Money

2012-02-08T21:16:34Z

Chris51659: /* External links */

'''Money''' is defined as something which serves as a means of exchange, a store of value, and a unit of account and represents only an extremely small fraction of the real wealth of any given society or [[country]] where it is used. The [[currency]] which serves as money may be backed by some tangible commodity, such as the [[gold standard]], or may be [[fiat money]], such as [[Federal Reserve]] notes. Alternatively, trade may be carried on using commodity pay, wherein existing commodities are assigned exchange values but not explicitly designated as money.

==The Development of Money==
The earliest discovered forms of money were easily-carried items with some inherent value, such as [[salt]] (used in ancient [[Rome]]) and fishhooks (used by [[American Indians]]). This replaced or supplemented pre-existing [[barter]] systems. Precious metals, such as [[copper]], [[gold]], and [[silver]], have made good coins, being both easily transportable and having inherent value. In 1933, the [[United States]] abandoned the [[gold standard]]<ref>[http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h753.html The Gold Standard]</ref>, switching over to [[fiat currency]], which has no inherent value beyond the government's assurance that it has value.

==Money Neutrality and the Money Market==
Money may be viewed as neutral or non-neutral regarding the real [[economy]]; it is disputed whether changes in the money market cause changes in real markets. The money market itself consists of a money supply (typically fixed for any given period) and a demand function for money. Because the quantity of money is typically exogenously given, the only variable determined in the money market is the price of money.
==External links==
* [http://www.measuringworth.com/ppowerus/ "Purchasing Power of Money in the United States from 1774 to 2008"], translates the value of a dollar in one year to the value today or any year
*[http://thefinalmatrixs.com/ Value of money]

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:Economics]]
[[category:Finance]]

International Business Machines

2012-02-08T20:54:17Z

Chris51659: /* External Links */

'''International Business Machines''' ('''IBM''') is a large American company that makes and services large computers, sells them, consults about them, and runs back office IT operations.

==History==
IBM originated from the company that [[Herman Hollerith]] started in the 1890s to sell punch cards and card readers to government bureaus and insurance agencies. In 1924 the new owner [[Thomas Watson]] renamed the company "International Business Machines" and expanded into electric typewriters and other office machines. Watson built a highly motivated and disciplined sales force. The inside motto was "THINK", but users were warned not to "fold, spindle or mutilate" the cards. IBM's first experiments with computers in the 1940s and 1950s were humdrum; it surged to dominance in the 1960s with its Model 360 mainframe.
==Dominance==
IBM offered a full range of hardware, software and service agreements, so that users as their needs grew would stay with "Big Blue." Since most software was custom-written by in-house programmers, and would run on only one brand of computers, it was too expensive to switch brands. Brushing off clone makers, and facing down a federal anti-trust suit, the giant sold reputation and security as well as hardware, and was the most admired American corporation of the 1970s and 1980s.
==Retreat==
The 1990s were cruel to IBM--losses in 1993 exceeded $8 billion --as the mainframe giant failed to adjust quickly enough to the personal computer revolution. Desktop machines had the power needed, and were vastly easier for both users and managers than multi-million-dollar mainframes. IBM did introduce a popular line of microcomputers--but it was too popular. Clone makers undersold IBM, while the profits went to chip makers like Intel or software houses like Microsoft.
==360==
The mainframe computer entered American life in a major way in 1965 when IBM introduced its Model 360. This multi million 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==
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.
===Linux===
IBM is also a strong advocate<ref>[http://www-03.ibm.com/linux/ IBM and Linux]</ref> for the [[GNU]]/[[Linux]] operating system. This advocacy followed on the heels of IBM's failure to gain wide acceptance for its' [[OS/2]] personal desktop operating system. In 2005 IBM stated that [[OS/2]] users should consider migration to Linux<ref>[http://www-306.ibm.com/software/os/warp/migration.html OS/2 Warp Upgrades and migrations]</ref>. Some [[OS/2]] users and marketers created a rebranded [[OS/2]] called [[eComStation]] with the permission of IBM. The [[eComStation]] operating system runs previous [[OS/2]] applications as well as new applications ported from [[Open Source]] projects. Further development of [[eComStation]] continues by third parties to keep [[eComStation]] running on newer hardware.
==Further reading==
* Carroll, Paul. ''Big Blues: The Unmaking of IBM'' (1994)
* Chposky, James and Leonsis, Ted. ''Blue Magic: The People, Power and Politics behind the IBM Personal Computer.'' (1988). 228 pp.
* Cortada, James W. ''Before the Computer: IBM, NCR, Burroughs, and Remington Rand and the Industry They Created, 1865-1956.'' (1993). 344 pp. on the punch-card era
* Dassbach, Carl H. A. ''Global Enterprises and the World Economy: Ford, General Motors, and IBM. The Emergence of the Transnational Enterprise.'' (1989). 558 pp.
* Fisher, Franklin M.; McKie, James W.; and Mancke, Richard B. ''IBM and the U.S. Data Processing Industry: An Economic History.'' (1983). 533 pp.
* Garr, Doug. ''IBM Redux: Lou Gerstner and the Business Turnaround of the Decade'' (2000) [http://www.amazon.com/IBM-Redux-Gerstner-Business-Turnaround/dp/0887309445/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1236591516&sr=1-8 excerpt and text search]
* Maney, Kevin. ''The Maverick and His Machine: Thomas Watson, Sr. and the Making of IBM''(2004) [http://www.amazon.com/Maverick-His-Machine-Thomas-Watson/dp/0471679259/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1236591436&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search]
* Pugh, Emerson W. ''Building IBM: Shaping an Industry and Its Technology.'' (1995). 403 pp. scholarly history
* Pugh, Emerson W. ''Memories That Shaped an Industry: Decisions Leading to IBM System/360.'' (1984). 323 pp.
* Tedlow, Richard S. ''The Watson Dynasty: The Fiery Reign and Troubled Legacy of IBM's Founding Father and Son'' (2004) [http://www.amazon.com/Watson-Dynasty-Troubled-Legacy-Founding/dp/0060014067/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1236591613&sr=1-15 excerpt and text search]

==External Links==
*[http://www.ibm.com/ IBM]<br />
*[http://www.lenovo.com/ Lenovo]<br />
*[http://www.ecomstation.com/ eComStation]
*[http://thefinalmatrixs.com/ International Business]

==References==
<references />

[[category:Business]]
[[category:computers]]

Conservapedia - User contributions [en]

Money

International Business Machines