Minis and mainframes: Microcomputers as we know them may disappear as sophisticated microprocessors reach toward mainframe capability; more powerful supercomputers are introduced

Fifty years from now, historians of computer science may regard the VAX 11/780 as the last true minicomputer. Spiraling capabilities of single-chip VLSI procesors and declining memory costs are combining to blur the distinctions between the high end of microprocessor-based computers and the multiboard minis of the past.