The (In)Difference engine: explaining the disappearance of diversity in the design of the personal computer

At the time of writing there is a clear perception of all office computers as being more or less identical. Discussion with users entails repetitive rhetoric as they describe a landscape of boring beige boxes. The office PC is indeed a ‘clone’ - an identical, characterless copy of a bland original. Through the exploration of an archive of computer manufacturer’s catalogues, this article shows how previous, innovative forms of the computer informed by cultural references as diverse as science fiction, accepted gender roles and the discourse of status as displayed through objects, have been systematically replaced by the adoption of a ‘universal’ design informed only by the nondescript, self-referential world of office equipment. The acceptance of this lack of innovation in the design of such a truly global, mass-produced, multi-purpose technological artefact has had an enormous effect on the conception, perception and consumption of the computer, and possibly of information technology itself. The very anonymity of the PC has created an attitude of indifference at odds with its potential.</p

The Adoption and Enforcement of a Technological Regime: The Case of the first IT Regime

In this paper we explore the process of adoption and enforcement of a number of new information processing technologies, such as the typewriter, calculators, tabulation gears and book-keeping machines, starting from the 1880s in the United States. We show that their innovation and diffusion was inexorably coupled to the economic development in the USA in the late 19th century. It is a complex and contradictory consequence of underlying socio-economic processes that led to the formation of modern organisational structures in large scale manufacturing which required systematic and efficient information processing. The typewriter and all the complementary office automation devices that entered the scene shortly after were part of a socio-technical regime that started being established: the office work regime or as we prefer to call it the first IT regime, as for the first time a technology was set up to process information on large scale. The logic of large scale manufacturing to produce standardised products in large series and to apply labour saving techniques was cast into the organisation of administration. This required a convergence of technical practices. The lock-in to the inferior QWERTY-keyboard is hence the outcome of the diffusion and hardening of the First IT Regime.Technological regimes; adaption and enforcement of technologies; information technology; QWERTY

Not All Bad: An Historical Perspective on Software Patents

This Paper places the current debates about software patents in the historical context of patenting in the information technology industries. The first computer-program products were sold in the mid 1960s when software patents were not generally allowed; as a result, trade secrecy became endemic to the software industry. Software products were also protected by copyright, but in practice this offered little protection against most forms of appropriation by reverse engineering or cloning. By the early 1980s a series of landmark cases led to the acceptance of software patents. It is argued that this development was consistent with the patenting of algorithmic inventions that long predated the invention of the computer. In the 1990s, business method patents were accepted. Again, it is argued that this development was consistent with the virtualization of inventions that long predated the Internet. It is shown that patents offer similar benefits to the software industry as for other technological industries, as well as some old and new disadvantages. The Paper draws three main conclusions. First, from an historical viewpoint, software patents are not radically different from those of other technologies; the patent system has adapted to the particular demands of new technologies over time, and the software patent system is already making such adaptations. Second, patents are superior to the alternative IP regimens of trade secrecy and copyright, primarily because of the public benefits of disclosure. Third, patents offer the most economically efficient way of co-ordinating multiple R&D investments in major software technologies

Not All Bad: An Historical Perspective on Software Patents

This Paper places the current debates about software patents in the historical context of patenting in the information technology industries. The first computer-program products were sold in the mid 1960s when software patents were not generally allowed; as a result, trade secrecy became endemic to the software industry. Software products were also protected by copyright, but in practice this offered little protection against most forms of appropriation by reverse engineering or cloning. By the early 1980s a series of landmark cases led to the acceptance of software patents. It is argued that this development was consistent with the patenting of algorithmic inventions that long predated the invention of the computer. In the 1990s, business method patents were accepted. Again, it is argued that this development was consistent with the virtualization of inventions that long predated the Internet. It is shown that patents offer similar benefits to the software industry as for other technological industries, as well as some old and new disadvantages. The Paper draws three main conclusions. First, from an historical viewpoint, software patents are not radically different from those of other technologies; the patent system has adapted to the particular demands of new technologies over time, and the software patent system is already making such adaptations. Second, patents are superior to the alternative IP regimens of trade secrecy and copyright, primarily because of the public benefits of disclosure. Third, patents offer the most economically efficient way of co-ordinating multiple R&D investments in major software technologies

Complementarity constraints and induced innovation: Some evidence from the first IT regime

Technological search is often depicted to be random. This paper takes a different view and analyses how innovative recombinant search is triggered, how it is done and what initial conditions influence the final design of technological artefacts. We argue that complementarities (non-separabilities) play an important role as focusing devices guiding the search for new combinations. Our analysis takes the perspective of technology adopters and not that of inventors or innovators of new products. We illustrate the process of decomposition and re-composition under the presence of binding complementarity constraints with a historical case study on the establishment of the First IT Regime at the turn of the 19th century.Technological regimes, systemic innovation, adoption of technologies, complexity,information technology 1870-1930

Radical innovation

Includes bibliographical references (p. 24-27).James M. Utterback

Complementarity constraints and induced innovation: some evidence from the First IT Regime

Technological search is often depicted to be random. This paper takes a different view and analyses how innovative recombinant search is triggered, how it is done and what initial conditions influence the final design of technological artefacts. We argue that complementarities (non-separabilities) play an important role as focusing devices guiding the search for new combinations. Our analysis takes the perspective of technology adopters and not that of inventors or innovators of new products. We illustrate the process of decomposition and re-composition under the presence of binding complementarity constraints with a historical case study on the establishment of the First IT Regime at the turn of the 19th century.research and development ;

European Acquisitions in the United States:Re-examining Olivetti-Underwood Fifty Years Later

While Italy's catch-up in the course of the 20th century has been nothing short of extraordinary, it has failed to produce a large number of global business players. Nonetheless, half a century ago an Italian company concluded what was at the time the largest-ever foreign takeover of a US company. The paper analyzes the Olivetti's acquisition of Underwood and frames it in the broader picture of the literature on the management and performance of foreign companies in the United States. We provide a historical narrative focused on three main issues: 1) head office control and subsidiary autonomy; 2) Olivetti's adaptation to the American business system; 3) the development of internal knowledge resources within the subsidiary. Lessons and implications are relevant for business historians and management scholars in general.FDI, acquisition, control, adaptation, knowledge resources, Olivetti, Underwood

Program on application of communications satellites to educational development. Computer-based instruction: A background paper on its status, cost/effectiveness and telecommunications requirements

Status, cost/effectiveness, and telecommunication/satellite requirements of computer-based instructio