IBM's CEO asks how 34 people, including the janitor, beat us
Watson Jr. memo about CDC 6600 (1963)
In a 1963 memo, IBM president Thomas J. Watson Jr. demanded to know how Control Data Corporation—a company of just 34 people, including the janitor—had seized industry leadership with its CDC 6600 supercomputer. The scathing note, now known as the Janitor Memo, reveals the shockwaves the CDC 6600 sent through IBM's top ranks.
How did we lose our industry leadership to a company with 34 people, including the janitor?
- rbanffy
Interesting to note the question had the answer all along. How would a modest effort outrun a vast organisation?
I never imagined he’d be caught by that mistake.
- AirPath
6600
- bediger4000
I used CDC computers 1986-92. They sucked, and CDC employees could not comprehend that they sucked. They had convinced themselves that their alternate universe was real.