Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Not only was this case important for the computer and software industries, but
it happened to be the first major lawsuit where computerized legal files were used.
The fact that Honeywell filed first led the case to be tried in Minneapolis rather
than in Washington, D.C. At the time, Honeywell was the largest employer in Min-
nesota, so the outcome of the case was important locally.
The case was not decided until the 1970s, so it will be discussed again in the
next chapter. The importance to the industry and to this topic is that the eventual
decision invalidated the ENIAC patent. This had the effect of putting most of the
technology used to build digital computers into the public domain. This, in turn,
led to a significant expansion in computers and companies building computers.
Another momentous event for the software industry occurred in 1969, when
IBM unbundled software as a result of an antitrust suit. Prior to 1969, IBM com-
puters came with the software bundled and not priced separately. Bundling or
providing software for free was a barrier to entry, and unbundling led to the cre-
ation of today's vast software market.
The IBM antitrust lawsuit was filed at the end of the decade on January 17,
1969, by the Department of Justice. It would not be decided until the 1980s, but
by then unbundling was long established. (The case was eventually withdrawn by
William Baxter in January 1982. Baxter was the Assistant Attorney General in
charge of antitrust.)
There were some noncomputer pure software companies during this decade,
and they concentrated on applications packages that were not closely tied to any
specific computer brand or model. One of the most successful and longest-running
software companies was Cincom, which was founded in 1968 by Thomas Nies,
Tom Richley, and Claude Bogardus. All three founders had worked for IBM prior
to founding Cincom. (The unusual name of the company is based in part on the
fact that it was started in Cincinnati, Ohio.)
In those days, IBM provided operating systems and systems software and com-
pilers, but client companies were expected to write their own applications. Having
clients write their own software applications explains the huge increase in soft-
ware personnel during this decade.
The Cincom vision was to commercialize common kinds of software applica-
tions that were widely used and needed. One of these areas of common need was
the database. The Cincom TOTAL database package entered the market in 1970
and was a pioneer in commercial DBMS. Cincom was and is a successful software
company that has outlived many of its competitors.
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