Gadgets, Games, Software, News -Techno Nerd

This agreement created a market opportunity that was filled by the various service bureaus such as EDS and CSC. Throughout the 1970s, the Justice Department continued to pursue antitrust action against IBM.

Much of IBM’s attention during those years was devoted to avoiding the appearance of anticompetitive practices, which included some of the very business strategies that had been responsible for IBM’s success. In the words of Thomas Watson, Jr., CEO from 1956 to 1971:

The government objected to virtually our entire way of doing business, from our total system sales—supplying customers with complete installations including hardware, software, engineering help, training, and maintenance—to the big discounts we gave universities.

The effect of the U.S. government’s antitrust pressure was probably not good for IBM, but it did help create a more dynamic industry in the United States and opened the door for many other companies who would also become strong global competitors.

On the other hand, in the market directly targeted by the government—mainframe computers—the only successful challengers to IBM turned out to be Japanese companies, as we will see.

Related posts:

1. The Mainframe of Computing Era (3)
2. The Mainframe of Computing Era
3. The Mainframe of Computing Era (6)
4. The Mainframe of Computing Era (2)
5. The Mainframe of Computing Era (4)

Tags: company, computer, computing, era, industry, revolution