Encyclopedia of Computer Science and Technology

Cray, Seymour 121As with eBay, Craigslist has to strike a balance betweenprotecting users from criminal activity and exercising directoversight with the attendant expenses and legal problems.For keeping out illegal ads (such as discriminatory housingor job offers or solicitations for prostitution), Craigslisthas relied mainly on users to be “good citizens” and to“flag” offending ads for removal by the service. Nevertheless,police have reported use of Craigslist by prostitutionrings and other organized criminals and identity thievesseeking personal information. A 2006 suit (subsequentlydismissed) accused Craigslist of “allowing” discriminatoryhousing ads in Chicago. (Under federal law, Web sites aregenerally not liable for content posted by users, unless thesite has edited content.)Because Craigslist has been so successful, newspapershave complained that it has dried up much of their revenuefrom classified advertising, costing them an estimated $50–$65 million in 2004 in the Bay Area alone. This is particularlya concern of small local and independent newspapersfor which ads may be their only source of revenue.Craigslist has won a 2001 Webby award for Best CommunitySite, and was voted Best Local Web site in a 2003Manhattan Reader’s Poll.Further ReadingCarney, Brian M. “Zen and the Art of Classified Advertising.” WallStreet Journal.com OpinionJournal, June 17, 2006. Availableonline. URL: http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110008531.Accessed September 9, 2007.Craigslist. Available online. URL: http://www.craigslist.org.Accessed September 9, 2007.“Craigslist Hits Bay Area Classifieds Hard.” NewsInc 16 (December27, 2004): n.p. Available online. URL: http://www.newsinc.net/morgue/2004/NI041227.html. Accessed September 9, 2007.Sentementes, Gus G. “Web Site Vice Stings.” Baltimoresun.com,September 8, 2007. Available online. URL: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/annearundel/bal-md.ar.prostitution08sep08,0,179750 1.story. Accessed September 9,2007.Cray, Seymour(1925–1996)AmericanComputer Engineer, InventorSeymour Cray was a computer designer who pioneered thedevelopment of high-performance computers that cameto be called supercomputers. Cray was born in ChippewaFalls, Wisconsin. After serving in World War II as an armyelectrical technician, Cray went to the University of Minnesotaand earned a B.S. in electrical engineering and thenan M.S. in applied mathematics. (This combination is acommon background for many of the designers who wouldhave to combine mathematics and engineering principles tocreate the first computers.)In 1951, he joined Engineering Research Associates(ERA), one of a handful of companies that sought to commercializethe digital computing technology that had beendeveloped during and just after the war. Cray soon becameSeymour Cray is considered by many people to be the fatherof the supercomputer. His innovative Cray computers looked—and performed—like something out of science fiction. (CrayResearch)known for his ability to grasp every aspect of computingfrom logic circuits to the infant discipline of software development.When ERA and its competitor, the Eckert-MauchlyComputer Company were bought by Remington Rand, Craybecame the chief designer for the Univac, the first commerciallysuccessful computer. In 1957, however, Cray andtwo colleagues struck out on their own to form ControlData Corporation (CDC). Their CDC 1604 was one of thefirst computers to move from vacuum tubes to transistors.The CDC 6600 was considered by many to be technicallysuperior to the IBM 360. However, by then IBM had becomepreeminent in the business computing market, while theCDC machines found favor with scientists.By the late 1960s, Cray had persuaded CDC to providehim with production facilities within walking distance ofhis home in Chippewa Falls. There he designed the CDC7600. This computer was hailed as the world’s first supercomputer(see supercomputer). However CDC disagreed withCray about the commercial feasibility of even more powerfulcomputers. In 1972, Cray formed his own company, CrayResearch, Inc. By then Cray’s reputation as a computer architectwas so great that investors flocked to buy stock in hiscompany. His series of Cray supercomputers looked like sleekmonoliths from a science fiction movie. The machines werethe first supercomputers to use parallel processing, where