-----Original Message-----
From: Clyde Smith-Stubbs <clyde@HTSOFT.COM>
To: PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU <PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU>
Date: Tuesday, May 19, 1998 4:39 AM
Subject: Re: A simple question .....


...
>Seriously, FLASH is a fancy term for a kind of electrically-erasable
>programmable read-only memory (EEPROM). The exact difference between
>FLASH and regular EEPROM depends on which marketing person you talk to,
>but basically FLASH is always bulk-erased, whereas (some) EEPROM can be
byte
>erased.
>
>I think the original term came from the fact that it can be erased in a
flash.
>
>Cheers, Clyde
>
In a book "What a Great Idea" Charles "Chic" Thompson describes his
interview with Yoshiro NakaMats (inventor of CD, floppy, digital watch
etc. - more than 2,300 patents all together):
...
C.T.: I've read that you come up with a patentable idea every day. Have you
come up with one today?
Y.N.: No, let's invent a product together. What would you buy if it were
available?
C.T.: I'd buy a recording device, about the size of a credit card, that
could fit in my shirt pocket. Every time I had a flash of an idea, I could
just record it. It would be voice activated, with a very large memory, and
have a voice activated filing system for idea management.
Y.N.: What would you call it?
C.T.: I'd call it "Flash" - because it would just be flashes of ideas, which
you could then download onto a computer system.
Y.N.: Very good. This will be our first product together, so when I get
home, I'll turn it over to my research department.
..............
I am not sure, but could this be an origin of a term "Flash" memory?

Gennady Palitsky
gennadyp@mainlink.net