Time-sharing

The sharing of computing resources among multiple users; a major technological shift in the 1960s-70s that dramatically lowered the cost of providing computing capability, makingit possible for individuals and organisations to use a computer without owning one.

Multiple users access the system concurrently from different terminals. Each user has the illusion of sole control. The system rapidly switches between user tasks, providing quick response times. Resources like CPU time, memory, storage are shared among users in time slices.

By positioning users as intimate partners of the computer, time-sharing yoked users to a political economy that made users synonymous with their usage, and allowed them (or their advertising sponsors) to be tracked, rented, or billed down to each tick of the clock. — Tung-Hui Hu, A Prehistory of the Cloud (2016)

J.C.R. Licklider?

Compatible Time-Sharing System (CTSS)? MULTICS (Multiplexed Information and Computing Service)?

The rise of personal computers shifted the focus from time-sharing to individual computing in the 1980s, though networked computing environments still used time-sharing principles.

Modern cloud computing relies on “virtualisation”, a concept closely related to time-sharing.

Edge computing pushes resources closer to the data source, allowing for more efficient time-sharing across a distributed network. This approach reduces latency, enhancing performance for time-sensitive applications.

• [⎈] Explore the technical innovations and design principles that enabled efficient resource sharing, scheduling algorithms, and user isolation in early time-sharing systems.
• [⎈] Explore the impact of time-sharing on the democratisation of computing, and its shaping of the modern computing landscape.
• [⎈] Speculate on the potential future directions of resource sharing and user interaction in computing, and how these might reshape our understanding of time-sharing.
• [?] What can we learn from the social dynamics and collaborative culture of early time-sharing?
• [?] How did the advent of time-sharing influence software design and development? What were its implications for software engineering practices?
• [?] How did the limitations of batch processing and a desire for interactive computing shape the development of time-sharing systems?
• [?] How are the principles of time-sharing being applied in modern distributed systems, cloud computing, and virtualisation technologies?

Tags: time