Gordon Bell, an Architect of Our Digital Age, Dies At Age 89

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Computer pioneer Gordon Bell, who as an early employee of Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) played a key role in the development of several influential minicomputer systems and also co-founded the first major computer museum, passed away on Friday, according to Bell Labs veteran John Mashey. Mashey announced Bell's passing in a social media post on Tuesday morning. "I am very sad to report [the] death May 17 at age 89 of Gordon Bell, famous computer pioneer, a founder of Computer Museum in Boston, and a force behind the @ComputerHistory here in Silicon Valley, and good friend since the 1980s," wrote Mashey in his announcement. "He succumbed to aspiration pneumonia in Coronado, CA."

Bell was a pivotal figure in the history of computing and a notable champion of tech history, having founded Boston's Computer Museum in 1979, which later became the heart of the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, with his wife Gwen Bell. He was also the namesake of the ACM's prestigious Gordon Bell Prize, created to spur innovations in parallel processing. Bell also mentored at Microsoft in 1995, where he "studied telepresence technologies and served as the subject of the MyLifeBits life-logging project," reports Ars. "The initiative aimed to realize Vannevar Bush's vision of a system that could store all the documents, photos, and audio a person experienced in their lifetime."

Former Windows VP Steven Sinofsky said Bell "was immeasurably helpful at Microsoft where he was a founding advisor and later full time leader in Microsoft Research. He advised and supported countless researchers, projects, and product teams. He was always supportive and insightful beyond words. He never hesitated to provide insights and a few sparks at so many of the offsites that were so important to the evolution of Microsoft."

"His memory is a blessing to so many," added Sinofsky in a post memorializing Bell. "His impact on all of us in technology will be felt for generations. May he rest in peace."

Finally, a correct use of the ...

[davidwr]

... "digital" filter [slashdot.org], at least with its current image [fsdn.com].

DIGITAL logo

[Compaq Disk Rereader]

I don't think I've seen that good ole scrunched up digital logo on here in at least 10 years?
I think maybe it was used accidentally once and we poked fun at the staff for not knowing what it was.

And look what we ended up with

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

MyLifeBits life-logging project," reports Ars. "The initiative aimed to realize Vannevar Bush's vision of a system that could store all the documents, photos, and audio a person experienced in their lifetime.

And that turned out to be a reality, only all the documents, audio, photos - but also actions, sites visited, location every single minute of the days, purchases, and a whole lot of data you never wanted to record - are now on servers controlled by giant unregulated monopolies who are busy monetizing your data behind your back and against your will, you don't have any recourse, and you don't get to relive those moments in your life. Only Big Data has access to them and they're not accessing it for your own good.

I bet that's not the future ole Gordon had in mind back then...

His book

[HotNeedleOfInquiry]

"Computer Engineering - A DEC View of Hardware Systems Design" is an excellent resource for understanding the early days of minicomputers and is a permanent resident for bathroom reading.

So few ppl learn the history

[WindBourne]

This man, along with others like Seymour Cray, Drs. Metcalfe, Cert, Kahn, Thompson, Ritchie were major pioneers in making todayâ(TM)s world what it is. They all stood on other giants like Shockley and Turing. Wish I had more time to talk to you back in the 80s. Still love your PDP.