Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

'Prestige luster' and 'snow-balling effects': IBM's development of computer time-sharing

1995; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; Volume: 17; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1109/85.380271

1934-1547

Judy E. O'Neill,

Information Systems Theories and Implementation

In the middle 1960s IBM responded to pressure from its most prestigious customers to hasten the development and availability of computer time-sharing systems. When MIT and Bell Laboratories chose General Electric computers for their new time-sharing system, IBM management feared that the "prestige luster" of these customers would lead other customers to demand the same capabilities and that there would be a "snow-balling" effect as more customers rejected IBM computers. IBM worked on a time-sharing product and brought it to market by the end of the decade despite greater-than-expected costs. Meanwhile MIT, Bell Laboratories, and GE worked together on a new time-sharing system known as Multics. By examining IBM's role in and response to the development of time-sharing, the article illustrates the nontechnological criteria that even high-technology companies use to decide what products to develop and market. >