WEBVTT - The History of IBM: Part 2 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:02.840 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:08.920 It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology? With 0:00:09.039 --> 0:00:17.880 tech Stuff from how stuff works dot com. Hello again, everyone, 0:00:17.920 --> 0:00:20.279 Welcome to tech Stuff. My name is Chris Polette and 0:00:20.320 --> 0:00:22.600 I am an editor at how stuff works dot com. 0:00:22.600 --> 0:00:24.920 Sitting across from me as always a senior writer, Jonathan 0:00:24.960 --> 0:00:36.480 Strickland dayzy days. Very nice, Thank you, very nice. Yeah. 0:00:36.560 --> 0:00:41.000 I I that has practically no connection whatsoever to what 0:00:41.000 --> 0:00:44.879 we're going to talk about, but people think it does. Okay, 0:00:44.880 --> 0:00:50.680 because how h a L that's one letter off from IBM. Yeah. 0:00:50.760 --> 0:00:53.239 So this is part two of our episode about the 0:00:53.360 --> 0:00:57.120 history of IBM and it's impact on technology, which I 0:00:57.160 --> 0:01:02.720 think it's safe to say it cannot be understated. Okay, 0:01:02.920 --> 0:01:05.959 So I'm kidding, it can't be overstated. That's where you're 0:01:05.959 --> 0:01:08.720 supposed to jump on me for using the wrong word. Okay. Well, 0:01:09.040 --> 0:01:11.080 it's funny. We we didn't talk about at all, and 0:01:11.160 --> 0:01:12.800 I'm just gonna throw this in as a footnote before 0:01:12.800 --> 0:01:14.560 we get started. We didn't talk about it in the 0:01:14.600 --> 0:01:18.440 first episode. One of the uh reasons that we've got 0:01:18.680 --> 0:01:21.920 three episodes on IBM is because the company has been 0:01:21.959 --> 0:01:24.959 around for a very long time, has done a lot 0:01:25.040 --> 0:01:28.800 of technological innovation, has a very rich company culture, which 0:01:28.800 --> 0:01:32.840 includes music. In fact, is one of the few companies 0:01:32.880 --> 0:01:36.160 that has its own anthem. Um you know. In fact, 0:01:36.360 --> 0:01:39.760 Thomas J. Watson Sr. Who who became we're starting this 0:01:39.800 --> 0:01:43.039 episode in ninety two. He became IBM president in nineteen 0:01:43.080 --> 0:01:46.319 fifty two officially, although he led the company before that. 0:01:46.760 --> 0:01:50.440 Um he established the first company band in nineteen fifteen, 0:01:51.240 --> 0:01:54.080 so all along the entire company hit one on the 0:01:54.200 --> 0:01:56.120 entire company history, but a lot of the company history 0:01:56.160 --> 0:01:59.120 for almost a hundred years now, they've had a company band, 0:01:59.200 --> 0:02:02.680 they have a company anthem, play all their music on 0:02:02.760 --> 0:02:07.520 tabulating machines. It's very rhythmic, but not melodic. The IBM 0:02:07.600 --> 0:02:10.640 Songbook was printed the year after we're starting this, in 0:02:10.760 --> 0:02:13.520 nineteen fifty three. You can actually you can listen to 0:02:13.560 --> 0:02:16.639 this on the at the archives at IBM dot com. 0:02:16.680 --> 0:02:18.760 So if you want to hear the IBM anthem, the 0:02:18.800 --> 0:02:22.919 IBM fight song, the IBM fight song, there is one. Well, 0:02:22.960 --> 0:02:25.760 it's a rally song. It's called ever Onward and the 0:02:25.919 --> 0:02:28.800 I just want it down with you, Apple down with 0:02:28.880 --> 0:02:34.440 you Not then there wasn't because Apple wasn't established until so, yeah, 0:02:34.919 --> 0:02:36.959 it would actually be more like down with you burrows. 0:02:38.160 --> 0:02:40.000 We should do burrows. That would be kind of fun, 0:02:40.160 --> 0:02:42.800 I guess sometimes after we give a definition of the 0:02:42.840 --> 0:02:47.119 word fun. Yes, well, just because they were a computer innovator, Yes, 0:02:47.200 --> 0:02:49.480 this is true. But we decided to start again with 0:02:49.600 --> 0:02:54.840 IBM in nineteen fifty two. Again, Watson, I'm sorry, Watson Jr. 0:02:54.880 --> 0:02:58.320 Became the company president in NIFO. His dad was leading 0:02:58.400 --> 0:03:00.960 the company before that. I was right, I miss spoke earlier, 0:03:00.960 --> 0:03:04.120 and Watson Sr. Was was a chairman of the board. 