West Coast Wins Tie-Breaking Round of the Computer Bowl, a Technical Knock-Out Sponsored by The Computer Museum

May 15, 1993 — West Coast high-tech leaders successfully defended the title “Computer Masters of the Universe” from their East Coast industry rivals in the Fifth Annual Computer Bowl, May 14, at the San Jose Civic Auditorium. The score was 25 to 14.

This tie breaker is the third time (and the second year in a row) the West Coast team has won this bicoastal contest of computer knowledge and trivia. It was also the last match before the Computer Bowl All-Star Game in 1994. Suspense is already mounting for that contest, to be played by the Most Valuable Players (the highest individual point scorers) of all five previous Bowls.

Created and produced by The Computer Museum, Boston, and presented by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), the Bowl benefits the Museum’s educational programs. Similar to the format of TV game shows, it has be-come computerdom’s own celebrity classic event.

“We’re proud of our total triumph over the East Coast team,” said West Coast Captain Dr. Harry J. Saal, president, chief executive officer, and chairman of Network General Corporation. “It’s final proof that Westerners ‘Excel’ over the ‘Lotus’ – eaters from the East.” Saal went on to explain that his team had also “hired members of last year’s West Coast team as personal trainers. They were a great help at 6 a.m. before bicycling to work!” “We were blindsided,” retorted East Coast Captain Mitchell E. Kertzman, chairman and chief executive officer of Powersoft Corporation. “Since there’s absolutely no rational explanation for our loss – we’re obviously the superior team and coast – I can only refer you to the Chaos Theory, which says we lost because a butterfly in Mexico flapped its wings the day before the contest.”

The award-winning TV show Computer Chronicles will air the Bowl nationwide on PBS in two parts: Part I, May 25-31; Part II, June 1-7. (Check local listings for exact date and time.)
Joining Saal for the West: Jean-Louis Gassee, chairman and chief executive officer, Be Corporation; Jerry Kaplan, chairman and co-founder, Go Corporation; Michael A. McConnell, President and chief executive officer, SuperMac, Inc.; Lisa G. Thorell, director and principal analyst, Client/Server Computing Service, Dataquest Incorporated.

Joining Kertzman for the East: John F. Burton, president and chief executive officer, Legent Corporation; Neil J. Col-vin, senior vice president and chief technology officer, Phoenix Technologies Ltd., Alain Hanover, chairman, president and chief executive officer, Viewlogic Systems Inc.; Patricia B. Seybold, president and chief executive officer, Patricia Seybold Group.

The Computer Bowl was narrowcast live via satellite from San Jose to The Computer Bowl and to Microsoft Corporation in Redmond, Washington. Stewart Cheifet, executive producer of Computer Chronicles, hosted the event, while Microsoft’s chairman Bill Gates, the 1990 West Coast Most Valuable Player, asked the questions. 1992 West Coast team captain John F. Shoch, general partner, Asset Management Company; 1992 East Coast team captain Charles Bachman, chairman, Bachman Information Systems; and 1992 East Coast most valuable player Dr. David L. Nelson, chairman, Fluent Inc., judged the event.

This year, as a warm-up to the 1994 Computer Bowl All-Star Game, a Pre-Game Show was played by the most valuable players of previous Bowls: Mitchell Kapor, chairman, Electronic Frontier Foundation Inc.; Bob Frankston, product creator, Slate Corporation; author Pamela McCorduck (Bachman stood in for McCorduck, who was unable to attend); and Nelson from the East against Bill Joy, vice president of research and development, Sun Microsystems Inc.; Gates; Dave Liddle, president and chief executive officer, Interval Research Corporation; and Jeffrey C. Kalb, president, MasPar Computer Corporation, from the West.

This year’s most valuable players, the West Coast’s Captain Harry Saal and Niel Colvin from the East, will join them in next year’s Computer Bowl All-Star Game.

The Bowl trophy has changed coasts almost every year. After winning in 1988, the East lost in 1990 but came back in 1991 to trounce the West 460 to 170. Last year, the West rolled over the East 320 to 240. A one-of-a-kind fundraiser that plays out the legendary East/West Coast high-tech rivalry, The Computer Bowl has now raised over $3 million in donations and in-kind support since 1988. It attracts the support of hundreds of sponsors and enthusiastic volunteers, as well as media coverage around the world.

Educating the public about computers is the mission of The Computer Museum. As the world’s only museum solely devoted to computers and people and their impact on one another, it educates and entertains people of all ages and backgrounds with over 125 hands-on exhibits, three theaters, programs, and the finest collection of historical computers and robots ever assembled. The Association for Computing Machinery is one of the world’s leading societies of computing professionals.

Top 10 questions from the 1993 computer bowl Check Your Own Technical I.Q.!

1. Who reportedly once sent this e-mail message: “Oh Lord, I lost the slip and broke one of the high heels. Forgive please. Will return the wig on Monday”? William Casey, Oliver North, or Geroge Bush?

2. Which software product was on the Official PC Letter Vaporlist longest? Lotus 1-2-3 for the Macintosh, Microsoft Windows or Ashton-Tate’s dBase IV?

3. In what movie did Julie Christie play a woman imprisoned and impregnated by a computer? “Demon Seed,” “Love You to Death,” or “Colossus: The Forbin Project?”

4. Scott Adams sometimes puts his Internet e-mail address between his syndicated comic strip’s panels. What comic strip does he draw?

5. Nearly 30 years ago, one of the first precursors to today’s pen-based computers was developed – a digital graphic in-put device with its own pen-like stylus. Did Xerox PARC, the RAND corporation, or IBM develop this tablet?

6. Since 1984, a contest has been held on USENET for the most unreadable, creative, bizarre, but working C program. What is the contest’s name?

7. Which famous actor tried to steal customers away from IBM in an early Apple II TV ad? Alan Alda, Kevin Costner, or Clint Eastwood?

8. What is the name of the legendary creature lurking in the depths of the Macintosh technical Notes Hypercard Stack?

9. For which product was Amiga known before developing their PC? A foot-operated joystick, bread-baking machine or gas-powered hard disk drive?

10. What is the name of the computer program British mathematician and physicist Stephen Hawking uses to communicate with other people?

Answers:

1. Oliver North 2. Lotus 1-2-3 for the Macintosh (by a hair: 50 months, from October 1987 to December 1991) 3. “Demon Seed” 4. Dilbert 5. The Rand Corporation 6. The Obsfuscated C Contest 7. Kevin Costner 8. Claris, the dog-cow 9. Foot-operated joystick (called the Joyboard) 10. The Equalizer, designed by Walt Woltosz

note to Editors: Photos/slides available.

CONTACT:
The Computer Bowl
Gail Jennes, 617/426-2800 ext. 341
Stacey Romanoff, 617/426-2800 ext. 329