To: Dr. E.G.

From: Dr. J. Lederberg Rpevex Cap (6F

Dear Gene:

I'm sorry "Steroids" slipped by. "Everyone else” must have been carry-
ing the ball. But I am not on Holden-Day's Board. I did buy some of the initial
stock, and helped Fred Murphy pick out some people for editors, etc. So I have
a friendly interest, but no formal role in HD operations. I will try to keep eyes
open more carefully about this sort of slip--I'm sure Carl Djerassi will react
very well on your reminder.

About those quick correspondence forms, I had in mind my private busi-
ness (mostly to you!) so I would use my home address. Many thanks.

I don't know if there is anything else urgent to burn up the phone
wires with; if there is--I'll be back Wednesday morning.

We have a first rate Computer Center we still make very little use of.
For an office like ours, a flexowriter to generate punched tape seems likely to
make the most sense, although for many purposes we will have to run a tape to
card conversion. But the ease of correction, and the ease of editing the
typewriter-format output, and the incidental office uses of a tape-controlled
typewriter seem to recommend it. Have you looked into this for the Cit. Index
project? Or is the direct card punch outstandingly competitive for large scale
operations? Mainly I wanted to ask whether you knew the hardware, especially
some of the (cheaper) alternativesto Friden we ought to look at?

Someday, I'm sure you'll be selling a machinable version of C/C for
subprocessing by subscribers. It's a crime that this effort is duplicated so

much now! (B/A, CA, NIM, ...)