ENIAC ....

I have evidence that he wasn't the first to do this. I know this will sound lame to you, but I haven't got that evidence handy and in a digestable form. I will get it for you. Thanks for catching that. Will edit it. I'll also add -- www.the-eniac.com is meant to be mostly historical in nature, not extremely technical. Essentially the site owner (as Al mentioned, it's Bill Mauchly) asked my help in writing some historical content. His hope is that people find the site as a useful alternative, in light of Smiley's book. Other than Intel's John Gustafson, who's an avowed ABC guy, there is * nobody * defending her book. (Not counting clueless book reviewers, who focus on the nice story and how she tells it, vs. what actually happened.) Sadly, according to Amazon sales ranks, Smiley's book is on its way to becoming to best-selling computer history book of all time. It's riddled with major mistakes, and it not only calls Mauchly a thief, but even implies that he had something to do with Cliff Berry's death. (Tongue firmly in cheek, Bill M. wrote to me, "My dad wasn't only a crook, he was a murderer ... not bad!") I know Al can't speak for CHM so I will not put him on the spot. However I personally feel it's terrible that CHM is giving Smiley a forum to tell her ill-researched story and be taken seriously. There was even one senior CHM employee -- I will absolutely not name that person or give any hints that could reveal their identity -- who wrote to me and AGREED with my assessment of Smiley's book. So I hope that CHM and its audience uses the opportunity to challenge Smiley in person, not accept her drivel as good work. (Smiley herself is massively backpedaling in recent interviews. She claims the book is about ALL of the people whose work LED to computers. If that's true, then why did she allow her publisher to call it "The Man Who Invented the Computer" vs. "The * MEN (plural)"...... ???? As a Pulitzer winner she certainly has the leverage to not let a publisher push her around.