0:03:05.440 --> 0:03:09.600 That's fine. Not about Sinatra. Oh well, no, he was 0:03:09.639 --> 0:03:13.080 over there with Dino and uh hey, what where am 0:03:13.080 --> 0:03:15.040 I going with this? Ain't that a kick in the head. 0:03:15.600 --> 0:03:17.240 I was listening to that this morning. So you wanted 0:03:17.280 --> 0:03:20.320 to talk about the seven and one, did I? Yes? Yes, 0:03:20.600 --> 0:03:25.080 production computer. Yes. So nineteen fifty two, IBM introduces the 0:03:25.200 --> 0:03:29.399 seven oh one, starting a long line of catchy IBM 0:03:29.560 --> 0:03:34.760 product names. Well, let's let's face it, Okay, we're talking 0:03:34.760 --> 0:03:38.840 about a kind of industry where that it just isn't 0:03:39.240 --> 0:03:43.560 sexy in terms of consumers. People weren't buying computers for 0:03:43.560 --> 0:03:46.560 their homes. The customers here were businesses. So why do 0:03:46.640 --> 0:03:48.520 you need a fancy name. Yeah, you just need something 0:03:48.520 --> 0:03:50.600 that's easy to look up. You don't need something that's 0:03:50.680 --> 0:03:53.960 you know, you don't need the Jaguar. Well, hey, if 0:03:54.000 --> 0:03:56.400 you're if you're going to get right down to it. 0:03:55.640 --> 0:04:01.520 It still works for Peugeot, which sells cars with three 0:04:01.560 --> 0:04:04.760 digit names with zero in the middle, so and then 0:04:05.720 --> 0:04:07.800 would be right up there. So the seven oh one 0:04:08.000 --> 0:04:12.960 comes outwo It is the first IBM large scale electronic 0:04:13.120 --> 0:04:18.120 computer manufactured in mass quantities. It was the first commercially 0:04:18.120 --> 0:04:24.040 available scientific computer and it uh had a program stored 0:04:24.120 --> 0:04:27.800 in an internal addressable electronic memory, which was brand new 0:04:27.880 --> 0:04:30.919 for the time. That's something that we all take for 0:04:31.000 --> 0:04:34.680 granted now because we've had it for decades. But this 0:04:34.760 --> 0:04:37.800 was a brand new idea and it only took two 0:04:37.880 --> 0:04:41.200 years from the time when IBM first sketched out the 0:04:41.279 --> 0:04:43.560 idea for the seven oh one to win it rolled 0:04:43.600 --> 0:04:46.400 off the production lines. So two year development cycle for 0:04:46.520 --> 0:04:50.200 a brand new, groundbreaking computer is phenomenal. That shows that 0:04:50.240 --> 0:04:53.640 IBM was really putting some of their smartest, hardest working 0:04:53.680 --> 0:04:56.400 engineers on this project, and it seems like they had 0:04:56.440 --> 0:04:59.440 taken the IBM motto that you spoke of in the 0:04:59.480 --> 0:05:05.040 last podcast about Thomas J. Watson Senior. I think very 0:05:05.080 --> 0:05:08.240 much too, hearty. Um. It was only a year later 0:05:08.240 --> 0:05:09.680 that they came up with a seven oh two, which 0:05:09.720 --> 0:05:12.839 was a commercial version of the computer, and the six 0:05:12.920 --> 0:05:17.080 fifty magnetic drum calculator, which apparently calculated drums. Yeah, and 0:05:17.200 --> 0:05:19.880 uh wait a minute, no it didn't. No, no, no, 0:05:20.360 --> 0:05:24.800 So anyway that the reason for these um these, one 0:05:24.800 --> 0:05:27.320 of the reasons I should say for the rapid development 0:05:27.320 --> 0:05:29.360 of the seven oh one and the seven oh two 0:05:29.839 --> 0:05:33.920 was actually the outbreak of another conflict. It was the 0:05:34.000 --> 0:05:38.320 Korean War, which broke out in June, and Thomas J. 0:05:38.440 --> 0:05:42.080 Watson Sr. Asked the US government what IBM could do 0:05:42.240 --> 0:05:46.039 to help the war effort, and the government said, build 0:05:46.600 --> 0:05:50.320 us some really powerful scientific computers that we can use 0:05:50.800 --> 0:05:55.360 for our you know, for our strategic needs. And that 0:05:55.520 --> 0:05:57.960 was what got IBM to work. And the seven oh 0:05:57.960 --> 0:06:01.080 one and seven oh two are kind of wrecked results 0:06:01.279 --> 0:06:04.440 of that discussion. It's pretty kind of it's kind of 0:06:04.440 --> 0:06:07.280 an interesting story