27 Nov
2019
27 Nov
'19
8:47 a.m.
On 11/26/2019 09:02 PM, Chuck Guzis via cctalk wrote:
CDC had a scorched-earth policy when it came to leased
mainframes. I suspect that IBM did also. I witnessed CEs
taking sledgehammers and bolt cutters to several
interesting mainframes. The official directive was that
nothing was to leave the facility that could be re-sold.
Were these leased machines
or customer-owned machines?
I don't know about CDC, but IBM would very gently
disassemble and prepare for shipping any mainframe so the
customer could sell it on to another outfit. They would
often do this EVEN IF it had been made clear the machine was
going to the scrapyard.
There was a HUGE second market in IBM mainframe gear at one
time (late 60's to mid 70's at least.)
CDC may have had many more custom/one-of-a-kind machines,
while IBM had tons of identical units in the field.
Maybe that makes a difference.
And, IBM moved leased machines around like they were
dominoes. But, yes, if they had a leased machine that they
KNEW would never be used again, they would not dump it at
the customer's back dock, it would be trucked off to SOMEWHERE.
As for the 360's, they HAD to keep them for spare parts, as
they were maintaining (generally owned, not leased) 360
machines WAY after the SLT factory was shut down. This came
to a head when they were directed to keep the National
Airspace System running WELL PAST its "sell by" date, and
they reclaimed all machines extant, including owned
machines, to scavenge them for parts.
Jon