January 20, 2025
From Zero to Hero: How SAP Became a Global Tech Giant
Five ex-IBM engineers founded SAP in the late 1960s, winning ICI as their first client and pioneering real-time ERP soft
July 22, 2024
The IBM-ification of FAANG: Giants Turning Into Dinosaurs
Like IBM after its 1981 PC, FAANG firms are growing bureaucratic and losing pioneering talent, hinting at a slide toward
July 14, 2024
Unbundling IBM: The Move That Freed the Software Industry
How software was bundled with hardware, the rise of SHARE and firms like CUC and ADR, and how IBM's unbundling launched
July 13, 2024
Japan's VLSI Project: A Semiconductor Breakthrough
Fearing IBM's dominance, Japan's MITI launched the cooperative VLSI project in the 1970s, uniting firms like Fujitsu and
July 12, 2024
The Birth of SQL and the Relational Database
From Bachman's 1960s IDS and IBM's IMS network model to Edgar Codd's relational paradigm, trace how databases and SQL ca
July 2, 2024
Why IBM's Superconductor Computer Failed
Inspired by a 1962 superconductivity breakthrough, IBM spent 15 years chasing a superconductor computer with fast switch
May 30, 2024
The Day IBM Unbundled Software and Launched an Industry
IBM's decision to unbundle software from hardware sparked the independent software market and firms like CUC and ADR.
March 31, 2024
How Protectionism Sank Brazil's Computer Industry
From the 1957 first import to homegrown machines, Brazil's computer ambitions were undone by protectionism, a military c
March 14, 2024
SAP: The Invisible Giant Powering the Global Economy
Founded in 1972 by five ex-IBM German engineers, SAP's electronic data processing and ERP software became the backbone o
February 23, 2024
How Open Source Software Makes Money
Open source like Linux and Android profits through shared security, customization, and corporate funding from firms like
January 19, 2024
Red Hat and IBM's $34 Billion Gamble
Built on open source from a sewing closet to enterprise dominance, Red Hat survived the dotcom crash and rivals before I
January 15, 2024
How IBM Lost the Consumer PC Market It Created
IBM's 1980 PC dominated computing, but opening its platform to Microsoft and Intel spawned cheaper clones that eroded it
December 25, 2023
Employee Experience as Strategy: Lessons From IBM
IBM treats employee experience like customer experience, co-creating onboarding, learning, and workplace design with sta
November 27, 2023
India's Failed Computer Revolution: Lessons in Self-Reliance
India’s 1960s push via ECIL and the Department of Electronics to build a homegrown computer industry stumbled, offering
November 26, 2023
IBM's Quantum Leap: The Dawn of a New Computing Era
IBM's quantum-centric supercomputer fuses 133-qubit Heron processors with classical CPUs and GPUs, targeting a 100,000-q
October 21, 2023
ICL: The Rise and Fall of Britain's Answer to IBM
Formed by a 1968 government-forced merger, ICL aimed to rival IBM but couldn't sustain Britain's early computing lead ag
July 20, 2023
Leadership Lessons from IBM and Google
IBM thrives by embracing transformation from mainframes to AI, while Google succeeds by empowering and trusting its empl