MINI-computers ????
Why would the author purloin the word "mini-computer", which has a long-standing meaning of a computer smaller than the mainframe dinosaurs that once roamed the planet? To quote Wikipedia, the most handy on-line reference: "A minicomputer, or colloquially mini, is a class of smaller computers that developed in the mid-1960s and sold for much less than mainframe and mid-size computers from IBM and its direct competitors."
Methinks that author Thompson has not been around computers for very long.