score:2)
Why would they want more than one copy unless it's just a publicity stunt?
Perhaps this isn't about the Moore's Law article.
Perhaps Intel has recently found they are violating a patent and the only proof of this can be found in that particular magazine.
Either way, buying more than one seems a bit strange to me.
Re:Ebay Copy For Sale (Score:2, Interesting)
This isn't the exact wording used because the wantitnow article has been deleted or expired, so if somebody has a copy it would be beneficial.
I would hazard that they want to give it to Moore as a gift, but its most likely simply marketting and advertising.
Re:Ebay Copy For Sale (Score:2)
A lot of people collect more than they need when collecting, they collect 10 of so and so years model of a certain car, does that make more sense? It isn't like they can drive them all at the same time, and even if they did their value would decrease.
Some people like backups of not just their computer systems, or Intel wants to display it at multiple locations.
Re:Ebay Copy For Sale (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Ebay Copy For Sale (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Ebay Copy For Sale (Score:2)
Re:Ebay Copy For Sale (Score:2)
I don't think you grasp the concept. Intel wanted the real thing. They already had photocopies.
For Intel to be so immature as to put a bounty on a copy of a magazine from 1965 is amazing.
Intel wanted a real copy, they didn't want one or more expensive workers running around for months to chase down a magazine. They apparently got a copy. Problem solved in a mature, cheap, quick way.
Re:Ebay Copy For Sale (Score:2)
But that doesn't get you noticed.
Re:Ebay Copy For Sale (Score:2)
A paper magazine can be read by anyone, anywhere. An electronic copy requires compatible hardware and software, as well as electrical energy. If all the electronic copies got deleted or corrupted we could always create a new copy from the original paper version.
What if we run out of oil ?, what if the aliens invade ?, what if the terrorists win ?. what good would a PDF file be then huh ?.
Re:Ebay Copy For Sale (Score:2)
Well, it's easier to make printed copies of a pdf file (just send it to the printer) than it is to make copies of the actual magazine articles (moreover, unlike the magazine, the pdfs don't get worse by the procedure). So if it were just the preserving of information, making several printouts from a pdf file and keeping them at different places (in addition to decentralized backups of the file itself) would be the more effective strategy.
But of course the point here
Re:Ebay Copy For Sale (Score:3, Informative)
BTW, I think I read last week that Intel announced it has gotten more than enough offers and the deal is done. They don't need to save 10,000 dollars and look like jerks (10,000 dollars is change to a company as big as they are).
Re:Ebay Copy For Sale (Score:2)
Re:Ebay Copy For Sale (Score:1)
Re:Ebay Copy For Sale (Score:1)
Thus the place where a library sticker might be (the spine) is gone.
Very convenient....
Re:Ebay Copy For Sale (Score:2)
(we do have a library, don't we?)
Re:Ebay Copy For Sale (Score:2)
The front-cover picture in the Ebay auction has a very suspect-looking computer-created smudge on the front cover.... as if the advertiser was trying to hide something.
A library stamp perhaps?
Re:Ebay Copy For Sale - SOLD FOR 10K (Score:5, Informative)
I have to live with the unfortunate circumstance (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:I have to live with the unfortunate circumstanc (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:I have to live with the unfortunate circumstanc (Score:2)
Of course I'm not sure that issue wasn't bound with several others that were taken along with it.
Re:I live a few miles from Grainger (Score:2)
Honesty is the best policy.
Um... (Score:4, Insightful)
Or for that matter, why not just post a copy of it, nobody will know/care that its really the one.
Eh! FP?
Re:Um... (Score:2, Insightful)
Many companies spend millions of dollars on PR campaigns, yet here Intel has put up a reward a fraction of that size and has generated more attention than any Intel commercials I can recall seeing offhand.
This reward is as much publicity stunt as it is a valid reward, but thats how our country works. Props to them on d
Re:Um... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Um... (Score:2)
Yes, exactly. Just like the Mona Lisa...
Re:Um... (Score:2)
Give your GF a piece of glass instead of a diamond ring, and she will explain you the difference no doubt...
Re:Um... (Score:2)
hawk
Etics? What's that? (Score:5, Insightful)
Too bad some people have no ethics, or morality.
Welcome to humanity. Hope you enjoy your stay.
Re:Etics? What's that? (Score:2)
Sad yet insightful comment there, mate.
I simply could not have put it better.
Re:Etics? What's that? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Etics? What's that? (Score:2, Interesting)
Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence. Especially when a state beaurocracy is involved.
