Changes

The mainframe computer entered American life in a major way in 1965 when IBM introduced its Model 360. This multimillion-dollar machine was quickly adopted by large businesses, government agencies and universities. Although it used transistors instead of vacuum tubes, the mainframe ran hot and required special facilities and 24-hour air conditioning, and was always attended by white-coated technicians. IBM dominated the worldwide computer market, as rivals (the "seven dwarfs") could match IBM's technology, but not its reputation. Technological advances every year brought bigger and faster mainframes and hastened the restructuring of most bureaucratic enterprises around the mainframe. The mainframe centralized computing power high up in an organization, where legions of FORTRAN and COBOL programmers wrote codes that harnessed raw computing power to specialized tasks. Bureaucracies expanded, assigning lower echelons the task of preparing forms for keypunching holes on cards that fed the machine. Most jobs were simple and routine, usually just the rapidly rapid processing of large numbers of highly stylized forms such as monthly electric bills. By the 1970s, distributed processing allowed clerks to use terminals connected directly to the mainframe. These were "dumb" terminals without their own computing power. Upstart companies introduced smaller, much cheaper "minicomputers" in the 1970s that handled most medium and small jobs as well as a mainframe. By the early 1990s, the mass introduction of PCs ("personal computers", originally called "microcomputers") radically undercut the market for mainframes and minis both.  

The mainframe computer entered American life in a major way in 1965 when IBM introduced its Model 360. This multimillion-dollar machine was quickly adopted by large businesses, government agencies and universities. Although it used transistors instead of vacuum tubes, the mainframe ran hot and required special facilities and 24-hour air conditioning, and was always attended by white-coated technicians. IBM dominated the worldwide computer market, as rivals (the "seven dwarfs") could match IBM's technology, but not its reputation. Technological advances every year brought bigger and faster mainframes and hastened the restructuring of most bureaucratic enterprises around the mainframe. The mainframe centralized computing power high up in an organization, where legions of FORTRAN and COBOL programmers wrote codes that harnessed raw computing power to specialized tasks. Bureaucracies expanded, assigning lower echelons the task of preparing forms for keypunching holes on cards that fed the machine. Most jobs were simple and routine, usually just the rapidly rapid processing of large numbers of highly stylized forms such as monthly electric bills. By the 1970s, distributed processing allowed clerks to use terminals connected directly to the mainframe. These were "dumb" terminals without their own computing power. Upstart companies introduced smaller, much cheaper "minicomputers" in the 1970s that handled most medium and small jobs as well as a mainframe. By the early 1990s, the mass introduction of PCs ("personal computers", originally called "microcomputers") radically undercut the market for mainframes and minis both.  

==PC's==

==PCs==

While the term "IBM compatible" has been widely used to indicate that a personal [[computer]] can use the [[Microsoft Windows]] Operating System, as of 2005 IBM no longer directly manufactured personal computers. The personal [[computer]] manufacturing arm of IBM was sold to the Chinese company [[Lenovo]] in 2005 in return giving IBM an 18.9% ownership stake in Lenovo Group which makes IBM the second largest shareholder following the Chinese government.<ref>[http://www.idc.com/about/iw_lenovo_acquires_ibm_pc.jsp Lenovo Acquires IBM's Personal [[Computing]] Division]</ref>  This move gave IBM a crucial foothold in the very large Chinese [[information technology]] market.  IBM currently sells computer hardware and software while continuing to offer infrastructure and consulting services for other businesses. IBM was the first company to introduce the desktop computer, in the form of the IBM 5100 series in 1975.

While the term "IBM compatible" has been widely used to indicate that a personal [[computer]] can use the [[Microsoft Windows]] Operating System, as of 2005 IBM no longer directly manufactured personal computers. The personal [[computer]] manufacturing arm of IBM was sold to the Chinese company [[Lenovo]] in 2005 in return giving IBM an 18.9% ownership stake in Lenovo Group which makes IBM the second largest shareholder following the Chinese government.<ref>[http://www.idc.com/about/iw_lenovo_acquires_ibm_pc.jsp Lenovo Acquires IBM's Personal [[Computing]] Division]</ref>  This move gave IBM a crucial foothold in the very large Chinese [[information technology]] market.  IBM currently sells computer hardware and software while continuing to offer infrastructure and consulting services for other businesses. IBM was the first company to introduce the desktop computer, in the form of the IBM 5100 series in 1975.