in the idea that Watson at this 0:06:07.320 --> 0:06:11.800 point is he's offering. He's like, look, I have this 0:06:11.960 --> 0:06:16.680 huge corporation we have all this this uh power of 0:06:16.680 --> 0:06:19.320 of mind. Here, We've got some of the finest engineers 0:06:19.320 --> 0:06:22.080 in all the world working for my company. What can 0:06:22.160 --> 0:06:25.360 I do to help? And that's kind of phenomenal. It's 0:06:25.400 --> 0:06:27.400 not just hey, you know what would make us a 0:06:27.440 --> 0:06:30.520 lot of money, Let's do this. It's I think that's 0:06:30.520 --> 0:06:35.200 a pretty interesting Now. It shows a certain philosophy that 0:06:35.240 --> 0:06:38.880 Watson had that I thought was was pretty interesting. Also 0:06:38.960 --> 0:06:42.080 kind of interesting to note just on a corporate culture side. Uh. 0:06:42.120 --> 0:06:45.840 In nine three, that's when Thomas J. Watson Jr. Wrote 0:06:46.000 --> 0:06:50.920 the first equal opportunity policy for the company, which came 0:06:50.920 --> 0:06:53.720 a full year before Brown versus the Board of Education, 0:06:54.320 --> 0:06:59.240 so before the Supreme Court had even heard that case. Uh, 0:06:59.360 --> 0:07:02.640 Watson j you'r. Was saying that, you know, he was 0:07:02.760 --> 0:07:07.440 establishing that there should be an equal opportunity employment uh 0:07:07.480 --> 0:07:11.360 culture at IBM. So again we're starting to see that 0:07:11.440 --> 0:07:14.520 IBM is not just leading the way technology wise, they're 0:07:14.600 --> 0:07:17.680 leaning the way as far as corporate culture goes. Yes, 0:07:17.800 --> 0:07:22.360 they they are pioneers in multiple avenues. Its kind of interesting. 0:07:23.160 --> 0:07:24.840 So you know, and you know what they did in 0:07:24.920 --> 0:07:29.360 nineteen four, you know what kind of what military computer 0:07:29.440 --> 0:07:34.239 they developed? Then no, what the Naval Ordinance Research Computer 0:07:34.520 --> 0:07:39.760 or Yeah, fastest electronic computer at that time. So again 0:07:39.800 --> 0:07:43.040 IBM working with the United States government on that. Yeah, 0:07:43.040 --> 0:07:46.120 they they says they succeeded the seven oh one with 0:07:46.160 --> 0:07:48.400 the seven oh four and the seven oh two with 0:07:48.440 --> 0:07:52.680 the seven oh five. UM and introduced new like uh 0:07:52.880 --> 0:07:58.280 new typewriters as well, um, including the executive typewriter, except 0:07:58.280 --> 0:08:00.960 they didn't think executives typed back in those days. I 0:08:00.960 --> 0:08:02.800 think they had somebody to do that for them. Yeah, 0:08:02.880 --> 0:08:05.520 the executive assistant typewriters really much should have been called. 0:08:06.360 --> 0:08:10.640 Nineteen fifty five, IBM develops magnetic core storage units, so 0:08:10.960 --> 0:08:12.920 that that research they had been doing a couple of 0:08:12.960 --> 0:08:16.360 years previously, it was starting to pay off. Uh. Ninety 0:08:16.440 --> 0:08:19.480 six was a big year for IBM for a a 0:08:19.720 --> 0:08:24.440 sad reason because that was when Thomas J. Watson Sr. Died. 0:08:25.160 --> 0:08:27.440 He passed away in nineteen fifty six. So at the 0:08:27.480 --> 0:08:30.200 time that that Watson Sr. Passed away, if you remember 0:08:30.240 --> 0:08:33.480 from our previous podcast on IBM, we talked about when 0:08:33.480 --> 0:08:38.080 Watson took control, the gross income was four million dollars 0:08:38.080 --> 0:08:41.960 and the net earnings was one million. Let's compare that 0:08:42.000 --> 0:08:44.199 to when he passed away in nineteen fifty six. At 0:08:44.240 --> 0:08:49.160 that time, IBM's gross income was eight hundred ninety two 0:08:49.520 --> 0:08:53.520 million dollars, the earnings was eighty seven million dollars, and 0:08:53.559 --> 0:08:58.360 they employed seventy two thousand, five hundred four employees even 0:08:58.360 --> 0:09:02.080 adjusted for inflation. That's a significant increase. And you know 0:09:02.240 --> 0:09:05.200 that when when wants into control, there were what six 0:09:05.880 --> 0:09:10.960 employees now and four by the time he passes away. Also, 