Hello! This is my very first blog post. I'm not very good with technology, so that is why I am taking this class. I want to obtain a better understanding of technology. I am excited to be blogging, and I hope to learn other skills that will help with my future business. I will start off my introducing myself. My name is Kayla Jones, and this is my last semester at EMU. I am a Dance Major with a General Business Minor. At Eastern, I have been very involved in the Dance Program. I am currently Vice President of Dance Forum, a student organization that supports the Dance Program. I was also an officer on EMU's Dance Team my freshman and sophmore year. My future business plan (in case you were wondering) is to open up my own dance studio.
Most of what has been talked about so far in class has been over my head. However, I did recognize one name: IBM. I never really knew what IBM stood for, it was just a name I had heard several times. During the Great Depression, IBM kept all of their employees, which I think deserves some great respect. In economic times like we are currently in, I think we can understand how important it is to keep people working. This is one reason why I wanted to learn more about the company. When hearing about how much we talked about IBM in class, I wanted to learn a little bit more about them. Therefore, I looked up the history of IBM. I didn't realize that IBM is one of the few information technology companies with a history dating back to the 19th century. IBM is still one of the largest and most profitable information technology employers in the world, they have 8 research labarotories across the world, and they hold more patents that any U.S. based technology company. I thought that was pretty impressive. Like we talked about in class, I feel the reason for this could possibly be because IBM chose to rent out their machines rather than selling them. In the earlier days, this saved them production costs which could have sprung them ahead of many companies. Today, however, technology advances so quickly that it is almost impossible to do something like this.
IBM did many things, but one invention of theirs interested me more than the others: the IBM System/360. This was basically a series of computers from small to large and from low to high performance that all used the same command set. "This feat allowed customers to use a cheaper model and then upgrade to larger systems as their needs increased without the time and expense of rewriting software." This allowed companies to buy computers. It seems amazing to me because now you do not see a company without computers. Infact, many companies have several of them. Technology has come a long way, and I can't wait to see where it heads in the future.
Most of what has been talked about so far in class has been over my head. However, I did recognize one name: IBM. I never really knew what IBM stood for, it was just a name I had heard several times. During the Great Depression, IBM kept all of their employees, which I think deserves some great respect. In economic times like we are currently in, I think we can understand how important it is to keep people working. This is one reason why I wanted to learn more about the company. When hearing about how much we talked about IBM in class, I wanted to learn a little bit more about them. Therefore, I looked up the history of IBM. I didn't realize that IBM is one of the few information technology companies with a history dating back to the 19th century. IBM is still one of the largest and most profitable information technology employers in the world, they have 8 research labarotories across the world, and they hold more patents that any U.S. based technology company. I thought that was pretty impressive. Like we talked about in class, I feel the reason for this could possibly be because IBM chose to rent out their machines rather than selling them. In the earlier days, this saved them production costs which could have sprung them ahead of many companies. Today, however, technology advances so quickly that it is almost impossible to do something like this.
IBM did many things, but one invention of theirs interested me more than the others: the IBM System/360. This was basically a series of computers from small to large and from low to high performance that all used the same command set. "This feat allowed customers to use a cheaper model and then upgrade to larger systems as their needs increased without the time and expense of rewriting software." This allowed companies to buy computers. It seems amazing to me because now you do not see a company without computers. Infact, many companies have several of them. Technology has come a long way, and I can't wait to see where it heads in the future.
i totally agree with you, most of the stuff that we have been talkin about in class has been over my head too. its interesting tho to learn about all this technology.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you both. I like the things we are learning in class, but at first it wasn't the most interesting thing. Then I realized how far computers have really come, and I began to open my eyes and try to grasp the different ways it came about. Hopefully it will become something that will keep my interest.
ReplyDeleteHi Kayla, my name is Spencer. I am a junior at EMU and I wanted to comment on your blog after reading it for two reasons, first I love dancing so that is cool that you're so involved in it, second what you said about IBM I also found interesting. The fact that IBM was committed to not firing anyone during The Great Depression was incredible to me. Anyways, I wanted to introduce myself, even though it is over a Blog and wish you the best of luck this semester.
ReplyDeleteI am glad to see that this class will be informative and hopefully productive. I,also, am very impressed about IBM being a very strong employer, unlike they are today.
ReplyDeleteIBM is an amazing company. A few years ago, I didn't even know that they were still in business. Today, they have a role in most things we do, it's just that nobody is aware of it. I recently got back into gaming after a five year break. IBM developed virtually almost all of the microprocessors for the latest generation gaming consoles, such as Microsoft's Xbox 360 and the Nintendo Wii. It only took them a mere 24 months to develop the PowerPC tri-core processor for the Xbox 360. They definetely treat their workers right; today they are one of the few companies that offers health benefits to same-sex partners. The only history I don't like about IBM is their background with Nazi Germany. It was actually one of their German subsidaries at the time called Dehomag (Deutch Hollerith Maschinen GmbH), which provided the Third Reich with unit record equipment and data processing technology, which the Nazis utilized to track down European Jews. This is ancient history, and when asked about it, IBM declared that they had no control over their subsidiary Dehomag after the Nazis took control of them, but IBM still made profit off of it. That was then, though, and this is now. Despite this grim past, I think the future looks promising for IBM.
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