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Librarians Fighting to Save Moore's Law Issue

wambaugh writes "As reported earlier, Intel is offering $10,000 for a copy of the April 19, 1965 issue of Electronics containing Moore's original article predicting 'Moore's Law.' Now it is being reported that academic science libraries are having to make sure no go-getters make off with their copies. At least one copy is already missing from the University of Illinois. Too bad Intel won't settle for a pdf."

22 of 172 comments (clear)

  1. Ebay Copy For Sale by mfh · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Lo and behold... brothers of Slashdot; here is an Ebay auction with an alleged copy of the Electronics mag from 1965, that (purportedly) did not come from a library.

    My grand-pappy used to say, "if it looks too good to be true, it is." I'm guessing that Intel's prerequisite about having an intact magazine will put this auction out of the running for the $10k prize, as the pages are all put in anti-acid sleeves, according to the seller.

    Not sure if it's legit but if Intel wants to save a buck or two they might call an emergency meeting and head over to buy it. Unless this auction is a hoax. Caveat Emptor sirrahs...

    --
    The dangers of knowledge trigger emotional distress in human beings.
  2. I have to live with the unfortunate circumstance by ICECommander · · Score: 3, Interesting

    of being a few blocks from Grainger (the library from which the U of I copy was stolen). I spend quite a good deal of time there, it's really unfortunate.

    --
    All your Sybase are belong to us.
  3. Um... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Why doesn't Intel just buy it off some library for 'permanent loan,' like in a museum?

    Or for that matter, why not just post a copy of it, nobody will know/care that its really the one.

    Eh! FP?

  4. Etics? What's that? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "At least one copy is already missing from the University of Illinois. Too bad Intel won't settle for a pdf."

    Too bad some people have no ethics, or morality.

    Welcome to humanity. Hope you enjoy your stay.

  5. How dumb by britneys+9th+husband · · Score: 3, Funny

    Didn't these people ever stop and think about how suspicious it will look when Intel sees the "property of Massachusetts Institute of Technology libraries" stamp? Talk about dumb criminals.

    --
    Hear recorded Slashdot headlines on your phone! New service beta testing. Just call (248) 434-5508
  6. One stolen copy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    how is this news? Intel only wants *one* issue, so at most one copy will be stolen, the library marks erased, and exchanged for $10,000 cash. Any other attempts will be late and fall flat.

  7. Re:I have to live with the unfortunate circumstanc by Jandar0 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    As a fellow Illini I understand the feeling, and I have an especially strong feeling on this particular issue. As it happens, after reading about the Moore's law article on Slashdot I popped into the library on one of my regular trips, actually found the book and read through it (though I didn't walk off with it!). Part of me wanted to take it down to the desk and suggest that it be kept under lock and key for a few weeks, but for some reason I didn't act on that instinct, and boy do I feel dumb. The next day it walked away =(

  8. My Theory by mfh · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Intel did this as a marketing ploy -- only. They set aside $10k for one copy of the Electronics mag, knowing all sorts of them would go missing, thus increasing the value of *their* copy, while creating quite a stir. Intel will put it up for auction since the value was increased, or they might keep it around, collecting value.

    The funny thing is... they are getting a lot of press over this, so it's a very successful advertising campaign, and for the LOW PRICE of only $10,000. Compared to some ad campaigns? That's NOTHING!

    --
    The dangers of knowledge trigger emotional distress in human beings.
  9. Nasty Librarians by nastyphil · · Score: 4, Funny

    Am I the only one who misread the Subject?

    I had visions of otherwise demure, bookish girls wearing glasses duking it out in a wafer fab plant before tumbling over a workbench into a pit of jelly...

    --
    Dialectician. Archology.
    1. Re:Nasty Librarians by stor · · Score: 4, Funny

      Am I the only one who misread the Subject?

      Apparently...

      I had visions of otherwise demure, bookish girls wearing glasses duking it out in a wafer fab plant before tumbling over a workbench into a pit of jelly...

      Perhaps you should lay off the anime for a month or two my friend. =)

      Cheers
      Stor

      --
      "Yeah well there's a lot of stuff that should be, but isn't"
  10. PDF of article by hajmola · · Score: 3, Insightful
    "Too bad Intel won't settle for a pdf"
    RTFA...and scroll.

