Sung to the tune of The Impossible Dream
In response to CMU signing a contract with IBM that would require every student entering the university (any department!) to purchase an IBM PC to use in the course of studies...
To dream the impossible dream,
To fight for what students condemn,
Prepare for the school of tomorrow,
To run CMU-IBM
To write the unwritable plan,
The best of my brilliant career,
To drive M.I.T. out of business,
To make NEWSWEEK two times a year!
This is my quest,
To stay in the black,
And charge every freshman
To learn how to hack.
They'll pay for the right
Without question or pause,
And be willing to go into debt
For a dubious cause.
And I know if I'll only be true,
And the game never stops,
That my plan and my system won't crash,
And my school will be TOPS...
And the world will be better for this,
That one man with one measly Rolls-Royce,
Still strove with each goofball's tuition
To make THE PROFESSIONAL CHOICE.
Quite a fun one, I think, and mostly self explanatory. TOPS was the operating system used on the DEC 20/60 that we all used honing our computing skills... I don't know if it's still used, I'm in DTP now and wouldn't know a UNIX command if one bit me.
The "goofball" reference has to do with a university mucky-muck, possibly Cyert , calling the students goofballs in response to some protest, possibly the protes t of tuition increases referred to in another piece of eMail in this bundle, wher e he gave out cookies to the protesters. Maybe someone who was paying attention could confirm or elaborate.