Old EMAIL index

Mar/Apr '05 eserver magazine article on garlic web pages and mainframe history

home

Old EMAIL Index (by year)

early to mid-70s

1978

1979

1980

1981

1982

1983

1984

1985

1986

1987

1988

1989

1990

1991

1992

since 1992

Old EMAIL Index (by topic)

NSFNET related

HSDT, distributed, &/or other network

MEDUSA (cluster-in-a-rack)

CMSBACK (internal precursor to workstation datasave, ADSM, & TSM)

CJNTEL

Public Key (and/or other crypto)

VNET - IBM Internal Network

Global LRU, clock, etc

801, Iliad, ROMP, Fort Knox, RIOS, risc

43xx machines

HONE system (Hands-On Network Environment)

VMSG - early internal email client

VMSHARE - TYMSHARE CMS-based online computer conference for SHARE

And some old pictures

1000th internal network node post

2741 selectric APL ball post

HSDT digital tdma post

home terminal 77-79 post

3101 home terminal post

home pc/home terminal post

Share LSRAD report

now available at: http://bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/share/

360/67 blue card and vmshare reference card

IBM related song books

RIOS paperweight

Backyard full USENET (satellite) feed (circa 1993)

Usenet News By Satellite ... pg51 article co-author with Jack Powers. I got full sat. feed for doing windows and unix drivers for their sat modem.
https://archive.org/details/Boardwatch1993-06

Careerists and Bureaucrats destroying Watson culture/legacy and wild ducks

Chairman Learson attempting to stop IBM careerists and bureaucrats destroying the Watsons' culture/legacy.

Management Briefing
Number 1-72: January 18, 1972
ZZ04-1312

TO ALL IBM MANAGERS:

Once again, I'm writing you a Management Briefing on the subject of bureaucracy. Evidently the earlier ones haven't worked. So this time I'm taking a further step: I'm going directly to the individual employees in the company. You will be reading this poster and my comment on it in the forthcoming issue of THINK magazine. But I wanted each one of you to have an advance copy because rooting out bureaucracy rests principally with the way each of us runs his own shop.

We've got to make a dent in this problem. By the time the THINK piece comes out, I want the correction process already to have begun. And that job starts with you and with me.

Vin Learson

and

+-----------------------------------------+
|           "BUSINESS ECOLOGY"            |
|                                         |
|                                         |
|            +---------------+            |
|            |  BUREAUCRACY  |            |
|            +---------------+            |
|                                         |
|           is your worst enemy           |
|              because it -               |
|                                         |
|      POISONS      the mind              |
|      STIFLES      the spirit            |
|      POLLUTES     self-motivation       |
|             and finally                 |
|      KILLS        the individual.       |
+-----------------------------------------+
"I'M Going To Do All I Can to Fight This Problem . . ."
by T. Vincent Learson, Chairman

pg160-162 (including THINK magazine article), 30 years of Management Briefings, 1958-1988
http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/generalInfo/IBM_Thirty_Years_of_Mangement_Briefings_1958-1988.pdf

in some posts:
xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx,

1973 IBM poster "How to Stuff a Wild Duck"
https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/18618011/

"We are convinced that any business needs its wild ducks. And in IBM we try not to tame them." - T.J. Watson, Jr.

in some posts:
xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx

Then as Future System was failing in the 70s (from Ferguson & Morris, "Computer Wars: The Post-IBM World", Time Books, 1993)
http://www.amazon.com/Computer-Wars-The-Post-IBM-World/dp/1587981394
... Watsons' legacy/culture:

"and perhaps most damaging, the old culture under Watson Snr and Jr of free and vigorous debate was replaced with *SYNCOPHANCY* and *MAKE NO WAVES* under Opel and Akers. It's claimed that thereafter, IBM lived in the shadow of defeat ... But because of the heavy investment of face by the top management, F/S took years to kill, although its wrong headedness was obvious from the very outset. "For the first time, during F/S, outspoken criticism became politically dangerous," recalls a former top executive."

Some FS details:
Discussion of old FS evaluation
FS description and discussion

FS refs in some posts:
xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx,

In the late 70s and early 80s, I was blamed for online computer conferencing (precursor to the IBM forums and modern social media) on the internal network (larger than arpanet/internet from just about the beginning until sometime mid/late 80s). It really took off spring of 1981 when I distributed a trip report of visit to Jim Gray at Tandem. Only about 300 directly participated but claims upwards of 25,000 were reading. There were six copies of approx. 300 pages printed along with executive summary and summary of the summary and packaged in Tandem 3-ring binders and sent to the executive committee (folklore is 5of6 wanted to fire me) ... from summary of summary:

• The perception of many technical people in IBM is that the company is rapidly heading for disaster. Furthermore, people fear that this movement will not be appreciated until it begins more directly to affect revenue, at which point recovery may be impossible

• Many technical people are extremely frustrated with their management and with the way things are going in IBM. To an increasing extent, people are reacting to this by leaving IBM Most of the contributors to the present discussion would prefer to stay with IBM and see the problems rectified. However, there is increasing skepticism that correction is possible or likely, given the apparent lack of commitment by management to take action

• There is a widespread perception that IBM management has failed to understand how to manage technical people and high-technology development in an extremely competitive environment.

From IBM Jargon:

Tandem Memos - n. Something constructive but hard to control; a fresh of breath air (sic). That's another Tandem Memos. A phrase to worry middle management. It refers to the computer-based conference (widely distributed in 1981) in which many technical personnel expressed dissatisfaction with the tools available to them at that time, and also constructively criticized the way products were [are] developed. The memos are required reading for anyone with a serious interest in quality products. If you have not seen the memos, try reading the November 1981 Datamation summary.

Online computer communication posts:
https://www.garlic.com/~lynn/subnetwork.html#cmc

But it takes another decade (1981-1992), IBM is being reorganized into the 13 baby blues, in preparation for breaking up the company. ... gone behind paywall, but mostly lives free at wayback machine.
https://web.archive.org/web/20101120231857/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,977353,00.html
may also work
http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,977353-1,00.html

had already left IBM, but get a call from the bowels of Armonk asking if could help with breakup of the company. Lots of business units were using supplier contracts in other units via MOUs. After the breakup, all of these contracts would be in different companies ... all of those MOUs would have to be cataloged and turned into their own contracts. However, before getting started, the board brings in a new CEO and reverses the breakup.

New IBM CEO posts
https://www.garlic.com/~lynn/submisc.html#gerstner

in some past posts: xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx

also "Rise and Fall of IBM"
https://www.ecole.org/en/session/49-the-rise-and-fall-of-ibm

other related post
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/john-boyd-ibm-wild-ducks-lynn-wheeler/

and

2022e.html#103 John Boyd and IBM Wild Ducks
2022e.html#104 John Boyd and IBM Wild Ducks
2022f.html#2 John Boyd and IBM Wild Ducks
2022f.html#32 John Boyd and IBM Wild Ducks
2022f.html#60 John Boyd and IBM Wild Ducks
2022f.html#67 John Boyd and IBM Wild Ducks
2022g.html#24 John Boyd and IBM Wild Ducks