0:09:11.160 --> 0:09:13.120 I'm sorry, no, go ahead, I was gonna say. Also, 0:09:13.559 --> 0:09:16.680 as their innovation has gone on, they've increased, uh, not 0:09:16.800 --> 0:09:20.719 only the ability for machines to process information, increase the 0:09:20.760 --> 0:09:25.320 speed with which it's processing information, but they're also moving gradually, uh, 0:09:25.400 --> 0:09:30.560 from electro mechanical devices to electronic devices. Yes, by the 0:09:30.559 --> 0:09:32.400 time you're hitting the seven oh one seven or two 0:09:32.400 --> 0:09:34.760 and seven oh four and seven oh five machines, you're 0:09:34.760 --> 0:09:38.200 really moving away from the punch card era. It's there. 0:09:38.240 --> 0:09:40.800 They're starting to be able to phase out punch cards 0:09:40.840 --> 0:09:43.120 to some extent. Now, punch cards would remain an important 0:09:43.120 --> 0:09:46.560 part of IBM for years to come, just because you know, 0:09:47.280 --> 0:09:49.840 just as IBM is developing this new technology, that doesn't 0:09:49.920 --> 0:09:53.320 mean that all the companies that are IBMS customers can 0:09:53.360 --> 0:09:58.600 adopt that that technology immediately. So IBM continued to support 0:09:58.640 --> 0:10:02.199 that older technology for years, although it was also driving 0:10:02.280 --> 0:10:05.439 the innovation that made it possible to move away from 0:10:05.440 --> 0:10:08.880 the old punch card system. Yeah, before before anyone writes 0:10:08.920 --> 0:10:11.440 in to say this, unless, of course, you've paused a podcast, 0:10:11.480 --> 0:10:15.640 in which case you're violating rule number seven of the podcast. Um, Yeah, 0:10:15.679 --> 0:10:18.400 we were aware that that people were still programming with 0:10:18.440 --> 0:10:22.360 punched cards into the seventies and possibilities. I wouldn't be 0:10:22.400 --> 0:10:24.800 surprised that there's not somebody doing it now because they're 0:10:24.840 --> 0:10:28.520 on some legacy system requires you to use this, you know, 0:10:28.559 --> 0:10:33.480 some some antiquated programming language. So don't you know they're 0:10:33.520 --> 0:10:36.640 moving away from it, but they haven't completely. Yeah, like 0:10:36.679 --> 0:10:39.320 I said, they support it, but they don't. It's that's 0:10:39.320 --> 0:10:41.640 not where the innovation is. And also, by the way, 0:10:41.720 --> 0:10:44.560 rule number six of the podcast is there is no 0:10:44.679 --> 0:10:47.320 rule number six of the podcast in case you guys 0:10:47.320 --> 0:10:52.280 are keeping track. Uh So that's when they developed the 0:10:52.400 --> 0:10:55.120 seven O nine computer. That's also do you know what 0:10:55.280 --> 0:10:59.360 language came out in nine? In in that year programming 0:10:59.400 --> 0:11:04.800 language to developed by IBM trans Yes four tran This 0:11:05.040 --> 0:11:09.240 is again a big, big step. IBM makes four Trend 0:11:09.320 --> 0:11:14.200 programming language available to consumers. Uh. Before that, you know, 0:11:14.520 --> 0:11:17.320 you you didn't really have access to a way of 0:11:17.320 --> 0:11:20.439 programming your computer. It pretty much ran on whatever protocols 0:11:20.480 --> 0:11:23.120 you happen to have. Four Trend. Now you can develop 0:11:23.120 --> 0:11:26.840 your own. Uh. Not easy for treand was not necessarily 0:11:27.120 --> 0:11:29.520 something you could just quickly pick up in an afternoon, 0:11:30.000 --> 0:11:32.240 but it still was a big leap as far as 0:11:32.240 --> 0:11:35.480 computers are are concerned. Yeah, it's it's not Python. Let's 0:11:35.480 --> 0:11:38.280 just say that. No. Uh, do you have anything between 0:11:38.320 --> 0:11:40.719 fifty seven and sixty one? Because my next thing that 0:11:40.760 --> 0:11:43.320 I want to really talk about is comes in sixty one. Yes, 0:11:43.360 --> 0:11:45.560 well I have a I have another giggle moment. Okay, 0:11:45.720 --> 0:11:47.520 if you listen to the last podcast. I was giggling 0:11:47.559 --> 0:11:50.839 because originally, when when IBM was founded, it was as 0:11:50.880 --> 0:11:55.200 a merger between three companies making