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Groups > alt.folklore.computers > #210444
| From | Rich Alderson <news@alderson.users.panix.com> |
|---|---|
| Newsgroups | alt.folklore.computers |
| Subject | Re: Thomas J. Watson (IBM) profile 1941 |
| Date | 2020-03-11 15:02 -0400 |
| Organization | PANIX Public Access Internet and UNIX, NYC |
| Message-ID | <mdd5zfapvec.fsf@panix5.panix.com> (permalink) |
| References | <fb7657ab-e8c5-48a0-87d0-f049a13fa756@googlegroups.com> <b18f994b-2ed0-4a46-81b1-2bba3180bcc2@googlegroups.com> <hv7g6ftabdjfkqndc6mfivuk58hr3ftech@4ax.com> <75372ae2-6d65-4291-92bd-cb60297cf7f8@googlegroups.com> |
robin.vowels@gmail.com writes:
> On Wednesday, March 11, 2020 at 10:20:37 AM UTC+11, J. Clarke wrote:
> > On Tue, 10 Mar 2020 06:01:14 -0700 (PDT), r.....@gmail.com
> > wrote:
> >=20
> > >On Wednesday, January 22, 2020 at 7:24:48 AM UTC+11, hanc...@bbs.cpcn.co=
> m wrote:
> > >> This is a profile of the 'supersalesman' of IBM. Pretty
> > >> good description of IBM life at that time.
> > >>=20
> > >>=20
> > >> Two parts
> > >> https://archive.org/details/the-saturday-evening-post-1941-05-24/page=
> /n11
> > >>=20
> > >> https://archive.org/details/the-saturday-evening-post-1941-05-31/page=
> /n23
> > >>=20
> > >>=20
> > >> I have mixed opinions of Watson. On the one hand, he did
> > >> build a company that revolutionized information technology.
> > >> The fundamentals he created are with us today even if the
> > >> hardware is different. Although he personally was not
> > >> an engineer, he knew how to recruit the best. Other companies
> > >> tried to do what IBM did but failed. Contrary to myth, he
> > >> was very supportive of electronics and computers. He
> > >> was generous with his company's money.
> > >>=20
> > >> On the other hand, he was an absolute dictator. He
> > >> created a cult of personality. It was his way or
> > >> the highway, even when he was technologically wrong.
> > >> Fortunately, most of the time he did make the right
> > >> decisions.
> > >>=20
> > >> He did pay his workers well, but he demanded an awful
> > >> lot from them. They were to be devoted to the IBM way--
> > >> Watson's way--24/7.
> > >>=20
> > >>=20
> > >> Watson was na=C3=AFve about war. He believe in "world peace
> > >> through world trade". He figured countries that were
> > >> happily making money would be too busy to go to war. He was
> > >> wrong.
> > >>=20
> > >> His monopoly position is tricky. He clearly had a
> > >> monopoly in I.T. On the one hand, he earned it through
> > >> superior service and equipment. He had good patents.
> > >> On the other hand, he got some good patents through
> > >> acquisitions, not internal inventions. He was
> > >> aggressive.
> > >
> > >He is famous for the line "I think that there is a world market for
> > >five computers." [need to check source]
> >=20
> > Yes you do. The actual statement, at the April 28, 1953 stockholders
> > meeting, was, referring specifically to the 701: "I.B.M. had
> > developed a paper plan for such a machine and took this paper plan
> > across the country to some 20 concerns that we thought could use such
> > a machine. =E2=80=A6 As a result of our trip, on which we expected to get
> > orders for five machines, we came home with orders for 18."
>
> Wiki gives the year as 1943, a decade before your date.
So you'll tkae the word of a bunch of amateurs over the published history of
IBM????
--
Rich Alderson news@alderson.users.panix.com
Audendum est, et veritas investiganda; quam etiamsi non assequamur,
omnino tamen proprius, quam nunc sumus, ad eam perveniemus.
--Galen
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Thomas J. Watson (IBM) profile 1941 hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com - 2020-01-21 12:24 -0800
Re: Thomas J. Watson (IBM) profile 1941 mentificium@gmail.com - 2020-01-21 17:49 -0800
Re: Thomas J. Watson (IBM) profile 1941 robin.vowels@gmail.com - 2020-03-10 06:01 -0700
Re: Thomas J. Watson (IBM) profile 1941 hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com - 2020-03-10 11:34 -0700
Re: Thomas J. Watson (IBM) profile 1941 J. Clarke <jclarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2020-03-10 19:20 -0400
Re: Thomas J. Watson (IBM) profile 1941 robin.vowels@gmail.com - 2020-03-11 07:12 -0700
Re: Thomas J. Watson (IBM) profile 1941 Rich Alderson <news@alderson.users.panix.com> - 2020-03-11 15:02 -0400
Re: Thomas J. Watson (IBM) profile 1941 scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2020-03-11 20:07 +0000
Re: Thomas J. Watson (IBM) profile 1941 robin.vowels@gmail.com - 2020-03-11 18:08 -0700
Re: Thomas J. Watson (IBM) profile 1941 J. Clarke <jclarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2020-03-11 21:32 -0400
Re: Thomas J. Watson (IBM) profile 1941 hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com - 2020-03-12 15:18 -0700
Re: Thomas J. Watson (IBM) profile 1941 Ahem A Rivet's Shot <steveo@eircom.net> - 2020-03-11 19:56 +0000
