IEEE Annals of the History of Computing

Information technology spread around the world faster than most other technologies in recent centuries. A combination of eight approaches made this happen, each occurring simultaneously in varying degrees between the 1950s and the present. View full abstract»

In examining the history of IBM in Chile, this article asks how IBM came to dominate Chile's computer market and, to address this question, emphasizes the importance of studying both IBM corporate strategy and Chilean national history. The article also examines how IBM reproduced its corporate culture in Latin America and used it to accommodate the region's political and economic changes. View full abstract»

US computer manufacturers-including IBM and Remington Rand-expanded into Europe after World War II. The companies overcame resistances and adjusted to different market conditions; how they did this, and why IBM succeeded more than others, is examined here. This article argues that IBM adeptly managed-or engineered-relationships with foreign governments and stakeholders through a European-wide manu... View full abstract»

The success of the German company SAP and its enterprise software contradicts the widespread assumption of American dominance in the computer software industry. In this combined business and technology history of SAP, the author explores the individuals and ideas behind the concept of standardized, integrated business software and how SAP developed from a small company to a global market leader. View full abstract»

By the time the first operational electronic digital computer was installed in Helsinki in 1958, Finland's computerization was already far advanced. The Finnish experience helps illustrate the spread of computing technology in Northern Europe. In Finland's case, it occurred through a combination of national goals and internationally acquired technology and expertise. View full abstract»

The LINC (Laboratory Instrument Computer) was designed by Wesley A. Clark and Charles E. Molnar at MIT's Lincoln Laboratory in 1962, assisted by a team of approximately a dozen people under Clark's leadership. Over the years, nearly 100 LINCs were built for use in medical research before the design was absorbed into the DEC PDP-12. View full abstract»

Discrete-event simulation has never been, and is not now, part of the computer theory or applications mainstream. Discrete-event simulation is an asynchronous procedure in which time jumps from the current event to the time of the next event. To a large degree, it developed as a counter element in the emerging computer culture of the 1960s a tool for support in an area that aimed toward the practi... View full abstract»

Reviews of Digital Apollo: Human and Machine in Spaceflight and Internet Alley: High Technology in Tysons Corner, 1945-2005. View full abstract»

1945, Alan Turing theorized one of the major stumbling blocks to computing technology's potential, coining the term "the human brake." The human brake slowed computing processes by delegating actions to human operators that should ideally reside within the capabilities of a machine and its programming. Turing went on to outline a stored program computer that aimed to revolutionize the current stat... View full abstract»