60 Years of Business Computing Started With Tea Shops 89
theshowmecanuck writes "The Telegraph has an article talking about the 60th anniversary of The Lyons Electronic Office I (LEO I), complete with an old video from the mid '50s about LEO II. The LEO I was the first major computer business system. It was installed at a large catering company in the U.K. named J. Lyons and Co. that operated a chain of tea shops among other business interests. So, blame them or praise them, November 17, 2011 will mark 60 years since the day in 1951 that the Brits started the age of business computing. All hail our tea- and biscuit-powered computer overlords."
Re:It was a smashing success. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:shhhh! (Score:4, Informative)
Here's the original source graph from the NYTimes if anyone is interested.
http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2011/09/04/opinion/04reich-graphic.html [nytimes.com]
Re:Later machines and the British computer industr (Score:3, Informative)
At the start of Thatchers reign, coal was running at a huge loss, steel was running at a huge loss, the energy companies were running at huge losses, British Rail was running at a huge loss etc etc etc See where I'm going with this?
There really is no point in propping up a domestic industry which has no market - find other, better things to do.