    "Cramming More Components Onto Integrated Circuits"
    (Acrobat PDF file, 167 KB)
    Author: Gordon E. Moore
    Publication: Electronics, April 19, 1965

    ftp://download.intel.com/research/silicon/moorespa per.pdf

    1. Re:PDF of article by NutscrapeSucks · · Score: 5, Funny

      Check out the cartoon on page 3 of Steve Jobs selling Mac Minis at Walmart.

      --
      Whenever I hear the word 'Innovation', I reach for my pistol.
  11. stealing from the library by weighn · · Score: 5, Funny

    I worked in a library for 9 years, it's funny what people steal. The Mason's steal all of the books revealing their secret rites, the Scientologists do something similar to the books on cults.
    We had a lovely old stitch bound book on FORTRAN that walked when some local geeks attempted to start a computer museum! WHY!?

    --
    Mongrel News all the news that fits and froths
    1. Re:stealing from the library by imroy · · Score: 3, Interesting

      My mum works at the CSU Mitchell (Bathurst) library. Just recently they caught some nutter that was cutting sections out of books. I think he was cutting out sections on poisonous animals, dunno why. The police searched his place and found lots of other pages he'd also cut out. The library workers didn't know about all of the books he'd attacked. I don't know if they're still working on these books, but my mum was saying it would take a long time to find which books the pages came from and sort out the different copies. That's right, many of the pages were from nursing textbooks, of which they have multiple copies and this nutter felt compelled to attack all of them. He might have also attacked books at the local city library. It's amazing how much of a problem can be created by a mentally-disturbed individual with a craft knife.

  12. Looking for ancient texts? by zambuka · · Score: 5, Funny

    This is where you need a Tome Raider.
    [Enter, stage left, busty librarian with guns on her hips]

  13. Moore's law by olavl · · Score: 5, Informative

    As soon as I read the ad on ebay, I check my library. They had a copy, and I reserved it.

    When picking it up, the computer told the librarian that it could not be lend out, since it was a rare item. The librarian frowned and aussumed it had to be an error. I got the magazine anyway.

    Instead of stealing it, I made few good color scans and returned the magazine :)

    The raw scans (tiff, 100Mb): http://laudy.net/moore.zip

    Cleaned version(tiff, 100Mb):

    http://laudy.net/moore_clean.zip

    1.7 Mb/file Jpg version:

    http://laudy.net/moore_jpg.zip

  14. Re:I wonder what James Randi by Green+Salad · · Score: 3, Funny
    Evolution of Language Through The Ages...

    I'm a language "creationist" you inconsiderate clod!

  15. UIUC Librarians by daigu · · Score: 3, Informative

    I worked at UIUC as a graduate assistant when I went to library school. Missing volumes or articles ripped from journals aren't that uncommon. In fact, they subscribe to a document delivery service that is designed to address this very issue.

    Practically every academic library doesn't lend out serials because of the fact that many of the journals a library subscribes to are irreplaceable should they be lost or stolen. No opportunity to try out the, "Oh, I lost it" option. So, people would need to make a concerted effort to steal this volume - and then deal with all the other issues such needing to have a way to mask its origins.

    Of course, people that would steal it in the first place wouldn't necessarily think out all these issues. So, if they actually got it out in the first place, they would likely dump it when they realized they couldn't do anything with it - or Intel referred them to the police.

  16. It's been found - BBC News story here: by IainMH · · Score: 3, Informative
  17. Re:Ebay Copy For Sale - SOLD FOR 10K by TDyl · · Score: 5, Informative

    The BBC are reporting that a British engineer has "won" the auction. The link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4472549.stm

    --
    Todd: I hope it proves as delicious as the farmers that grew them
  18. The BBC says.... by BigBadBus · · Score: 4, Informative
  19. Of course they didn't. by raehl · · Score: 3, Informative

    Didn't these people ever stop and think about how suspicious it will look when Intel sees the "property of Massachusetts Institute of Technology libraries" stamp?

    Because there is no such stamp in magazines stolen from the UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS. Talk about dumb slashdot posters.