7 Nov
2005
7 Nov
'05
1:49 p.m.
On 11/7/2005 at 3:56 PM William Donzelli wrote:
Remember, however, that the unit record equipment was
starting to show it
age. Being electromechanical in nature, failures went up over time, just
like an old car. Fixing the things was mostly on IBMs dime.
Which is why the customer resistance to change was such a tough nut to
crack--and why IBM met with only mediocre success with the 1401 in
replacing UR equipment.
I don't deny that IBM's plan all along was to replace the UR with the 1401;
just that the reality wasn't achieved for a number of good reasons, cost
being one of them.
The timing of the introduction of the S/3 was perfect--we'd just put a man
on the moon and the old 1940's vintage UR equipment did seem kind of
klunky. Smaller cards, cartridge drive, fast printer, very clean
appearance, it was the right product for the right time.
Cheers,
Chuck