Time-sharing
In computing, time-sharing is the concurrent sharing of a computing resource among many tasks or users by giving each task or user a small slice of processing time. This quick switch between tasks or users gives the illusion of simultaneous execution.[1][2] It enables multi-tasking by a single user or enables multiple-user sessions.
This article is about the computing term. For the type of property ownership, see Timeshare. For time sharing of communications media, see Time-division multiple access.Developed during the 1960s, its emergence as the prominent model of computing in the 1970s represented a major technological shift in the history of computing. By allowing many users to interact concurrently with a single computer, time-sharing dramatically lowered the cost of providing computing capability, made it possible for individuals and organizations to use a computer without owning one,[3] and promoted the interactive use of computers and the development of new interactive applications.
OLS Computer Services (UK) Limited (1975–1980) - using HP & DEC systems.
at UC Berkeley Project Genie → Scientific Data Systems SDS 940 (Tymshare, BBN, SRI, Community Memory) → BCC 500 → MAXC at PARC
Berkeley Timesharing System
Cambridge Multiple Access System was developed for the , the prototype Atlas 2 computer built by Ferranti for the University of Cambridge.[47] This was the first time-sharing system developed outside the United States, and which influenced the later development of UNIX.
Titan
Compower Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of the National Coal Board (later British Coal Corporation) in the UK. Originally National Coal Board (NCB) Computer Services, it became Compower in 1973 providing computing and time-share services to internal NCB users and as a commercial service to external users. Sold to Philips C&P (Communications and Processing) in August 1994.
also branded as Compu-Serv, CIS.
CompuServe
Compu-Time, Inc., on Honeywell 400/4000, started in 1968 in Ft Lauderdale, Florida, moved to Daytona Beach in 1970.
[29]
COTAN (Culham Online Task Activation Network)
English Electric KDF9
Linux: see how it evolved from MIT CTSS
(TSL)[48] on DEC PDP-10 systems → Automatic Data Processing (ADP), first commercial time-sharing system in Europe and first dual (fault tolerant) time-sharing system.
Time Sharing Ltd.
(TSO-like, for VS1), a non-IBM Time-sharing product, marketed by Tone Software Co; TSO required VS2.
Tone
SDS-940 → Tymcom X → Tymcom XX
Tymshare
Significant early timesharing systems:[29]
Cloud computing
, a 1972 film.
The Heralds of Resource Sharing
IBM's virtual machine operating system (CP) that supported time-sharing (CMS).
History of CP/CMS
an experimental computer system based on an IBM 7044 used to simulate multiple virtual machines.
IBM M44/44X
a DARPA funded project at MIT famous for groundbreaking research in operating systems, artificial intelligence, and the theory of computation.
Project MAC
Timeline of operating systems
Utility computing
Virtual memory
Time-sharing system evolution
(1974). Computer Lib: You Can and Must Understand Computers Now; Dream Machines: "New Freedoms Through Computer Screens— A Minority Report". Self-published. ISBN 0-89347-002-3. pp. 56–57.
Nelson, Theodor
Fredkin, Edward (Nov 1963). (PDF). Computers and Automation. XII (11): 12–13, 16–20.: "The author relates a short history of time-sharing, the initial time-sharing experiments, the modifications of existing computers and those designed specifically for time-sharing, project MAC, significant features of the system, services, languages, programs, scope displays and light pens, and intercommunication.[1]
"The Time Sharing of Computers"
Robert Frankston's MIT Master's Thesis, 1973.
"The Computer Utility As A Marketplace For Computer Services"
an interview with Professor Fernando J. Corbató on the history of Multics and origins of time-sharing, 2009.
"40 years of Multics, 1969-2009"
Revolution: The First 2000 Years of Computing, Computer History Museum Exhibition, January 2011.
"Mainframe Computers: The Virtues of Sharing"
Revolution: The First 2000 Years of Computing, Computer History Museum Exhibition, January 2011.