Re: Thomas J. Watson (IBM) profile 1941 hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com - 2020-03-11 13:07 -0700
Re: Thomas J. Watson (IBM) profile 1941 robin.vowels@gmail.com - 2020-03-11 18:32 -0700
Re: Thomas J. Watson (IBM) profile 1941 robin.vowels@gmail.com - 2020-03-11 18:31 -0700
Re: Thomas J. Watson (IBM) profile 1941 J. Clarke <jclarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2020-03-11 21:37 -0400
Re: Thomas J. Watson (IBM) profile 1941 robin.vowels@gmail.com - 2020-03-11 21:03 -0700
Re: Thomas J. Watson (IBM) profile 1941 J. Clarke <jclarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2020-03-12 06:48 -0400
Re: Thomas J. Watson (IBM) profile 1941 hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com - 2020-03-12 15:25 -0700
Re: Thomas J. Watson (IBM) profile 1941 J. Clarke <jclarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2020-03-12 18:42 -0400
Re: Thomas J. Watson (IBM) profile 1941 robin.vowels@gmail.com - 2020-03-12 20:04 -0700
Re: Thomas J. Watson (IBM) profile 1941 J. Clarke <jclarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2020-03-12 23:24 -0400
Re: unreliable, or Thomas J. Watson (IBM) profile 1941 John Levine <johnl@taugh.com> - 2020-03-13 03:31 +0000
Re: Thomas J. Watson (IBM) profile 1941 J. Clarke <jclarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2020-03-11 19:09 -0400
Re: Thomas J. Watson (IBM) profile 1941 John Levine <johnl@taugh.com> - 2020-03-12 00:06 +0000
Re: Thomas J. Watson (IBM) profile 1941 J. Clarke <jclarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2020-03-11 21:32 -0400
Re: Thomas J. Watson (IBM) profile 1941 robin.vowels@gmail.com - 2020-03-11 21:01 -0700
Re: Thomas J. Watson (IBM) profile 1941 J. Clarke <jclarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2020-03-12 06:54 -0400
Re: Thomas J. Watson (IBM) profile 1941 John Levine <johnl@taugh.com> - 2020-03-12 17:38 +0000
Re: Thomas J. Watson (IBM) profile 1941 scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2020-03-12 17:44 +0000
Re: Thomas J. Watson (IBM) profile 1941 robin.vowels@gmail.com - 2020-03-13 20:51 -0700
Re: Thomas J. Watson (IBM) profile 1941 J. Clarke <jclarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2020-03-14 06:39 -0400
Re: Thomas J. Watson (IBM) profile 1941 robin.vowels@gmail.com - 2020-03-13 21:43 -0700
Re: Thomas J. Watson (IBM) profile 1941 J. Clarke <jclarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2020-03-14 06:38 -0400
Re: Thomas J. Watson (IBM) profile 1941 robin.vowels@gmail.com - 2020-03-14 04:28 -0700
Re: Thomas J. Watson (IBM) profile 1941 usenet@only.tnx (Questor) - 2020-03-16 18:50 +0000
Re: Thomas J. Watson (IBM) profile 1941 scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2020-03-16 19:19 +0000
Re: Thomas J. Watson (IBM) profile 1941 Gerard Schildberger <gerard46@rrt.net> - 2020-03-14 18:15 -0700
Re: Thomas J. Watson (IBM) profile 1941 J. Clarke <jclarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2020-03-14 22:07 -0400
Re: Thomas J. Watson (IBM) profile 1941 Gerard Schildberger <gerard46@rrt.net> - 2020-03-14 21:12 -0700
Re: Thomas J. Watson (IBM) profile 1941 J. Clarke <jclarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2020-03-15 09:05 -0400
Re: Thomas J. Watson (IBM) profile 1941 Gerard Schildberger <gerard46@rrt.net> - 2020-03-15 14:22 -0700
Re: Thomas J. Watson (IBM) profile 1941 J. Clarke <jclarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2020-03-15 18:31 -0400
Re: Thomas J. Watson (IBM) profile 1941 robin.vowels@gmail.com - 2020-03-15 19:39 -0700
Re: Thomas J. Watson (IBM) profile 1941 Peter Flass <peter_flass@yahoo.com> - 2020-03-15 12:07 -0700
Re: Thomas J. Watson (IBM) profile 1941 scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2020-03-15 16:42 +0000
Re: Thomas J. Watson (IBM) profile 1941 Peter Flass <peter_flass@yahoo.com> - 2020-03-15 12:07 -0700
Re: Thomas J. Watson (IBM) profile 1941 Ahem A Rivet's Shot <steveo@eircom.net> - 2020-03-15 19:52 +0000
Re: Thomas J. Watson (IBM) profile 1941 Peter Flass <peter_flass@yahoo.com> - 2020-03-15 15:38 -0700
Re: Thomas J. Watson (IBM) profile 1941 J. Clarke <jclarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2020-03-15 16:18 -0400
Re: Thomas J. Watson (IBM) profile 1941 robin.vowels@gmail.com - 2020-03-15 19:36 -0700
Re: Thomas J. Watson (IBM) profile 1941 John Levine <johnl@taugh.com> - 2020-03-16 23:17 +0000
Re: Thomas J. Watson (IBM) profile 1941 Peter Flass <peter_flass@yahoo.com> - 2020-03-14 09:44 -0700
Re: Thomas J. Watson (IBM) profile 1941 hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com - 2020-03-12 15:17 -0700
Re: Thomas J. Watson (IBM) profile 1941 robin.vowels@gmail.com - 2020-03-12 20:12 -0700
Re: Thomas J. Watson (IBM) profile 1941 Peter Flass <peter_flass@yahoo.com> - 2020-03-12 20:21 -0700
Re: Thomas J. Watson (IBM) profile 1941 Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2020-03-12 05:53 -0700
Re: Thomas J. Watson (IBM) profile 1941 scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2020-03-12 17:12 +0000
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