How dumb (Score:3, Funny)
Re:How dumb (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:How dumb (Score:3, Funny)
Re:How dumb (Score:1)
Re:How dumb (Score:2)
Let me guess, you're with Caltech...
Of course they didn't. (Score:4, Informative)
Because there is no such stamp in magazines stolen from the UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS. Talk about dumb slashdot posters.
One stolen copy (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:One stolen copy (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:One stolen copy (Score:2)
On another note, I wonder how much time you can get for stealing something worth $10k? We're not talking petty theft any more.
Re:One stolen copy (Score:2)
Re:One stolen copy (Score:1)
another blatent attempt at attention grabbing... (Score:2, Funny)
So it was actually stolen in April 20, 1965 - however intels' shananigans prompted them to go look.
Re:another blatent attempt at attention grabbing.. (Score:1)
Nasty Librarians (Score:4, Funny)
I had visions of otherwise demure, bookish girls wearing glasses duking it out in a wafer fab plant before tumbling over a workbench into a pit of jelly...
Re:Nasty Librarians (Score:5, Funny)
Apparently...
I had visions of otherwise demure, bookish girls wearing glasses duking it out in a wafer fab plant before tumbling over a workbench into a pit of jelly...
Perhaps you should lay off the anime for a month or two my friend. =)
Cheers
Stor
Re:Nasty Librarians (Score:1)
PDF of article (Score:3, Insightful)
RTFA...and scroll.
"Cramming More Components Onto Integrated Circuits"
(Acrobat PDF file, 167 KB)
Author: Gordon E. Moore
Publication: Electronics, April 19, 1965
ftp://download.intel.com/research/silicon/moorespa per.pdf [intel.com]
Re:PDF of article (Score:1)
Well, I think I might be able to print that pdf then send them the paper copy...
Will THAT be OK ?
Re:PDF of article (Score:5, Funny)
stealing from the library (Score:5, Funny)
We had a lovely old stitch bound book on FORTRAN that walked when some local geeks attempted to start a computer museum! WHY!?
Re:stealing from the library (Score:4, Interesting)
Looking for ancient texts? (Score:5, Funny)
[Enter, stage left, busty librarian with guns on her hips]
Re:Looking for ancient texts? (Score:2)
I don't see (Score:3, Funny)
Sheesh. No wonder AMD is spanking them.
Save the libraries! Grab the T-Bar!
WTF?! (Score:1)
It's so lovely to find pages torn (or carefully cut with an Xacto blade) out of a book or periodical...NOT! The greed of one person - in this case for $10,000 - destroys a reference material shared by all.
Hey Intel, why not donate $10,000 to every library which had this article stolen.
Re:WTF?! (Score:1, Insightful)
This isn't one paper only being stolen. It is a journal of papers, perhaps many issues of a journal (if they've been bound together). Much of the information surrounding that one paper will NOT be available digitally. But it still has value.
More importantly, Intel may have encouraged the theft of other seminal papers, as people sense a market for original copies (much the same way that first print run copies of Harry Potter books were stolen from libraries when prices s
The original poster is right. (Score:2)
Re:The original poster is right. (Score:2)
Stop right there.
See the problem with your logic? Let me try that again, I'll hilight it.
So you mean if I, say, post an ad that I'm looking for a cheap car [...]
Ten grand for a magazine that probably cost a quarter when it came out? A specific issue? That's like offering a million bucks for a '55 Chevy Ambulance.
I'm sure they didn't expect people to do the equivalent of breaking into small town hospitals and driving off with the
Re:The original poster is right. (Score:2)
That's OK, I'm not going to feel guilty about your lack of imagination. I've gotten over that kind of thing. Mostly.
Moore's law (Score:5, Informative)
When picking it up, the computer told the librarian that it could not be lend out, since it was a rare item. The librarian frowned and aussumed it had to be an error. I got the magazine anyway.
Instead of stealing it, I made few good color scans and returned the magazine
The raw scans (tiff, 100Mb): http://laudy.net/moore.zip
Cleaned version(tiff, 100Mb):
http://laudy.net/moore_clean.zip
1.7 Mb/file Jpg version:
http://laudy.net/moore_jpg.zip
Re:Moore's law (Score:1)
Re:Moore's law (Score:2, Insightful)
When picking it up, the computer told the librarian that it could not be lend out, since it was a rare item. The librarian frowned and aussumed it had to be an error. I got the magazine anyway.
It's unlikely that was a librarian. It was probably an underpaid library clerk or student worker. Libraries rarely waste money by putting professionals to work checking out books. This is like assuming that the person who handed you a toothbrush as you left the dentist's office was a dentist.Re:Moore's law (Score:2)
Should have seen it coming. (Score:1, Funny)
Seriously. You work in a Science Library, and you don't read Slashdot, like, checking it every minute?