equipment for businesses UM, 0:11:55.360 --> 0:11:57.080 one of which was a scale company, one of which 0:11:57.160 --> 0:12:00.760 was tabulating machine Company, which is essentially a computer part, 0:12:01.160 --> 0:12:06.839 and then the other was a a time recording company. UM. Now, 0:12:06.880 --> 0:12:09.840 of course, you know clock's very important computers, but they 0:12:09.880 --> 0:12:12.880 decided at an earlier point to get rid of the 0:12:12.920 --> 0:12:14.880 Scale company because it just wasn't doing what they thought 0:12:14.920 --> 0:12:18.080 it would. So Mr Watson Senior decided to get rid 0:12:18.080 --> 0:12:21.480 of it and it immediately took off. Was now part 0:12:21.480 --> 0:12:24.280 of a very large company that still sales things, so 0:12:24.600 --> 0:12:27.839 did not fail. Neither did the Time Equipment division when 0:12:27.880 --> 0:12:30.520 they decided to sell it to Simplex Time Recorder Company, 0:12:30.520 --> 0:12:35.480 which is now Simplex Grenell. So they're there. They are 0:12:35.840 --> 0:12:38.520 dividing themselves up. We didn't mention that just as a note. 0:12:39.120 --> 0:12:41.440 As the company is moving on, especially now in the 0:12:41.520 --> 0:12:45.000 nineteen fifties, the company is splitting off divisions. Um. They 0:12:45.040 --> 0:12:48.560 now have a military division even to help develop products 0:12:48.559 --> 0:12:51.360 for the military, UM, as well as you know, different 0:12:51.440 --> 0:12:55.440 kinds of businesses. Uh So, apparently they decided to divest 0:12:55.480 --> 0:12:59.000 themselves at this one which continue to succeed without them. 0:12:59.120 --> 0:13:01.960 But you know what, I think I think that's still 0:13:02.120 --> 0:13:04.559 I think it shows I think it still shows wisdom though, 0:13:04.640 --> 0:13:07.760 right because because there there is the possibility that you're 0:13:07.800 --> 0:13:11.640 let's say you're in you're running an enormous corporation and 0:13:11.760 --> 0:13:14.439 you have a lot of balls to juggle, right, You're 0:13:14.480 --> 0:13:16.160 you're trying to you get a lot of irons in 0:13:16.200 --> 0:13:18.280 the fire, if you prefer that metaphor. So, you got 0:13:18.320 --> 0:13:20.400 all these irons in the fire, and you know you 0:13:20.440 --> 0:13:23.840 may not be able to to push all of them 0:13:23.920 --> 0:13:26.040 the way they need to be in order to succeed. 0:13:26.400 --> 0:13:28.960 There's nothing wrong with that. And selling something off that 0:13:29.080 --> 0:13:32.120 you cannot make succeed and then seeing it succeed, all 0:13:32.160 --> 0:13:35.360 that means is that that the potential was there, you 0:13:35.440 --> 0:13:39.079 just didn't have the resources necessary to make it happen. 0:13:39.240 --> 0:13:41.600 That's true. It could have it could have done poor 0:13:41.760 --> 0:13:44.800 since it's not a core business for IBM at this point. Uh, 0:13:44.840 --> 0:13:47.640 it may actually have been a drag on IBM, and 0:13:47.679 --> 0:13:49.560 IBM may not have been able to put the resources 0:13:49.600 --> 0:13:52.160 behind it that it would take to make it successful. 0:13:52.160 --> 0:13:54.720 So it's just sort of the it turns out that 0:13:54.920 --> 0:13:57.439 that wasn't Yeah, it wasn't. There wasn't anything. Yeah, it 0:13:57.559 --> 0:14:00.680 wasn't anything inherently bad about the division itself. Health Well, 0:14:00.960 --> 0:14:04.480 I personally consider that a success for everybody involved, because 0:14:04.720 --> 0:14:07.880 the alternative was that IBM could have held onto it 0:14:08.000 --> 0:14:10.880 and then could have suffered for it, both the division 0:14:10.920 --> 0:14:14.560 and IBM itself. UM IBM put all its workers on 0:14:14.640 --> 0:14:17.680 salary and introduced to stock purchase plan in which was 0:14:18.120 --> 0:14:21.600 again showing a lot of foresight treating its employees well. 0:14:21.640 --> 0:14:26.880 Corporate cultured pioneers. Uh. The seven thousand series computers were 0:14:26.920 --> 0:14:30.560 introduced in nineteen sixty UM, so the vacuum tube machines, 0:14:30.600 --> 0:14:35.120 the seven series now