1970 to 1979: Computers and Software Begin Creating Wealth - The Technical and Social History of Software Engineering - page 132

In all three industries, there are hundreds of companies with data-processing
needs that are close to being identical. Insurance claims handling is pretty much
the same whether it is completed by Hartford, Farmers, Aetna, Prudential, GEICO,
or American Commerce. Dealing with transactions through an automated teller
machine (ATM) is similar for Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citizens Bank, and
hundreds of others. Vertical markets make sense when there are a great many com-
panies in the same business sector with similar data-processing needs.
The concept of time sharing was also popular during the 1970s. Time sharing
had originated in earlier decades but became a major technique for lowering the
costs of computer usage during the 1970s. This was the decade of mainframe com-
puters and some minicomputers, but before the internet and before personal com-
puters.
Time sharing allowed multiple users to be connected to a single mainframe and
use it when other applications were paused or quiet. Thus, the rather high costs
of the mainframe lease and software could be apportioned across multiple users.
Time sharing for multiple companies was often offered by service bureaus that ac-
quired and owned the computers and rented time for a weekly or monthly fee. In
the 1980s, after the arrival of the IBM personal computer and the Apple II, time
sharing would begin to fade away and personal computers would take over.
Toward the end of the 1970s, security and protective software emerged as a su-
bindustry in the wake of increasing numbers of viruses and cyberattacks.
This was a very dynamic decade with rapid growth in the number of software
engineers and also rapid acceleration of several companies toward enormous size,
wealth, and influence.
At the beginning of this decade, universities did not offer degrees in software
engineering. By the end of the decade, almost all major universities had software
engineering curricula available and degrees were being offered.
There was also the start of the huge market share by U.S.-based companies
for commercial software due primarily to IBM up until the middle of the decade.
In future decades, Apple, Microsoft, Cullnane, Computer Associates, Oracle, and
other U.S.-based companies would dominate world markets. SAP in Germany is
an exception to the rule and is a major power in enterprise resource planning
(ERP) applications.