PENZIAS ARNO: (1933- ) American Physicist, Nobel Prize winner for Physics, 1978. Autograph Manuscript, unsigned ...

PENZIAS ARNO: (1933- ) American Physicist, Nobel Prize winner for Physics, 1978. Autograph Manuscript, unsigned (although bearing a later annotation and signature by Penzias), six pages, 4to, n.p., n.d. (1990s). The manuscript, with extensive corrections, is written in pencil and is a working draft of a letter to one of his colleagues, Marilyn, and states, in part, 'Remember the opening scenes of ''The Graduate'' in which someone whispered ''plastics'' in Dustin Hoffman's ear? What do you mean by software? Surely there's more to it than that single word. Can you name any large software businesses that are problem-free and rolling in profits? Lotus Development made hundreds of millions of dollars from its original 1-2-3, a spread sheet program created by a couple of people in a matter of weeks. It's most recent release…..came out over six months behind schedule and nearly sank the company. From my encounters with them I saw them as a well managed company……Microsoft is as successful a software company as I can name, but they depend on a special relationship with a hardware manufacturer……The whole point of my note to you was a…..hope that, having rocked to both sides, our corporate ship will finally move toward an even keel. In the projects from the 5E design era, we let hardware designers define the software job……Ironically, the ''software is everything'' ideology can lead to exactly the same result. Constructing tomorrow's hyper-complex systems out of genuine components glued together by software may well lead to the same result - a frantic rush to meet customer requirements. Neither yesterday's ''hardware-is-all-that-matters'', nor today's…..attitude gives software architects the help they need to win with customers. In arguing for a middle ground, I would like to see our company gain the advantages inherent in the opportunity to divide tasks between hardware and software at the front end of the system design process. With few exceptions, people buy software to realize desired outcomes in the physical world……' To the left border of the first page Penzias has signed his name ('Arno Penzias') beneath a brief explanatory annotation, 'Letter to an AT&T colleague on the likely course of information technology strategy'. The six pages are stapled together to the upper left corner. VG