IBM
We Don't See Mainframes as Legacy Technology
Half-century milestone for IBM mainframes, by Mark Ward at BBC News (April 7th, 2014)
Most interesting about the passage below, is that they’re referring to mainframes right now, not 50 years ago.
"I don't think people realise how often during the day they interact with a mainframe," he said.
Mr Heptonstall said mainframes were behind many of the big information systems that keep the modern world humming and handled such things as airline reservations, cash machine withdrawals and credit card payments.
The machines were very good at doing small-scale transactions, such as adding or taking figures away from bank balances, over and over again, he said.
"We don't see mainframes as legacy technology," said Charlie Ewen, chief information officer at the Met Office, which has been using mainframes for 40 years.
(Originally published on my old site, “The Digital Imaginary” [imaginary.digital], on March 27th, 2015 – revised and republished March 30th, 2025.)
IBM System/360 - 50th anniversary
IBM recently celebrated the 50th anniversary of the System/360 mainframe, which was announced on April 7, 1964.
IBM press announcement text for the System/360, 1964
IBM System/360 at the Computer History Museum
The System/360, or S/360 is discussed in this IBM video, “IBM Centennial Film: They Were There.” youtu.be/XrhDaAmn5…
Also from IBM, System 360: From Computers to Computer Systems:
Most significantly, the S/360 ushered in an era of computer compatibility—for the first time, allowing machines across a product line to work with each other. In fact, it marked a turning point in the emerging field of information science and the understanding of complex systems. After the S/360, we no longer talked about automating particular tasks with “computers.” Now, we talked about managing complex processes through “computer systems.”
(Originally published on my old site, "The Digital Imaginary" [imaginary.digital], on March 27th, 2015 -- revised and republished April 1st, 2025. Sadly most links are broken now.)
Paperwork Explosion
This video created by Jim Henson in 1967 for IBM makes a great first post. So much anxiety, so little time, if only there was someone to help…like IBM!
Ben Kafka discusses this video in the Conclusion of his book, The Demon of Writing: Powers and Failures of Paperwork (2012), and also in this online West 86th article:
The “paperwork explosion” expresses both a threat and a wish. The threat, of course, is that we are being overwhelmed by paperwork’s proliferation, its explosion — a threat that historian Ann Blair has recently traced through the early modern period. The wish is to convert all this cumbersome matter into liberating energy, which is exactly what explosions do. From Chaptal’s “electric fluid” to IBM’s “Machines Should Work, People Should Think” to USA.gov’s “Government Made Easy,” we remain attached to the idea that someday, somehow, we can liberate this energy, put it to other uses.
The “liberating energy” that Kafka speaks of also requires containment, it needs direction and control, services which IBM is ready to supply.
Two other aspects of paperwork which I’m researching are: (1) the degree to which IBM is instigating the “paperwork explosion” itself, where is it coming from, who else is worried about it, and (2) how the militaristic response to the demands of paperwork figure into the Cold War environment.