Gold and Fool's Gold: Successes, Failures, and Futures in Computer Systems Research

Lecturer(s): 
Butler Lampson, Microsoft Research

People have been inventing new ideas in computer systems for nearly four decades, usually driven by Moore's Law. Many of them have been spectacularly successful: virtual memory, packet networks, objects, relational databases, and graphical user interfaces are a few examples. Other promising ideas have not worked out: capabilities, distributed computing, RISC, and persistent objects. And the fate of some is still in doubt: parallel computing, formal methods, and software reuse. The Web was not invented by computer systems researchers. In the light of all this experience, what will be exciting to work on in the next few years?

Event date and time: 
Thursday, April 17, 2008 - 7:00pm - Thursday, April 17, 2008 - 9:00pm
Location: 
MIT room 54-100
Directions: 

Check a map showing the MIT campus. The red building is Bldg. 54; the Kendall T-Station is on Main Street off the right side of the map. Building 54 at the MIT campus is the 21-story building with a radome on the top; it is entered at 21 Ames Street, which is perpendicular to Mass Avenue.

AttachmentSize
2008_04_GoldAndFoolsGoldSuccessesFailuresinCSResearch_Lampson.pdf583.3 KB
2008_04_GoldAndFoolsGoldSuccessesFailuresinCSResearch_Lampson.mp321.73 MB