absolutely so, Yeah, vacuum tubes that 0:14:35.320 --> 0:14:37.040 if you guys aren't familiar, I mean that was the 0:14:37.080 --> 0:14:41.120 precursor to the transistor. So you've got vacuum tubes which 0:14:41.240 --> 0:14:45.760 were very efficient, uh comparatively speaking, but they had other 0:14:45.840 --> 0:14:48.560 problems like, for one, they generated a lot of heat, 0:14:49.120 --> 0:14:51.480 and they took up a lot of space. So we're 0:14:51.480 --> 0:14:54.200 talking when we're talking about computers with IBM, we're talking 0:14:54.280 --> 0:14:58.120 mainframe computers. The early mainframe computers were so large they 0:14:58.120 --> 0:15:01.000 could take up an entire room, uh in a building, 0:15:01.080 --> 0:15:03.720 and in fact, some of the supercomputers of the day 0:15:03.720 --> 0:15:06.880 would take up an entire floor of a building. And 0:15:06.920 --> 0:15:08.840 because we're talking about vacuum tubes, that's part of the 0:15:08.880 --> 0:15:10.480 reason why they were so big. It wasn't that they 0:15:10.520 --> 0:15:13.240 were super super powerful, although they were for the time. 0:15:13.640 --> 0:15:16.920 It was because the the individual components that made up 0:15:16.920 --> 0:15:19.320 the supercomputer were much larger than the ones we have 0:15:19.360 --> 0:15:22.840 in our devices today. Sure, sure, so it would get 0:15:22.920 --> 0:15:27.240 pretty warm and steamy in the supercomputer room with all 0:15:27.280 --> 0:15:31.120 those vacuum tubes going. And it wasn't until IBM really 0:15:31.120 --> 0:15:34.480 started to dedicate itself to solid state electronics when we're 0:15:34.480 --> 0:15:37.880 talking about solid state transistors, that we started to see 0:15:37.960 --> 0:15:42.640 a shift away from vacuum tubes and towards alternative means 0:15:42.720 --> 0:15:46.960 of processing. Now, just quickly in the nineteen sixty you 0:15:46.960 --> 0:15:49.520 could tell that that even back in Herman Hollow a 0:15:49.560 --> 0:15:53.680 state Hollow was the person who created the the tabulating Yes. 0:15:54.040 --> 0:15:57.680 Portion of the original companies that formed IBM, they're still 0:15:57.680 --> 0:16:00.520 doing the same kind of work. UM. The Rio five 0:16:00.600 --> 0:16:04.640 Ramack machine was used to score the Winter Olympic Games 0:16:04.680 --> 0:16:08.240 that year in California, was used at political conventions to 0:16:09.200 --> 0:16:15.760 nine point four and processing for presidential election returns UM 0:16:15.840 --> 0:16:20.480 and UH. IBM was used to launch and track Project Echo, 0:16:20.880 --> 0:16:27.000 which was a space communications experiment. It's Project Echo Echo 0:16:29.880 --> 0:16:32.400 and they were using the Mark two language translator to 0:16:32.400 --> 0:16:36.480 translate Russian into English. Yeah that that here's something else 0:16:36.520 --> 0:16:39.320 that I did not know until I started researching this podcast. 0:16:39.640 --> 0:16:42.920 IBM has pioneered some technologies that we're just starting to 0:16:43.000 --> 0:16:47.680 see benefit us today. But they started decades ago. You 0:16:47.720 --> 0:16:49.840 sit there and you think like, there's no way in 0:16:49.880 --> 0:16:54.200 the early sixties that that could have possibly been there, 0:16:54.200 --> 0:16:55.760 And yeah, you find out, Wait a minute, they were 0:16:55.800 --> 0:16:58.080 working on this. We're just now starting to see things 0:16:58.120 --> 0:17:02.720 like like Google's translate uh software or their applications where 0:17:02.760 --> 0:17:06.280 you can translate languages on the fly. That stuff was 0:17:06.840 --> 0:17:09.800 you know it really it has its history way back 0:17:09.800 --> 0:17:15.119 in these days of development and IBM, this is the 0:17:15.119 --> 0:17:16.800 one that I wanted to talk about. And Chris, I 0:17:16.880 --> 0:17:18.320 know you want to talk about two because he just 0:17:18.359 --> 0:17:20.720 showed me a picture of it. I think he's actually salivating, 0:17:20.760 --> 0:17:25.800 ladies and gentlemen. It's the selectric typewriter. Yes, yes, So 0:17:25.920 --> 0:17:29.639 what was different