Before the Computer: IBM, NCR, Burroughs, and Remington Rand and the Industry They Created, 1865-1956 - Brossura

Cortada, James W.

Brossura

ISBN 10: 0691050457 ISBN 13: 9780691050454

Casa editrice: Princeton University Press, 2006

Riassunto

Before the Computer fully explores the data processing industry in the United States from its nineteenth-century inception down to the period when the computer became its primary tool. As James Cortada describes what was once called the "office appliance industry," he challenges our view of the digital computer as a revolutionary technology. Cortada interprets reliance on computers as a development within an important segment of the American economy that was earlier represented largely by such instruments as typewriters, tabulating machines, adding machines, and calculators. He also describes how many of the practices of the office appliance industry evolved into those of the computer world. Drawing on previously unavailable industry archives, the author adds to our understanding of IBM's early history and offers short corporate histories of firms that include NCR, Burroughs, and Remington Rand. Focusing on the United States but also including comparative material on Europe and Asia, Before the Computer will be a unique source of knowledge about the companies that built office equipment and their enormous impact on economic life.

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Recensione

"The computer didn't spring full-blown from the brows of men like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. The automation movement that prepared the way for today's personal computer, the author shows, began in the 19th century with the invention of the typewriter and the adding machine."--Washington Post Book World

"Easily the best attempt to date to integrate the present-day computer industry with its office machine past. It is strongly recommended as a significant contribution to the literature of the history of computing and the information handling industries."--Martin Campbell-Kelly, Business History

"This beautifully produced book ... makes an essential contribution to the history of data processing and computing. Its data alone should make the book a basic reference for scholars."--Steven W. Usselman, American Scientist

Contenuti

	List of Illustrations
	List of Figures
	List of Tables
	Preface
	Acknowledgments
Pt. 1	Origins of a New Industry, 1865-1920	1
1	From Opportunities to Typewriters	3
2	Adding and Calculating Machines	25
3	Hollerith and the Development of Punched Card Tabulation	44
4	Cash Registers and the National Cash Register Company	64
5	Rudiments of an Industry Identified	79
Pt. 2	An Age of Office Machines, 1920-1941	89
6	Economic Conditions and the Role of Standardization	91
7	Products, Practices, and Prices	105
8	Commercial and Scientific Applications of Punched Card Machines	128
9	International Trade in Punched Card Machines	137
10	The Great Depression in the United States	144
11	IBM and Powers/Remington Rand	149
12	Other Accounting Machines and Their Uses	158
13	Vendors, Practices, and Results	171
Pt. 3	World War II and the Postwar Office Appliance Industry, 1941-1956	187
14	Economics, Government Controls, and Applications	189
15	The Role of Major Vendors, 1939-1946	206
16	Industry Structure, Vendors, and Practices, 1945-1956	222
17	Business Volumes	247
18	Conclusion: The Roles of Marketing, Distribution, and Technology	264
	Notes	289
	Index	331

Dettagli dell?edizione

• Editore: Princeton University Press
• Data di pubblicazione: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0691050457
• ISBN 13: 9780691050454
• Rilegatura: Copertina flessibile
• Lingua: Inglese
• Numero di pagine: 408