Managing Computers in Large Organizations

Managing Microcomputers in Large Organizations
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/167.html
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FASTER, SMALLER, CHEAPER TRENDS IN MICROCOMPUTER TECHNOLOGY 20
attracting the needed kind of support. If it is, the third phase may extend well
beyond the technologically useful life of the machine. It may not be the smartest
processor on the block, but because of its installed base of software and its
range of capabilities it is sufficient to the task at hand for the two, three, or four
years needed to amortize the equipment.
If we think in historical terms, it's obvious that what we have seen so far in
personal computers and microcomputers is merely an introduction to what will
be coming. In the early 1960s main-frame computers were placed behind plateglass
windows and handled by men and women in white coats. Approaching the
data processing facility was like going to the mountain, which Mohammed had
to do, even if he was the president of the corporation. In its first stage of
development the personal computer, too, was seen as a curiosity. End users
found themselves relatively unprepared in technological terms to deal with
microcomputers in any meaningful way. The industry had to translate the
buzzwords for the end-user group; the technology, though smaller, was still
rather exotic.
In this first stage we dealt with the personal computer as an individual
workstation, as an independent processing unit rather than as part of a larger
organizational framework. Looked upon perhaps as a toy by the MIS
(management information systems) department, it was viewed with suspicion,
as something that wasn't really part of the computer resources facility. We also
had to deal with the whole area of shared peripherals, secondary to whatever
unit was on the desk. A Winchester disk that cost $2,500, for example, was
difficult to justify for a microcomputer that sold for $1,995. Thus we ended up
with rolling resources—printers on a cart, which could be moved around a
department and shared among a number of people. This was a rudimentary
approach to what would in time become a sophisticated data-processing
environment.
During the first stage we also had to explain system software to our end
users, as well as come to grips with it in terms of management decisions. One
problem was that a single-user operating system was completely foreign to the
data processing environments in which our top managers worked. They were
used to much more sophisticated operating systems. Since end users had
absolutely no experience with system software, we had to teach them how to
use it and explain its role in terms of system responsibility. We
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