IP: UNIVAC turns 50

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> Date: Thu, 14 Jun 2001 08:53:21 -0700
> To: farber () cis upenn edu
> From: Bob Hinden <hinden () iprg nokia com>
> Subject: Fwd: UNIVAC turns 50
>
>
> > > Subject:      UNIVAC turns 50
> > >
> > > ** The Univac Turns 50
> > >
> > > Look at what a half-century has wrought. It was 50 years ago
> > > today that the famed Univac, widely considered the first
> > > commercial computer, made its public debut during a dedication at
> > > the U.S. Census Bureau. At the time, proponents assured the world
> > > that computers would give us shorter workweeks and paperless
> > > offices. But there's no disputing the impact the subsequent
> > > computer revolution has had on business and, more recently, life
> > > away from work.
> > >
> > > The first implications of the widespread influence Univac and its
> > > offspring would have came in the fall of 1952, when the fifth
> > > Univac machine correctly predicted Dwight Eisenhower's landslide
> > > victory over Adlai Stevenson. CBS News chose not to reveal that
> > > prediction until it had been verified by a hand count, but the
> > > implications were clear. Computers were on the verge of
> > > transforming the way we accessed information.
> > >
> > > After delivering the first seven Univacs to government agencies,
> > > Remington Rand (now Unisys Corp.) made its first private-industry
> > > sale to General Electric Co. in 1954. Shortly thereafter, GE
> > > revealed that by using its Univac to automate payroll, it was
> > > able to reassign a large number of payroll clerks to other
> > > positions within the company. In all, Remington Rand sold 46
> > > Univacs, which, given the then-enormous price tag of $1 million
> > > to $1.5 million, was considered mass production at the time. "It
> > > was really the beginning of the computer industry," says computer
> > > historian George Gray, a systems programmer for the State of
> > > Georgia who writes the Unisys History Newsletter.
> > >
> > > The contrast between the Univac and today's mainframe equivalents
> > > is astounding. Unisys' ES7000 server, for instance, offers
> > > 216,000 times the speed and 7.6 million times the memory of the
> > > Univac while consuming one-eighteenth as much power and just
> > > 1/24th of the Univac's weight. But even with such advances,
> > > computers remain both a blessing and a curse, a fact that led
> > > Unisys to mark Univac's 50th birthday by issuing an apology for
> > > the resulting inconveniences that sometimes outweigh the
> > > benefits. "For all the data, for all the analysis, for all the
> > > processing, they still don't help us understand," Unisys VP Guy
> > > Esnouf says of modern computers. "It's still just as difficult to
> > > make a decision." - Tony Kontzer
> > >
> > > Is this story closer to memory than history for you? Do you
> > > remember using punch cards? Join us in an old-fogey discussion at
> > > the Listening Post
> > > http://update.informationweek.com/cgi-bin4/flo?y=eDu50Bnhjc0V20Nmm0Ag



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