Browsing by Subject "Computer software -- History."
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Item Oral history interview with Bernard Goldstein(Charles Babbage Institute, 2002-05-03) Goldstein, Bernard, 1930-This oral history with software industry pioneer Bernard Goldstein documents his early education at the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University, his service in the U.S. Navy, and his entrepreneurial activity with Computech, United Data Centers (UDC), and National CSS. Computech, Goldstein’s first venture, was formed to solve a variety of business and scientific problems by the application of computing technology. The company processed employee payrolls and market research data, and developed applications for the Johnson Development Center and the U.S. Navy. Computech was eventually sold to the Control Data Corporation. Goldstein then went on to found United Data Centers, a national data processing chain operation. This company merged with Tymshare, a timesharing company. Goldstein then joined National CSS before it was sold to Dun & Bradstreet. The oral history describes Goldstein’s involvement with ADAPSO, the Computer Software and Services Industry Association, challenges from IBM in the marketplace for data services, and the federal government’s role in the computer industry. Also discussed is Coleman’s role in the software/services industry through co-founding Broadview, and his leadership in merger and acquisition activity during the 1980s and 1990s. This oral history was sponsored by the Software History Center in conjunction with the Center's ADAPSO reunion (3 May 2002).Item Oral history interview with Bruce Coleman(Charles Babbage Institute, 2002-05-03) Coleman, Bruce T.In this oral history, software pioneer Bruce Coleman describes his early life and work as a salesman for IBM. He explains his motivation for earning an MBA at the Harvard Business School, and details his subsequent work at a number of high technology companies including integrated circuit maker Logic Electronics, Boole & Babbage, Informatics, Walker Interactive, and InSci (Information Science). Coleman describes software product development, financing, marketing, sales, and pricing at several of these companies, including Boole & Babbage, where he eventually served as CEO, and Informatics, where he assumed the responsibilities of COO. This oral history was sponsored by the Software History Center in conjunction with the Center's ADAPSO reunion (3 May 2002).Item Oral history interview with Charles Antony Richard Hoare(Charles Babbage Institute, 2002-07-17) Hoare, C. A. R. (Charles Antony Richard), 1934-Sir Antony Hoare is Senior Researcher at Microsoft Research in Cambridge, England, and Research/Professor Emeritus at the University of Oxford. Hoare is the recipient of the A.M. Turing Award for fundamental contributions to the definition and design of programming languages. He has also been awarded the Kyoto Prize in Advanced Technology for pioneering and fundamental contributions to software science. In this oral history Hoare recounts his personal involvement in the development of academic computing science and education at The Queen’s University, Belfast, Northern Ireland, and at the University of Oxford. He discusses his long-time interest in building bridges between university computing science departments and industry. Hoare also details his current work at Microsoft Research in applying assertions and other scientific techniques and theory to industrial operations. He discusses his advocacy of assertions in the maintenance and transformation of legacy code. Hoare also comments on a number of other subjects, including machine translation of languages, artificial intelligence, reasoning under uncertainty, software design and reliability, and project management. The interview includes a discussion of the problem of the preservation and interpretation of code.Item Oral history interview with Donald L. Bitzer(Charles Babbage Institute, 1988-02-19) Bitzer, Donald LesterBitzer discusses his relationship with Control Data Corporation (CDC) during the development of PLATO, a computer-assisted instruction system. He describes the interest in PLATO of Harold Brooks, a CDC salesman and his help in procuring a 1604 computer for Bitzer's use. Bitzer recalls the commercialization of PLATO by CDC and his disagreements with CDC over marketing strategy and the creation of courseware for PLATO.Item Oral history interview with Douglas T. Ross(Charles Babbage Institute, 1984-02-21) Ross, Douglas T.; Aspray, WilliamRoss, the founder of SofTech Corporation, recounts some of his early experiences working on MIT's Whirlwind computer in the 1950s. He explains how a summer job at MIT's Servomechanisms Laboratory operating a Marchant calculator led him to use the Whirlwind for greater computing power--and to seventeen years in the MIT computer labs. Ross reports on his first use of Whirlwind for airborne fire control problems. Soon after that the Whirlwind was used for the Cape Cod early warning system, a precursor to the SAGE Air Defense System. Ross describes improvements made to Whirlwind, including the introduction of the first light pen and the replacement of the paper tape reader with a photoelectric tape reader (PETR). Ross also discusses some of the programs he wrote or used on Whirlwind, such as the Initial Data Processing Program (IDPP), the Servo Lab Utility Program (SLURP), and the Mistake Diagnosis Routine (MDR). He describes the IDPP as particularly interesting, because it involved pattern recognition and was thus an early example of artificial intelligence research.Item Oral history interview with John Keane(Charles Babbage Institute, 2002-05-03) Keane, John F.John F. Keane is the founder of Keane Inc. (formerly Keane Associates Inc.). Mr. Keane was educated at Harvard University, where he took an MBA in 1954; he subsequently was in the Navy and was employed by Arthur D. Little and IBM before founding Keane Associates. Mr. Keane attributes the phenomenal success of Keane Associates to the development of a systematic project management technique, later published as Productivity Management. He describes milestones in the evolution of Keane Associates, including forays into software products and integrated systems, the development of the health-care division, and company acquisitions. He concludes with some reflections on his public involvements including those with ADAPSO and Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) where he served as president. This oral history was sponsored by the