% This file should contain a summary of what's been going on with the
% SIPB over the past seven years.  Should talk about the natural
% progression from giving out accounts to concentrating more on
% services, as Athena has come into the picture.  Should end on a note
% describing where SIPB is heading.
\section{Summary}
This report summarizes the activities of the Student Information
Processing Board (which will be referred to as the SIPB or the
Board throughout the rest of this report) over the last ten
years.  The campus computer environment has changed a lot in the past
10 years, and the activities of the SIPB reflect this change.

\subsection{Purpose of the SIPB}
The primary function of the SIPB is to improve access to computational
facilities for students and other members of the MIT community.  We
have worked towards this goal in many ways, including by supplying
computer funding and consultation to the community, providing
terminals in dormitories and other public places, running a
high-quality printing service, and writing software and documentation.
We are constantly looking for ways to provide better services to the
community.

%% Athena stuff.
Although our purpose has remained the same, changes in the campus
computer environment, especially the creation of Project Athena in
1983, have changed our major focus.  Before 1983, we concentrated on
funding Multics accounts for students.  After Athena started supplying
unlimited accounts to undergraduates, we shifted our focus to those
users that Athena did not serve, such as graduate students.  We also
worked to improve the Athena environment, advocating or implementing
changes that we felt were important.  Now, with Athena giving all
students access to high-powered workstations, raw computer time is no
longer an issue.  Our focus is now on providing computer services that
improve the MIT computer environment.  These range from providing access
to Network News, a nationwide bulletin-board system, to maintaining the
SIPB locker, a large collection of useful software.

As computers become less expensive and more powerful, more students
will arrive at MIT owning their own personal computers.  Currently
the SIPB offers a few services to these students, such as a means of
transferring files between Macintosh or IBM-PC floppies and machines
on the campus network.  In the future we hope to improve these
services and identify ways of increasing the value of these machines
to students.