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The article leans on the significant change of emphasis renaming from CTR (computing, tabulating, recording) to IBM (business machines) implies - but doesn’t la
by jameshart 3y ago
The article leans on the significant change of emphasis renaming from CTR (computing, tabulating, recording) to IBM (business machines) implies - but doesn’t lampshade the more specific contrast the name makes with Thomas J Watson’s previous employer, and the company IBM was trying to outcompete: NCR. Where NCR was ‘national’, IBM was international. Where NCR handled ‘cash’, IBM handled ‘business’. And where NCR made only ‘registers’, IBM made all manner of ‘machines’.
- fuzztester 3y agoA bit like IBM and HAL ... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/HAL_9000 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/HAL_9000 The section "Origin of name"
- HeadlessChild 3y agohttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/HAL_9000#Origin_of_name https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/HAL_9000#Origin_of_name
- fuzztester 3y agoGood catch, thanks. I had forgotten about the HTML anchor fragment thingy.
- fuzztester 3y agoOff-topic: are you into Gothic horror novels, or something like that, HeadlessChild? :) It's cool to see all these creative usernames on HN. I get a giggle out of reading them, every now and then.
- Findecanor 3y agoSomething missing from the wikipedia article: There used to be a convention among engineering students at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Illinois to name their student projects "HAL" because it was one letter off from IBM. "HAL Communications" was founded by alumni. Arthur C Clarke claimed he put the "HAL" plant in Illinois only because he had a friend who was a professor there. He also claimed he didn't know about the student connection.