Harvard to Sign Major Computer Deal

Harvard is set to strike another major deal with at least one private firm to provide personal computers to students and faculty at cut-rate prices.

Administrators this week refused to specify the company in question or the exact nature of the deal. But they said it would make large quantities of hardware and software available to students at lower-than-market prices.

"The deal will make computers available to students and faculty at the most attractive prices possible," Dean of the Division of Applied Sciences Paul C. Martin '52 said yesterday.

Harvard and other schools are currently in the process of making many such deals with firms, as they strive to modernize and expand their computer facilities. Firms are willing to sell their equipment to universities at low prices in the hope that students will want to buy their products in the future.

Apples

As a result of a deal with the Apple Company in January, Harvard students, faculty, and associates can acquire the new Macintosh personal computer for about $1450--about $1000 less than standard retail value.

Officials contacted yesterday at companies that have done business with Harvard either refused to comment or denied that any major deals were in the offing.

But some indicated that their companies might be considering a deal.

One official with the International Business Machines Company said that company policy restricts employees from discussing upcoming arrangements. He added, though, that "something may or may not happen. Things can fall through on the eleventh hour."

Other News

The first shipment of several hundred Macintosh computers are expected to arrive within the next fews weeks.

The University will allow each student to lease only one Macintosh and will have him or her sign an agreement not to resell the computer for at least one year. Faculty and staff will not be bound by these restrictions.

After leasing the computers for one year, students may resell the used computers "unless some kind of massive reselling arrangement develops," Martin said.

Over the past few months, Harvard administrators have said they are placing a high priority on updating computer facilities throughout the University.

The current time sharing system, centralized at the Science Center, "no longer seems the best way to go. With the price of [individual terminals] dropping so low, alternative methods to the centralized system seem like a reasonable solution," said Lewis A. Law, associate director of the Science Center.

Other universities such as Brown and MIT are implementing decentralized terminal networks, mainly to decrease costs and increase efficiency of their systems.