Issue 10: Tech from the Military

WWII COMPUTING TODAY | 43
Many times the problem could not be corrected
because the structure of the language did not
allow for any change in logic. Unlike IBM code,
OMNIS is very structured, can go back to change
anything you wanted to change and finding the
code was easy. This was the best business partnership
I ever had. Basically, you go in and tell
business owners what to do and they pay you
for it.”
Rod Young recalls, “There were live conferences
with the company at an English mansion
[Mitford House] and I would see them walking
around in this room drinking wine and talking
about OMNIS. Their intellect was quite remarkable
and periodically I needed a lower level explanation.”
Young continues to use OMNIS to
create campaign lists of voters and continue to
run his thriving Shaklee business.
Today, computerized technology runs autopilot
tractors, biotechnology, cars, household appliances,
LCD fish finders, livestock collars, medicine,
micro-computer hair conditioning, and
smartphone irrigation.
RPAVICH | CC BY 2.0
contact customers. This original program is still
in use today because the language is a library
of code for everything you design, the only update
is the engine. The engine makes everything
run on a platform, but the program written years
ago still runs without any tweaks.
The success of the program and business results
created a consulting firm between Daniel
Courage and Rod Young. Daniel Courage recalls,
“It was like an unstructured association of programming
geeks and business entrepreneurs.
We immediately saw the advantage of using the
Macintosh with OMNIS to help companies having
problems with their burdensome IBM coded
machines. Any change in the business would
require scheduling a programmer to come in.
The wine industry, led by Spanish and Swedish
engineers from the Polytechnic University of
Valencia and University of Galve respectively, is
using a desktop apparatus connected to a computer
to sense pears from apples by esters. Fruit
is placed in a chamber with air flow to allow
metal oxide semiconductors to detect odorous
compounds. Software gathers and analyzes the
data to present the results in a 3D graph. The
technology may eventually distinguish the type
of grape and recognize a wine’s vintage. This
prototype will be used to develop multisensor
systems to differentiate more complex mixtures
of wine.
While other computerized technology sorts and
scans grapes by identifying color variations and
tanks are tuned and pumped automatically, tasting
and smelling a wine to determine if it is delicious
may not be the best use of technology.
Perhaps only man should smell wine, but how
many computer systems, software or businesses
are created or learned by drinking wine? ◊
Origins Scientific Research Society