00100	Dear Larry:
00200	
00300		We  have  decided to complete the design of Foonly even under
00400	the  unfavorable  condition  that  ARPA  may  not  allow  it  to   be
00500	constructed  for  non-technical  reasons.  Our reasons for doing this
00600	are as follows:
00700	
00800		1.  We really want the machine and will take our  chances  on
00900	permission even though they are not too good.
01000	
01100		2. We hope to convince you, once the design is complete, that
01200	the machine should be built after all.
01300	
01400		3.  The design aids, which are already being used by DEC  and
01500	MIT will be further proved out by completing the design.
01600	
01700		Admittedly, the machine is not as attractive a proposition as
01800	it would have been had it been  completed  on  any  of  the  previous
01900	schedules.   However, it is still well within the range of completion
02000	times usual for commercial projects.   In  my  opinion,  it  was  not
02100	completed  on time, the group under-estimated how much work there was
02200	and over-estimated how hard each of them was  willing  to  work.   It
02300	seems  to  me that the miscalculations were inclined to be especially
02400	severe in the logical design  that  requires  sustained  conceptually
02500	difficult  work.   I  expect that the more routine work of completing
02600	the partitioning, pc-card layout, wire-wrap layout,  and  back  panel
02700	layout  will  go much faster, and I will be interested to see if this
02800	is so.
02900	
03000		Unless the design is complete by  May  1,  I  will  stop  the
03100	project  myself, but if it is complete, I will try to persuade you to
03200	let the machine be built for the following reasons:
03300	
03400		1. Even one Foonly will provide a cost-effective increase  in
03500	computing  power  for the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
03600	and for network users.
03700	
03800		2. The new ideas in the Foonly design such  as  time-sharable
03900	user micro-code and the console computer are worth trying out.  In my
04000	opinion, they better tried out in the Foonly context of an  otherwise
04100	conventional  machine  with  plenty of software, consoles, files, and
04200	users than in an isolated machine devoted to a single new concept.
04300	
04400		3. There is an upper bound on the size project  that  can  be
04500	accomplished  by  a  small group unsupported by a large organization.
04600	The Foonly project appears to have been right on the boundary.  Given
04700	the  software  that  the  project has produced and the development of
04800	technology, this size project should be  well  within  the  practical
04900	range  in  the  future.   It  is  important to establish this, and if
05000	Foonly is not completed, there will be a  fear  of  undertaking  such
05100	size projects in the future.
05200	
05300		I  believe  that  Gordon Bell and Alan Kotok will support our
05400	contention that the project is approaching completion, and we  expect
05500	to   have  the  complete  design  comprising,  pc-layouts,  wire-wrap
05600	layouts, and back panel wiring ready to be sent out  at  the  end  of
05700	March.
05800	
05900		I hope that when we present this proposition to you, you will
06000	be able to give the matter some of your personal attention.
06100	
06200						Sincerely yours,
06300	
06400	
06500						John McCarthy
06600						Director, Stanford Artificial
06700	Intelligence Laboratory
06800	
06900	
07000	P.S. There are two factors that have unfortunately militated  against
07100	the project at this time, in my opinion, incorrectly.
07200	
07300		The first is the extremely short time estimate given by Poole
07400	and others at  the  beginning  of  the  task.   This  was  apparently
07500	necessary  to  him  to persuade himself to undertake the project.  In
07600	fact, the project is  not  badly  delayed  by  commercial  standards,
07700	compare ILLIAC 4.
07800	
07900		The  second  is your and Steve's tendency to push the idea of
08000	concentrating computing facilities in a few  centers  used  over  the
08100	network.  In my opinion, there is a tendency to push this idea beyond
08200	its usefulness as a kind of justification of the expense of expanding
08300	the network.