From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog: A History of the Software Industry

From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog: A History of the Software Industry Martin Campbell-Kelly is available to download

From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog: A History of the Software Industry Martin Campbell-Kelly
Type:	eBook
Released:	2003
Publisher:	The MIT Press
Page Count:	390
Format:	pdf
Language:	English
ISBN-10:	0262033038

From When writers look at the birth of the computer age, they generally focus on the tangible hardware achievements of the likes of IBM and Intel and almost solely on Microsoft when it comes to software.From Airline Reservations to ... Textbook Campbell-Kelly tells us that in the larger perspective, Microsoft is not the center of the software universe and indeed today makes up only about 10 percent of that industry. Mass-market "shrink-wrap" software is the retail version of a much larger sector that contributes to our lives constantly, running everything from airline reservations to bank transfers, credit-card transactions, and most corporate and government functions, including the space program. This is an area that is often ignored because software is hard to define; it is the nearest product we have that is virtually pure thought. Campbell-Kelly is the first historian to give us a comprehensive overview of this hidden industry, which spawned the first user groups when companies had to write their own programs for early IBM mainframes. He includes everything from the information infrastructure of IBM's CICS and SAP's R/3 to the ever-popular gaming software. David SiegfriedCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Review "In his incisive, panoramic book... Martin Campbell-Kelly delivers all three: context, insight, even occasional humor." — Steve Lohr, The New York Times"I strongly recommend this book..." — Paul Ceruzzi, The Times Higher Education Supplement"...a crucial document for anyone interested in understanding the history of software from a business perspective." — Case, firstmonday.org"From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog should command a wide audience..." — Slashdot.org"A valuable long view of...the high-visibility Silicon Valley stock-market bubble." — Steven Poole, The Guardian"A timely reminder of earlier booms and busts..." — Barry Fox, New Scientist"Campbell-Kelly is the first historian to give us a comprehensive overview of this hidden industry..." — David Siegfried, Booklist"A well-rounded look at the software industry from a business perspective. Highly recommended." — Colleen Cuddy, Library Journal"This book is a major step forward in documenting the software industry's history. It contributes structure and content as well as insight and analysis." —Burton Grad, President, Software History Center"From a disparate array of sources, Campbell-Kelly deftly and neatly teases out a compelling history of the emergence, structure, and development of the computer software and services sector of the US economy." —Arthur Norberg, Director, Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota"This book presents an exceptionally clearheaded overview of one of the most important industries of the twentieth century. No other work covers the business dimensions of the software industry so comprehensively or so clearly. It should be the starting point for anyone interested in the history of the software business." —Steven Usselman, School of History, Technology, and Society, Georgia Institute of Technology"Campbell-Kelly is the first historian to map the terrain of the software industry, from contractors through corporate products to personal computer software. This pathbreaking book is packed with data and insights that will be valuable to historians of business and technology, as well as to analysts of the contemporary software industry. It lays to rest a variety of myths and distortions about the software business, including the over-emphasis on Microsoft that has dominated writing about it to this time." —JoAnne Yates, Sloan Distinguished Professor of Management, MIT