% This is really ancient history. The days of applications. Should % mention how giving out accounts on Multics evolved from the days of % paper applications to a more automatic approach. Should describe the % endless hours of boredom & meeting arguments that have occured. In % the later days of Multics, applications only were really needed for % exceptional use of Multics or VMA. Should mention how VMA is still a % function of the SIPB, and perhaps also talk about Athena grad. % accounts. % Feb 1985: 2288 registered accounts. (cumulative?) % Oct 1986: 650 active accounts. \section{Accounts} One of the major purposes of SIPB has been to fund applications for computer accounts on Multics and other computers. Over the past 10 years, the SIPB has processed many applications for computer accounts. \subsection{Multics Accounts} Before 1984 and the onset of Project Athena, the SIPB provided the primary access to computing for the MIT student community. In the early 1980's, we were processing 1300 applications per year, for 1000 individuals. Project Athena, after opening up the Student Center cluster, relieved much of this load by providing accounts to all undergraduates. This still left graduate students without general computer access, and we still had 650 active accounts in 1986. The application process originally worked as follows. Any member of the MIT community could obtain funding from the SIPB by coming to our office and filling out a simple application. On this application, the applicant provided a brief description of her proposed project. Common projects included learning computer languages or systems, writing scientific or engineering applications programs, preparing term papers, resumes, and letters, and doing statistical analyses. After the user had completed the application, a Board member tried to determine the most appropriate computer system and the estimated cost for the project. If the Board member who took the application decided that it clearly followed our funding policies, the application would be approved immediately. In this case, a computer account would be set up, and the applicant could usually begin working on his project the same day. Most applications were approved in this fashion. Certain applications were not covered under our policies. Such applications would be deferred until the next weekly meeting when they could be brought to the attention of the full Board. Applications falling into certain categories (for example, applications from organizations) would be automatically deferred to a meeting. In addition, any application that brought the total allocation for a user in the current fiscal year over a certain limit had to be considered at a meeting. One of the important projects in the 1982-1985 time frame was the automation of the application process. The paper forms created a lot of menial work for SIPB members, such as form filing and data entry to activate the accounts. By 1985, the forms were replaced by an online database. SIPB members could take applications online, typing users' answers directly into the database. This change made Multics account management much easier and less time-consuming. \subsection{MITVMA Accounts} Besides Multics accounts, the SIPB has provided a smaller number of MITVMA accounts to MIT students. The accounting system on MITVMA has several deficiencies that discourage our use of MITVMA. It does not allow us to set limits on individual accounts, nor does it have any mechanism to log users out after spending more money than available. This primitive account system and the arcane user interface of VM/CMS has meant that we provide VM accounts only for purposes that cannot be satisfied anywhere else. Typical reasons for MITVMA accounts have been direct BITNET access, using statistical packages or accessing numerical FORTRAN libraries unique to VM/CMS. With the introduction in 1992 of the Unix-BITNET gateway, we expect less demand for VM accounts. \subsection{Grduate Student Access to Athena} The demise of Multics in 1988 removed our primary resource for serving graduate students. Because of the limitations of MITVMA, we lobbied Project Athena to give computer access to graduate students. Due to limited resources, Project Athena could not handle the additional load, but we did get the right to provide a limited number of graduate student accounts on Athena. Between 1988 and Fall 1989, we sponsored 134 graduate student accounts on Project Athena before access was granted to all graduate students.