Happy 100th Birthday to IBM and all who work (or have worked) for the organisation!
Whatever my occasional niggles with the organisation (for lack of advertising or commitment to the Lotus brand etc), they are dwarfed by the respect I have for the heritage, innovation and ethics of IBM.
I grew up with an uncle that worked for IBM’s PC division, had a hand in inventing SGML (the precursor to HTML and XML) for the organisation and later ran the IBM Forum centres in the UK. My aunt design processor and logic boards for PS/2s. I then used an IBM 6150 RISC system during my industrial placement year, and then graduated to work at an IBM RS/6000 business partner where I specialised in AIX and other IBM software solutions, including Lotus Domino/Notes. I’ve worked for various IBM business partners for the last 16 years.
In short, my experience in the IT industry has always been through IBM-coloured glasses. I wouldn’t have had it any other way.
So, I raise a toast to the now century-old institution that is the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company International Business Machines IBM!
May you be around for many many more years to come.
In the meantime, enjoy the movie below (featuring IBMers telling their stories) – I did!