Fifty Years in Information Systems

Fifty Years in Information SystemsIn 1951 I got a job operating IBM equipment. Fifty years later, I was still working in Information Systems. By this time, I had been made I. S. Director, and had planned and installed six new computer sites, including the first in house, online IBM teller system in the city of Chicago, followed by the first Point of Sale system in Jewel Supermarkets. If anyone wonders where Information Systems originated, or how it evolved, or why it has endured so

In 1951 I got a job operating IBM equipment. Fifty years later, I was still working in Information Systems. By this time, I had been made I.S. Director, and had planned and installed six new computer sites, including the first in-house, online IBM teller system in the city of Chicago, followed by the first Point of Sale system in Jewel Supermarkets. If anyone wonders where Information Systems originated, or how it evolved, or why it has endured so long, they'll find the answers here. From its start with Jacquard's automated loom in 1820, then Charles Babbage's analytical engine, George Boole's logic, and Herman Hollerith's Census Tabulator in 1880, I describe the emergence of punched card equipment, three generations of mainframe computers, personal computers, communications networks, Assembler, COBOL, VM, MVS, VTAM, VSAM, CICS, BASIC, HTML, and the evolution of the World Wide Web. I hope you'll enjoy my story.