killer micro n.
[popularized by Eugene Brooks] A
microprocessor-based machine that infringes on mini, mainframe, or
supercomputer performance turf. Often heard in "No one will
survive the attack of the killer micros!", the battle cry of the
downsizers. Used esp. of RISC architectures.
The popularity of the phrase `attack of the killer micros' is
doubtless reinforced by the title of the movie "Attack Of The
Killer Tomatoes" (one of the canonical examples of
so-bad-it's-wonderful among hackers). This has even more
flavor now that killer micros have gone on the offensive not
just individually (in workstations) but in hordes (within massively
parallel computers).
[1996 update: Eugene Brooks was right. Since this term first
entered the Jargon File in 1990, the minicomputer has effectively
vanished, the mainframe sector is in deep and apparently
terminal decline (with IBM but a shadow of its former self), and
even the supercomputer business has contracted into a smaller
niche. It's networked killer micros as far as the eye can see.
--ESR]
[popularized by Eugene Brooks] A
microprocessor-based machine that infringes on mini, mainframe, or
supercomputer performance turf. Often heard in "No one will
survive the attack of the killer micros!", the battle cry of the
downsizers. Used esp. of RISC architectures.
The popularity of the phrase `attack of the killer micros' is
doubtless reinforced by the title of the movie "Attack Of The
Killer Tomatoes" (one of the canonical examples of
so-bad-it's-wonderful among hackers). This has even more
flavor now that killer micros have gone on the offensive not
just individually (in workstations) but in hordes (within massively
parallel computers).
[1996 update: Eugene Brooks was right. Since this term first
entered the Jargon File in 1990, the minicomputer has effectively
vanished, the mainframe sector is in deep and apparently
terminal decline (with IBM but a shadow of its former self), and
even the supercomputer business has contracted into a smaller
niche. It's networked killer micros as far as the eye can see.
--ESR]
Related:
- killer micro: [popularized by Eugene Brooks] n. A
microprocessor-based machine that infringes on mini,
mainframe, or supercomputer performance turf. Often... - There is NO defense against the attack of the KILLER MICROS
-
Eugene... - VAX /vaks/ n.
1. [from Virtual Address eXtension] The
most successful minicomputer design in industry history,
possibly excepting its immediate ancestor, the PDP... - mainframe n.
Term originally referring to the cabinet
containing the central processor unit or `main frame' of a
room-filling Stone Age batch machine.
After the emergence of smaller `minicomputer' designs... - DEC /dek/ n.
1. v. Verbal (and only rarely
written) shorthand for decrement,
i.e. `decrease by one'. Especially used by assembly... - Attack of the Killer
Taglines (PG... - crayola: /kray-oh'l*/ n. A super-mini or -micro computer that
provides some reasonable percentage of supercomputer performance
for an unreasonably low price.
Might also be a {killer micro}. -- The AI Hackers... - crayola /kray-oh'l*/ n.
A super-mini or -micro computer
that provides some reasonable percentage of supercomputer
performance for an unreasonably low price.
Might also be a killer micro... - DEC: n. Digital Equipment Corporation. Before the {killer
micro} revolution of the late 1980s,
hackerdom was closely symbiotic with DEC's pioneering...
From the same category:
- mockingbird n.
Software that intercepts communications (especially... - silicon n.
Hardware, esp. ICs or microprocessor-based
computer systems (compare iron).
Contrasted with software. See also sandbender... - URL /U-R-L/ or /erl/ n.
Uniform Resource Locator,
an address widget that identifies a document or... - bit-paired keyboard n.,obs.
(alt.
`bit-shift keyboard') A non-standard keyboard layout... - backgammon
See bignum (sense 3), moby (sense 4),
and pseudoprime...