about this electric than say, older typewriters. Well, 0:17:29.680 --> 0:17:31.879 I can I can be honest with you here. I 0:17:31.880 --> 0:17:34.560 I know this stuff, uh straight away. My mom had 0:17:34.720 --> 0:17:37.439 a selectric typewriter. I just did my dad, which was 0:17:37.720 --> 0:17:40.879 still in the family. I believe I actually have an 0:17:40.960 --> 0:17:43.920 underwood typewriter. And those typewriters these are the old old type, 0:17:44.240 --> 0:17:48.159 which way about seven tons. Yeah they're heavy, um, but 0:17:48.200 --> 0:17:51.440 they also you know, they're very robust. But they used 0:17:51.440 --> 0:17:53.959 to have keys. And each of the keys and I'm 0:17:54.000 --> 0:17:55.680 not talking about the keyboard keys. Each of the keyboard 0:17:55.760 --> 0:17:58.600 keys was linked to a a key with one letter 0:17:58.640 --> 0:18:02.160 on it. So and they were all arranged in an 0:18:02.280 --> 0:18:05.680 arc facing the paper. So as you pressed one key, 0:18:05.760 --> 0:18:07.760 that little arm would reach up and type that letter 0:18:07.800 --> 0:18:10.440 on the paper. So each each key had its each 0:18:10.560 --> 0:18:14.520 letter had its own dedicated arm. And this is all mechanical, right, 0:18:14.600 --> 0:18:18.480 This is all connected through a series of levers and 0:18:18.600 --> 0:18:21.520 little uh pistons that you press. You pressed the D 0:18:21.640 --> 0:18:25.720 button and the D bar goes forward and stamps the 0:18:25.720 --> 0:18:29.600 paper with the D letter on the end. There's actually 0:18:29.760 --> 0:18:32.520 a ribbon there that has the ink, the the key 0:18:33.080 --> 0:18:35.560 the head of it. The arm hits the ink and 0:18:35.600 --> 0:18:39.240 that prints the letter onto the paper. And when you 0:18:39.280 --> 0:18:41.119 got to the end of that. It's a mechanical typer, 0:18:41.200 --> 0:18:43.879 no electricity and needed to make this work. When you 0:18:43.920 --> 0:18:45.119 get to the end of the line, you need to 0:18:45.119 --> 0:18:47.919 make a carriage return to the next line. Jerry Lewis, 0:18:48.600 --> 0:18:52.760 you press the thing, you have to press the lever 0:18:52.840 --> 0:18:54.800 back and it advances you to the next line. Well, 0:18:55.000 --> 0:18:58.720 this electric was an electric typewriter, and electric typewriters have 0:18:58.800 --> 0:19:00.720 been out for a few decades. This was a new 0:19:00.840 --> 0:19:05.840 design yes, which instead of using those little arms, used 0:19:05.920 --> 0:19:12.960 a ball with all the out dented letters on it. Also, 0:19:13.720 --> 0:19:17.560 you yes. The other cool thing about that well, so 0:19:17.800 --> 0:19:22.480 when you type a key, the typewriter knows which where 0:19:22.720 --> 0:19:24.879 on the ball that letter is and will rotate the 0:19:24.880 --> 0:19:27.560 ball and angle it so that it will type that 0:19:27.680 --> 0:19:29.920 letter in the precise alignment with the rest of the 0:19:30.000 --> 0:19:32.520 letters on the page. That's one thing that makes it cool. 0:19:32.760 --> 0:19:34.440 Another thing that makes it cool is you could change 0:19:34.440 --> 0:19:37.840 the ball, so no longer are you limited to typewriter funt. 0:19:37.880 --> 0:19:43.280 You can change the size and the type face because 0:19:43.320 --> 0:19:45.639 it's a fun when it's not on the paper and 0:19:45.640 --> 0:19:48.639 what it is, it's a type face. I yes, so 0:19:48.680 --> 0:19:52.480 you can remove these and change it out if you 0:19:52.520 --> 0:19:55.840 wanted to. Now this benefited people like my mom, who 0:19:55.920 --> 0:19:58.240 this will astonish. You could type a hundred thirty five 0:19:58.240 --> 0:20:01.440 words a minute. When she used the older style typewriters, 0:20:01.440 --> 0:20:04.520 the keys would jam and rub against one another so 0:20:04.600 --> 0:20:08.360 often that she would have to have her typewriter replaced. Also, 0:20:08.440 --> 0:20:11.320 because it would just completely destroy the type. Since it 0:20:11.400 --> 0:20:14.359 required physical force, you had to actually type a little harder, 0:20:14.440 --> 0:20:17.040 especially on older