History of Computing, 1960s
Infancy of the “Business Machine”
vVisions of “data-based” organizations
ŘModern operating systems and permanent storage
˛Modern operating systems were developed that allowed the computer to be a shared, constantly available resource. Permanent storage (particularly magnetic disks) allowed databases, which in turn promoted a vision of a “data-based” organization, in which the computer could act as central coordinator for company-wide activities.
vIndispensable for preserving large organizations
˛By the end of the 1960s computers had become indispensable for large organizations — but, they didn’t change these organizations, they preserved them, keeping them functional as they grew. Large organizations that were previously drowning in paperwork suddenly found that computers allowed them to preserve their existing structures. Rather than changing existing business processes and practices, computers made them faster. The computer made large, complex, centrally-controlled bureaucracies possible — even though all they did was automate many of the inflexibilities and overheads of the past (and added a few of their own).