Managing Computers in Large Organizations
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<strong>Manag<strong>in</strong>g</strong> Microcomputers <strong>in</strong> <strong>Large</strong> <strong>Organizations</strong><br />
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/167.html<br />
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FASTER, SMALLER, CHEAPER TRENDS IN MICROCOMPUTER TECHNOLOGY 21<br />
had to deal with many poor hardware and software decisions made by<br />
uneducated end users who purchased equipment for their departments. We<br />
found ourselves buy<strong>in</strong>g hardware that could not do the job it was assigned to do<br />
because application software was dreadfully lack<strong>in</strong>g.<br />
Jean Piaget, a psychologist who specialized <strong>in</strong> cognitive development, had<br />
a theory about <strong>in</strong>dividuals be<strong>in</strong>g thrown off equilibrium and then assimilat<strong>in</strong>g<br />
<strong>in</strong>formation on a new subject until they reached equilibrium aga<strong>in</strong>. In its first<br />
stage of development the microcomputer created a similar disequilibrium<br />
environment, and only now are end users and managers com<strong>in</strong>g to grips with<br />
the issues raised by the microcomputer as a small, cheap workstation.<br />
Dur<strong>in</strong>g this first stage we also had to deal with how application software<br />
was go<strong>in</strong>g to be def<strong>in</strong>ed and developed. Would it focus on task-specific,<br />
horizontal packages such as database managers, word processors, and<br />
spreadsheets? Or would the thrust be for vertical markets, where an application<br />
could be developed that solved a total bus<strong>in</strong>ess problem? In terms of horizontal<br />
packages, we began to move from s<strong>in</strong>gle-function to <strong>in</strong>tegrated software. In the<br />
vertical market there was less progress because there were fewer opportunities<br />
both from a research and development standpo<strong>in</strong>t and from a f<strong>in</strong>ancial, bus<strong>in</strong>ess<br />
standpo<strong>in</strong>t.<br />
Hardware was still a precious resource <strong>in</strong> this first stage. Memory was a<br />
govern<strong>in</strong>g factor. The 8-bit CP/M operat<strong>in</strong>g system and a number of software<br />
graphics packages based on 8-bit technology were designed to do somersaults<br />
with<strong>in</strong> a small space because memory and disk storage capacities were at a<br />
premium. Stage-one hardware was supported by a cottage <strong>in</strong>dustry of software<br />
programmers who appeared highly suspect to large companies and federal<br />
agencies. One of these new companies, with perhaps 10 to 12 employees, would<br />
have the hottest package <strong>in</strong> the world but a balance sheet that would make your<br />
personal checkbook look proud. We were not used to do<strong>in</strong>g bus<strong>in</strong>ess with these<br />
k<strong>in</strong>ds of firms.<br />
As we moved toward the end of stage one we began to take a look at what<br />
else we could do with a microcomputer. We had figured out what it could do for<br />
us locally; now we began to look at the larger environment: the corporation as a<br />
whole, the federal agency, the state government comput<strong>in</strong>g resource.<br />
In the second stage of microcomputer development, which is<br />
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