50th anniversary of the routine business use of computers

From: Feldman, Robert <Robert_Feldman_at_jdedwards.com>
Date: Wed Nov 21 08:37:50 2001

I was looking at the Economist (Nov 17th) at the library last night and saw
the following (p. 76)

The Lyons Electronic Office (LEO) began use 11-17-1951 in a British catering
company. It was used weekly to evaluate costs, prices, and margins for the
week's output of bread, cakes, and pies. It was "the first dedicated
business machine to operate on the 'stored program' principle, meaning that
it could be quickly reconfigured to preform different tasks by loading a new
program. It occupied 5,000 square feet of floorspace, contained 6,000
thermionic valves, and its mercury-delay-line memory could hold 2,048
instructions. LEO was built by a team led by John Pinkerton (pictured), and
its design was based on Cambridge University's EDSAC computer."
Received on Wed Nov 21 2001 - 08:37:50 GMT