CS2642 & SWE2643 Computers and Society/Professional Practices and Ethics
Lecture 8--Out on Their Own
© 2001 Richard Halstead-Nussloch, Ph.D.
All Rights Reserved
Overview
Out on Their Own
Players
Penn and the Moore School
Eckert and Mauchly
von Neumann and Goldstine
Launching a new industy
Patent issues pending
First year in business
Business prospects get worse
Financial and real estate deals
Overview
Out on Their Own
Machines:
EDVAC II
BINAC
UNIVAC
Personal and business losses
Sperry vs. IBM
Summary
Players
Penn and the Moore School
Didn’t know what they had
Didn’t know what they lost until it was gone
Eckert and Mauchly
Had each other and the synergy they created
Had Eckert’s Dad
Had technical success and commercial goals
von Neumann and Goldstine
Had antipathy towards Mauchly
Saw computers as academic
Saw Eckert and Mauchly as greedy
Launching a new industry
All consuming--Mauchly couldn’t grieve his wife’s death
Patent issues pending--
ENIAC patents were Eckert & Mauchly’s but remained not filed
EDVAC jeopardized by First Draft
First year in business--intense but unfocused
Business prospects get worse--Raytheon picked
Financial and real estate deals--in $ trouble
Machines
Sold at loss to get bid
BINAC
Sold to get cash
Technically difficult
UNIVAC
Became darling of Sperry Corp.
Darling of 1952 Presidential Election
ENIAC’s Early Legacy
Personal and business losses
Lost the company to Remington Rand
Feud between Norris and Eckert
Sperry vs. IBM
IBM 65% of the computer market (1965)
Sperry Rand 12% of the computer market and the only computer patent (ENIAC issued in 1964)
Summary
Out on Their Own
Players
Penn and the Moore School
Eckert and Mauchly
von Neumann and Goldstine
Launching a new industy
Patent issues pending
First year in business
Business prospects get worse
Financial and real estate deals
Summary
Out on Their Own
Machines:
EDVAC II
BINAC
UNIVAC
Personal and business losses
Sperry vs. IBM