PC? IBM was making keyboards well before the PC. -- Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz http://mason.gmu.edu/~smetz3 עַם יִשְׂרָאֵל חַי נֵ֣צַח יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל לֹ֥א יְשַׁקֵּ֖ר
________________________________________ From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List on behalf of Jay Maynard Sent: Saturday, April 26, 2025 9:00 AM To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU Subject: Re: What has IBM ever done for us? (probably more than I know) External Message: Use Caution I'll quibble slightly about the keyboard layout: the DEC LK201 (for the VT220) beat the 104-key PC keyboard to market. On Sat, Apr 26, 2025 at 7:35 AM Timothy Sipples <sipp...@sg.ibm.com> wrote: > Here are some more entries.... > > The de facto standard width of 80 columns -- still respected in (for > example) the latest version of Microsoft Windows when you open a command > prompt. > > The magnetic tape vacuum column. This innovation made data storage on tape > viable. Tape storage is more popular than ever for long-term retention. All > the major public commercial cloud vendors have vast tape storage estates. > > The floppy disk. This storage medium played a vital role in the PC > revolution. > > Magnetic stripes on payment and other cards (such as ID cards). This > innovation made electronic payments, ATMs, electronic hotel room door > locks, employee badge readers, and so many other day-to-day interactions > viable. EMV chips and contactless cards/devices are direct successors to > the magnetic stripe. > > Excimer laser surgery, which made LASIK and many other precision surgical > procedures possible. > > Automated tabulation and accounting (via a corporate ancestor) -- > essentially the birth of the information technology industry. > > The relational database (and SQL). > > The first commercially available laser printer. (You can thank IBM for > your clear, legible, and timely printed bank statements and utility bills.) > > The 8-bit byte. > > Various useful typefaces including Courier and most recently the IBM Plex > family. > > Fantastic keyboards and keyboard layouts. They still inspire today's > enthusiast mechanical keyboards for gamers and professional writers. > > The scanning tunneling microscope (STM). > > Generalized Markup Language (GML), the inspiration (via SGML) for > Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) — the standard for Web pages. > > Online travel reservations (SABRE, Deltamatic, PANAMAC, etc.) > > ————— > Timothy Sipples > Senior Architect > Digital Assets, Industry Solutions, and Cybersecurity > IBM Z/LinuxONE, Asia-Pacific > sipp...@sg.ibm.com > > > > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, > send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN > -- Jay Maynard ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