I wonder what James Randi (Score:1)
Re:I wonder what James Randi (Score:3, Funny)
I'm a language "creationist" you inconsiderate clod!
Pointer to PDF (Score:2)
Not as cool as the poster that scanned the original into tiff form, but still a lot easier to deal with than going to the library to see the original.
Felony theft. (Score:2)
"Note: theft over $5000 is punnishible by up to 10 years in jail."
Re:Felony theft. (Score:2, Insightful)
Even if the judge heard the case, you would have to prove that copy is worth more than $5,000. Good luck doing that. It would be a quick way to end your career. If the suspect is a minority, the ACLU might jump in and demonize you as well. Want to be
Re:Felony theft. (Score:2)
An affidavit from Intel saying that they had offered $10,000 for a good-condition copy, a URL of some of the press about it.
I have a friend who have managed to pay their rent by selling a single comic. Other collectibles have gone for almost $1M. $10K for a famous issue of a small-distribution magazine is completely believable.
Re:Felony theft. (Score:2)
Collectibles are collectibles -- whether it's comic books, baseball cards, baseballs or napkind doodled on by picasso for a free lunch. Their intrinsic value may all be under $5.00, but if you've got a buyer legitimately willing to pay you $10K for it today, that's the fair valye in your market today.
The fact that, with a $10K bounty and very wide publicity in the circles where it was mo
Re:Felony theft. (& collectibles) (Score:2)
Try collecting stamps or coins.. That's what makes the nature of a collectible. One (very small) batch of nickles gets printed with the head upside down and make it out of the mint. .. The coins before and after are worth precisely $.05. The small batch of 'different' ones are worth thousands.
I don't set the price for these things, but if I find one, you can bet your butt that I'd be happy to sell it to the highest bid
Re:Felony theft. (& collectibles) (Score:2)
That's part of the reason why the value of collectibles are so volatile -- People are more willing to pay big money for
Attention! Other money offer! (Score:2)
Knowing the intelligence of the average slashdotter, I have no doubt that you can see it when fortune smiles at you! This is a once-in-a-lifetime deal, bigger then any enlargement of your penis!
I hereby want to inform you, that I make an honest offer of the luxurious sum of 1 EURO for a copy of the April 19, 1965 issue of Electronics. This offer expires when Intel has bought (or agreed to buy) a similar copy of a person other then me, or redraws or cancels its own offer.
sincerely,
N
UIUC Librarians (Score:3, Informative)
I worked at UIUC as a graduate assistant when I went to library school. Missing volumes or articles ripped from journals aren't that uncommon. In fact, they subscribe to a document delivery service that is designed to address this very issue.
Practically every academic library doesn't lend out serials because of the fact that many of the journals a library subscribes to are irreplaceable should they be lost or stolen. No opportunity to try out the, "Oh, I lost it" option. So, people would need to make a concerted effort to steal this volume - and then deal with all the other issues such needing to have a way to mask its origins.
Of course, people that would steal it in the first place wouldn't necessarily think out all these issues. So, if they actually got it out in the first place, they would likely dump it when they realized they couldn't do anything with it - or Intel referred them to the police.
It's been found - BBC News story here: (Score:4, Informative)
The BBC says.... (Score:4, Informative)
Already Been found, $10,000 Reward Taken (Score:2, Informative)
A copy of the original Electronics magazine in which Moore's Law was first published has turned up under the floorboards of a Surrey engineer.
David Clark had kept copies of the magazine for years, despite pleas from his wife to throw them away.
Now the couple are celebrating after collecting the $10,000 reward which was offered on eBay by chip maker Intel.
I bit late aren't we but congrats to the engineer who found it
Happy Ending (Score:2)
Moore's law original issue found [bbc.co.uk]
Nice payback for being a hoarder.. I wonder if Intel took him up on the offer of being able to deliver it in person to Dr Moore.
Just checked my library... (Score:2)
Receiving Stolen Goods (Score:2)
Re:how about taking off those shaded glasses (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:A bit late for this story. (Score:2, Funny)
Re:A bit late for this story. (Score:1)
Thanks !!! =D
Good day to you to, Sir.
*shakes hand*
Re:Double standards (Score:2)
Of course removing the original is bad. It's bad because it removes from others the possibility to access the information.
Think about it: Would you say going into a museum and making photos of the painting is morally the same as going into a museum and taking the paintings themselves?
Re:Double standards (Score:2)
Not that hand gesture though....