Rhino wrote: > Everyone > else was still using typewriters - which was IBM's bread and butter in those > days - for their business needs.
Oh dear, no. Not quite. There were, going back decades, machines that used punched cards, relays, stepper wheels, and punched cards. It was /that/ that was the foundation of IBM's business, and IBM had an effective monopoly. This was not altogether due to evil; their one competitor, Remington Rand, made machines that were slightly better, but had to be factory-programmed, whereas IBM's machines used panels full of jumper wires, and the panels themselves could be swapped, so that you could have a "program library" of prewired panels. Which would /you/ buy? Remington Rand made a similar mistake with computers. They wouldn't give you a programming manual until you contracted to buy the bloody thing. IBM pulled ahead of them during the year when Univac computers were real and IBM computers weren't, and they never looked back. -- John W. Kennedy "Those in the seat of power oft forget their failings and seek only the obeisance of others! Thus is bad government born! Hold in your heart that you and the people are one, human beings all, and good government shall arise of its own accord! Such is the path of virtue!" -- Kazuo Koike. "Lone Wolf and Cub: Thirteen Strings" (tr. Dana Lewis) -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
