Communication is something I generally take for granted. I have never known days without a organized language. I have always taken having a standardized language for granted. Growing up as a child it had never occurred to me that a country would have multiple languages I figured they all had 1 language. Now I realize this is not the case. India for example once had many different dialects spoken in almost all different regions. Communication between different areas for the most part did not exist until the merchants developed a standard trade language. The merchants needed a standard language in order to conduct trade amongst different villages. The need for standardizing languages dates back for centuries and now is the foundation of today's information era.
Computer programmers much like the merchants in India realized a huge need for standardizing their programming language. IBM for example made had made a few different computer models that all ran on different operating systems. These operating systems were all written with different computer languages. This made it impossible for the computers to exchange information. Programmers knew that there was a need for these machines to work together in order to increase the work load and make upgrading the systems a more reasonable option. This is not much different that needing a standard language for people to communicate and increase their workload and this can in a sense upgrade your life by making you more money.
The need for language standardization dates back for centuries and continues to play a roll in society today. Initially it was as a means to survive and trade and now has become the foundation of technical advancement. I knew end user computing would give me a basic concept of how a computer works and the foundation of its history, but I never realized it went this deep. I don't think I would have considered the development of a society, and technology to be so strongly based around standardizing languages .
Showing posts with label IBM. Show all posts
Showing posts with label IBM. Show all posts
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
My First Blog Post
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.
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