Software History Center in conjunction with the Center's ADAPSO reunion (3 May 2002).Item Oral history interview with John Rankine(Charles Babbage Institute, 1980-09-11) Rankine, John (L. John)Rankine discusses changes in digital computing from card- programmed calculators to microprocessors and supercomputers. He explains how the move from electromechanical to vacuum tubes to solid state technology improved speed and decreased size, and describes the accompanying development of software. He reviews IBM's role in the transition of the computer from a scientific to a commercial tool. Finally, he assesses the possibilities of computing to improve various social conditions, as well as the danger of its threat to privacy, which he believes can be easily minimalized.Item Oral history interview with Joseph Piscopo(Charles Babbage Institute, 2002-05-03) Piscopo, Joseph A.After attending the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, Joseph A. Piscopo founded Pansophic Systems in 1969 and led it until his retirement in 1987. Pansophic grew rapidly during the 1970s, as its Panvalet source code management system and Easytrieve report generation software ranked among the industry's most successful products. Piscopo discusses his background as a data processing manager, the founding of Pansophic, the development of Panvalet and the acquisition of Easytrieve. Considerable attention is paid to the strategic elements of Pansophic's growth: customer relations, international expansion, product development, staffing, market position, and stock market offerings. At the conclusion of the interview, Piscopo explains the circumstances behind the firm's stumble in the late 1980s and acquisition by Computer Associates in 1991. He also deals briefly with his subsequent career as an "angel" investor in technology firms. This oral history was sponsored by the Software History Center in conjunction with the Center's ADAPSO reunion (3 May 2002).Item Oral history interview with Lawrence Schoenberg(Charles Babbage Institute, 2002-05-03) Schoenberg, Lawrence J.In this oral history Lawrence J. Schoenberg describes his personal and educational history and his subsequent career in the U.S. software industry. Following service in the U.S. Signal Corps, he held various positions with IBM, Litton Industries, CSC and Automation Sciences. With others he formed a software enterprise AGS Computers Inc. in 1967, serving as CEO until 1991. In 1988 AGS Computers was partitioned into two segments—software products and microcomputers—which were later sold to NYNEX and Merisel, respectively. Toward the end of the interview, Mr. Schoenberg describes his role in ADAPSO and its successor ITAA, of which he served as Chairman of the Board in 1982, and at various times president of the Software Products, Professional Services, and Systems Integration Divisions. He was very active in working with the Financial Ac-counting Standards Board (FASB) and the American Institute of Certified Public Ac-countants (AICPA) on behalf of ADAPSO. This oral history was sponsored by the Software History Center in conjunction with the Center's ADAPSO reunion (3 May 2002).Item Oral history interview with Lee Keet(Charles Babbage Institute, 2002-05-03) Keet, Ernest E.In this oral history software entrepreneur Ernest E. (Lee) Keet chronicles his education in programming and engineering at Cornell University, his early work as a salesperson and systems engineer for IBM in White Plains, NY, and his success as founder and CEO of Turnkey Systems, Inc. (TSI). Keet characterizes the heavy "craft" versus the "art" components of computer programming; he discusses the introduction of TSI’s Task/Master, the first commercial telecommunications monitor; and his entrepreneurial efforts in Europe. Keet also delineates his role as a member of the ADAPSO software protection committee, his founding of venture capital firm Vanguard Atlantic in 1984, and his service as a board member for the Keet Foundation, dedicated to the support of people and organizations in the Adirondacks of New York. Other topics include software product pricing, marketing, and women in the software industry as well as competitive relations with IBM. He describes his work at Dun & Bradstreet (D & B) in establishing and managing their software division and his management buyout of parts of this operation. This oral history was co-sponsored by CBI, through a National Science Foundation grant project, "Building a Future for Software History," and the Software History Center in conjunction with the Center's ADAPSO reunion (3 May 2002).Item Oral history interview with Ralph E. Griswold and Madge T. Griswold(Charles Babbage Institute, 1990-07-25) Griswold, Ralph E., 1934-; Griswold, Madge T., 1941-Ralph and Madge Griswold recall the development of the Icon programming language. Ralph Griswold begins the interview with a description of the evolution of Icon from SNOBOL4 during his work at Bell Laboratories in the early 1960s. In this context he describes the difficulties of developing software in a corporate environment. Most of the interview concentrates on the development of Icon after Griswold took a faculty position at the University of Arizona. The Griswolds describe the creation of the Icon Project, the project's support from the National Science Foundation, the importance of the project in graduate education in computer science and the contributions of graduate students to the language's development. Also discussed is the dissemination of information regarding Icon through the Icon Analyst and the project's interaction with the commercial software industry through two small software firms, Catspaw and The Bright Forest Company.Item Oral history interview with Richard Crandall(Charles Babbage Institute, 2002-05-03) Crandall, Richard L., 1943-A pioneer in timesharing, Richard Crandall, a University of Michigan graduate, formed Comshare and was its CEO for over 25 years. He describes the evolution of Comshare from its focus on interactive use of computers, through its transition to marketing software products, and to its eventual concentration on executive use of personal computers for business management information and decision support systems. He was Chairman of ADAPSO and its leader in strategic planning as well as an active participant in many committees including the Industry Image Committee. He organized and has been the coordinator of a software company CEO Roundtable since 1994. This oral history was sponsored by the Software History Center in conjunction with the Center's ADAPSO reunion (3 May 2002).