From: Nigel Williams
Sent: Sunday, February 19, 2012 8:35 PM
If the mainframe products of IBM and Unisys [*]
disappeared tomorrow,
the idea of mainframe (as we collectively know them) would fade too.
[*] I expect there are other manufacturers, I am using
IBM and Unisys
as just two examples.
As it happens, I just did the research for a timeline of mainframe
computer systems from 1950 to 2011. IBM and Unisys are the only US
mainframe manufacturers left. The field has shrunk continuously since
the days of "IBM and the Seven Dwarfs" => "IBM and the BUNCH",
including
the SDS/Xerox Sigma line for completeness' sake.
But looking at the class of computing--and it is, IMAO, a valid trait in
defining "mainframe--only IBM and Unisys are left.
Rich Alderson
Vintage Computing Sr. Systems Engineer
Vulcan, Inc.
505 5th Avenue S, Suite 900
Seattle, WA 98104
mailto:RichA at
vulcan.com
mailto:RichA at
LivingComputerMuseum.org
http://www.LivingComputerMuseum.org/