Variable Word length CPU

[William Donzelli]

> Which is why the customer resistance to change was such a tough nut to
> crack--and why IBM met with only mediocre success with the 1401 in
> replacing UR equipment.

That is true. Mainframers, as you know, are still hard to change in their
ways.

According to the book, the 7070 team were the first ones to grab hold of a
1401 as a sidekick, and the 7090 team shortly thereafter. This was while
the 1401 was still in the prototype stage.
 
> The timing of the introduction of the S/3 was perfect--we'd just put a man
> on the moon and the old 1940's vintage UR equipment did seem kind of
> klunky.  Smaller cards, cartridge drive, fast printer, very clean
> appearance, it was the right product for the right time

And with it, a return to the good old days of completely incompatible
lines of machines (S/3 to S/32 to S/34 and on and on).

I think the little cards, while cool, are actually sort of dumb. They
should have killed the cards off at the start.

William Donzelli
aw288 at osfn.org