Continued

[susandennis]

At IBM, we creeped into the computer age - at least in the soft areas (executives, communications, human resources, marketing, etc). Really. We finally all got DisplayWriters at our desks so at least we finally had spellcheck! Initially, we created documents and then moved them around on 8" (yes, that is 8" dinner plate sized) floppy (they really flopped) disks. You can see the disk drives in this picture.



And then they plugged our DisplayWriters into the mainframe computers and we were off. Kinda. A little bit. We got an email system called PROFS. (0ld people will remember when the Oliver North hearings put PROFS in the news during the Iran Contra scandal which is now, itself, ancient history. )

I was fascinated by it all and quickly became our department's go-to for 'technical' stuff. It wasn't very technical but the system was buggy and I had played with it so much on my own time that I knew it's proclivities.

In 1981 IBM announced the PC. Product announcements were gynormous deals and this was really big. It was held in Miami (the developers and manufacturing peops were all in IBM Boca) and there had been scads of people working on the announcement for months. (IBM did nothing small in those days.) The communications managers at all the plant locations around the country were asked to send someone to help. I got picked. And off I went.

It was wild - I worked 24/7 for a week in Miami and it was such great fun. Plus I met a guy from the Austin, TX office. He was fun and as interested in the technology stuff as I was.

We got a new giant printer (it was about the size of one of those really big office copiers of the olden days). Tom (the Austin guy) got one for his office, too. They were set up as copiers but we figured out they were actually connected to the network and we could access them from our Displaywriters if we could noodle out the code.

Which we did. And Tom suggested we write a paper about it. Which we did. And then got pretty famous in the IBM community because only technical people (engineers) write technical papers and we sure weren't. We were the odd ducks all around. And it was really fun just being the center of attention for a while.


Then, one day, the Director of Communications presented me a $3000.00 bonus check for contributions above and beyond. Way to make a geek outta me!!

One fun fact about Tom I discovered when I went to visit him in Austin. He had built his own house on this big lake and it was impressive. But, most impressive was his coffee switch. He had a plug in the kitchen connected to a regular light-type switch over his bed in the bedroom. He'd get the coffee all set up the night before. When he woke up in the morning, he barely had to rollover to turn on the coffee. Before you feet hit the floor you got a fabulous whiff of fresh brew. It was really genius.

To Be Continued

Comments

[fionnabhar.livejournal.com]

My family's first computer was an IBM Aptiva. We really thought we were something!

[susandennis]

Oh I hadn't thought about the Aptiva in years. Yes. It was something!!

[river57.livejournal.com]

These memories of yours are so great!

I had forgotten those original floppies. I once spilled a cup of coffee on a floppy that was our only copy of the System 36 operating system...not my best day at the office and shortly after that management decreed no food or beverages in the computer room.

I also remember going to the Philadelphia IBM branch for product announcements. One time, since I was a VTAM system programmer, I went to hear about the 3174 control unit. But it was the same day IBM announced the PC micro channel - all these young guys jumped up from their seats and started clapping and cheering. It was like their team scored a touchdown in the Super Bowl.

I also remember my company's initial rollout of PROFS. It was only for management because there was a fear the rank and file would abuse it. But the execs were horrified at the thought of a terminal in their offices ("I'm not a secretary!").

[theidolhands.livejournal.com]

Enjoyed reading these memories too.

Man, that coffee incident....

[christopher575.livejournal.com]

I can't remember if you ever mentioned watching the show Halt and Catch Fire. I think you'd like it a lot.

[susandennis]

Halt and Catch Fire money is what helped build my favorite museum!! The Living Computer Museum right here on 1st Ave.

[meowmensteen]

Coffee has and will always be important.

[theidolhands.livejournal.com]

They should install them in houses and call them a Tom. Everybody needs a Tom.

Shades of Wallace & Grommit!

[susandennis]

true

[rejectomorph]

At my first glimpse of that first photo I wondered why there was a big toaster sitting next to the computer. Where would you even get bread that big? Then I read and, oh, giant floppies. I never saw one of them. My first experience of floppy disks was in the mid-eighties, when they were something like five inches.

[susandennis]

They were so huge. I wish I had saved one. I do have a 5.25" one but not one of the big ones. But toaster is exactly right!

[ossie.livejournal.com]

In 1976 i had the choice of going to an automotive technical school or go to work at a new company in Boca Raton on these new things that were coming out, A small company called IBM, one of the neighbours was a manager there,

40 years later I am still working on cars, no money,
cars were supposed to be a lot more fun than those new gadgets, plus the girls liked cars at that time too,

one of the big regrets in my life,
but every time I think of it, none of my present life would exist if I went to IBM then.

[susandennis]

What an interesting life intersection!

[silverthief2.livejournal.com]

I am also very into the idea of the coffee switch, or The Tom. :)