typewriters. I know this from experience too, 0:20:17.040 --> 0:20:19.760 because I've used one of those. Um that if you 0:20:19.800 --> 0:20:22.639 were typing on an old typewriter, you couldn't go as 0:20:22.680 --> 0:20:25.399 fast because you had to use more force per stroke, 0:20:25.520 --> 0:20:29.119 especially if you know you're you're typing lightly, the the 0:20:29.280 --> 0:20:31.240 arm might not strike the paper hard enough to make 0:20:31.280 --> 0:20:33.679 a good impression, and then you've got this kind of 0:20:33.720 --> 0:20:36.040 faded look even though the paper, even though you've just 0:20:36.160 --> 0:20:38.080 typed it right, and it's almost looks like you're running 0:20:38.080 --> 0:20:39.639 out of ink, but really just means you're running out 0:20:39.640 --> 0:20:42.880 of steam. Um. So, yeah, this electric was pretty cool 0:20:42.880 --> 0:20:44.679 that it looks like if you've ever seen one, and 0:20:44.680 --> 0:20:46.520 you would, you would recognize it immediately. It looks like 0:20:46.520 --> 0:20:50.560 a little golf ball. Is the is the typing interface there? 0:20:50.920 --> 0:20:55.520 And um yeah, you're hundred huh types. My top speed 0:20:55.520 --> 0:20:58.680 was a hundred five. My my mom when she got 0:20:58.680 --> 0:21:00.840 going sounded on the select it sounded like a machine 0:21:00.880 --> 0:21:03.960 gun because it was moving so fast. That explains why 0:21:03.960 --> 0:21:06.479 you you duck around corners a lot. And you know, 0:21:07.000 --> 0:21:09.080 do those weird hand signals whenever you want to go 0:21:09.119 --> 0:21:11.159 down the hallway. Yeah, best I can get is around 0:21:11.200 --> 0:21:14.600 sixties so I'm still it still blows me away. But uh, 0:21:14.880 --> 0:21:17.359 this was also the period in time when IBM they 0:21:17.400 --> 0:21:20.119 were still working on Space program. Yes, they created a 0:21:20.119 --> 0:21:23.240 guidance computer for the Saturn series. Yes, and also the 0:21:23.359 --> 0:21:27.399 gem and I or if you prefer Geminy, I cannot 0:21:27.480 --> 0:21:30.480 stand that pronunciation, which which I forgot, which the astronauts. 0:21:30.480 --> 0:21:31.960 We did this so long ago. Yeah, we did the 0:21:32.080 --> 0:21:34.159 We did the gimin E podcast. It was one of 0:21:34.200 --> 0:21:36.440 the Gemini astronauts. It said it that way and it's no. 0:21:36.600 --> 0:21:39.119 That just makes me think of Eddie Carroll, who was 0:21:39.160 --> 0:21:42.240 the voice for Jiminy Cricket Friend of the family anyway. 0:21:42.320 --> 0:21:45.159 So so yeah, yeah, they developed the guidance computers for 0:21:45.840 --> 0:21:49.040 the space program for for both the Saturn and Jiminy. Uh, 0:21:50.240 --> 0:21:52.240 figure might as well, right, just keep going with Saturn 0:21:52.280 --> 0:21:55.520 and jim and I programs. And so that's kind of cool, 0:21:55.600 --> 0:21:58.120 you know, IBM was This was one of those things 0:21:58.160 --> 0:22:00.119 where IBM had to submit a proposal to the ever 0:22:00.200 --> 0:22:04.120 Ment and they were selected to develop these guidance computer systems. 0:22:04.240 --> 0:22:09.240 It's electric. In nineteen sixty four, IBM announced the next 0:22:09.400 --> 0:22:13.960 really really big development, one of the most important developments 0:22:14.000 --> 0:22:16.520 in the company's histories. You could argue it it's the 0:22:16.560 --> 0:22:21.000 most important at this point. Bread Slicer know the system 0:22:21.359 --> 0:22:27.119 Stroke three sixty, Uh, the controversial system Stroke three sixty? 0:22:27.400 --> 0:22:32.040 Was it controversial? It was controversial? Pray elaborate, Mr Pilette 0:22:32.160 --> 0:22:37.120 um well and doing research on IBM. I can tell 0:22:37.160 --> 0:22:40.920 you right now that there is a lot of information 0:22:41.040 --> 0:22:44.560 on IBM, So I don't know everything there is to 0:22:44.680 --> 0:22:48.680 know about the system Stroke three sixty. Uh. There is 0:22:48.720 --> 0:22:51.359 actually if you if you want to go and really 0:22:51.359 --> 0:22:53.960 want to know more about the system, I would suggest 0:22:54.000 --> 0:22:57.159