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commercial or scientific. The hardware architecture of the 360 drew a distinct boundary
between architecture and implementation, thus allowing IBM to release a suite of compat-
ible designs at different prices. The 360s proved extremely successful in the marketplace,
where customers were pleased to purchase a smaller system with the knowledge they would
always be able to migrate upward if their needs grew, without having to reprogram applic-
ation software. The design of the 360 is considered by many to be one of the most elegant
ever conceived.
Thomas Watson Jr. was the key promoter of the product. "With IBM clearly on top in
the early '60s, Watson took one of the biggest gambles in corporate history," reports TIME.
"He proposed spending more than $5 billion - about three times IBM's revenues at the time
- to develop a new line of computers that would make the company's existing machines
obsolete. The goal was to replace specialized units with a family of compatible computers
that could fill every data-processing need. Customers could start with small computers and
move up as their demands increased." Of particular appeal was the envisioned computer's
ability to "emulate" - a new term as applied in the field - variously the IBM 7070 and 1401.
Thus customers migrating to the smaller machine could take their old software along with
them.
According to TIME: "This flexibility inspired the name System/360, after the 360
degrees in a circle. The strategy nearly failed when software problems created delivery
delays. Panic raced through IBM's top echelons as rivals closed in. A desperate Watson
ousted his younger brother Dick as head of engineering and manufacturing for the System/
360 project, derailing the younger man's career and filling Watson with shame."
But out of this rubble there blossomed genius. "Few products in American history have
had the massive impact of the IBM System/360-on technology, on the way the world works
or on the organization that created them," writes IBM architect Steve Will. "Jim Collins,
author of
Good to Great
, ranks the S/360 as one of the all-time top three business accom-
plishments, along with Ford's Model T and Boeing's first jetliner, the 707. It set IBM on
a path to dominate the computer industry for the following 20 years. Most significantly,
the S/360 ushered in an era of computer compatibility - for the first time, allowing ma-
chines across a product line to work with each other. In fact, it marked a turning point in
the emerging field of information science and the understanding of complex systems. After
the S/360, we no longer talked about automating particular tasks with 'computers.' Now,
we talked about managing complex processes through 'computer systems.'" After a stag-
geringly successful run, IBM discontinued the 360 in 1978. (A heart attack forced Watson
to retire at age 57 in 1971. He died in 1993.)
In addition to resulting in a great machine, the 360 project also resulted in a great topic,
The Mythical Man-Month
by Fred Brooks - the man who ultimately managed the final de-
velopment of both the 360 itself and the OS/360 software support package. First published
in 1975, this volume is considered a classic in systems development literature. (Note: In
