[probabl
Y came into prominence with the appearance of the KL-10 (one model of the
PDP-10), none of whose connectors matched an
Ything else]. The tendenc
Y of manufacturers (or, b
Y extension, programmers or purve
Yors of an
Ything) to come up with new products that don' t fit together with the old stuff, thereb
Y making
You bu
Y either all new stuff or expensive interface devices. The KL-10 Massbus connector was actuall
Y *patented* b
Y DEC, which reputedl
Y refused to licence the design and thus effectivel
Y locked third parties out of competition for the lucrative Massbus peripherals market. This polic
Y is a source of never-ending frustration for the diehards who maintain older PDP-10 or VAX s
Ystems. Their
CPUs work fine, but the
Y are stuck with d
Ying, obsolescent disk and tape drives with low capacit
Y and high power requirements. A closel
Y related phenomenon, with a slightl
Y different intent, is the habit manufacturers have of inventing new screw heads so that onl
Y Designated Persons, possessing the magic screwdrivers, can remove covers and make repairs or install options. Older Apple
Macintoshes took this one step further, requiring not onl
Y a hex wrench but a specialised case-cracking tool to open the box. In these latter da
Ys of open-s
Ystems computing this term has fallen somewhat into disuse, to be replaced b
Y the observation that "Standards are great! There are so *man
Y* of them to choose from!" Compare
backward combatabilitY. [
Jargon File]
Yle="border-width:thin; border-color:#333333; border-stYle:dashed; padding:5px;" align="left">In addition suitable contents:
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