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From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog: A History of the Software Industry Hardcover – Jan. 1 2003

by Martin Campbell-Kelly (Author)
3.7 3.7 out of 5 stars 12 ratings
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From its first glimmerings in the 1950s, the software industry has evolved to become the fourth largest industrial sector of the US economy. Starting with a handful of software contractors who produced specialized programs for the few existing machines, the industry grew to include producers of corporate software packages and then makers of mass-market products and recreational software. This book tells the story of each of these types of firm, focusing on the products they developed, the business models they followed, and the markets they served. By describing the breadth of this industry, Martin Campbell-Kelly corrects the popular misconception that one firm is at the center of the software universe. He also tells the story of lucrative software products such as IBM's CICS and SAP's R/3, which, though little known to the general public, lie at the heart of today's information infrastructure. With its wealth of industry data and its thoughtful judgments, this book will become a starting point for all future investigations of this fundamental component of computer history.
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  1. Part of series
    History of Computing
  2. Print length
    372 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    The MIT Press
  5. Publication date
    Jan. 1 2003
  6. Dimensions
    15.88 x 2.54 x 24.13 cm
  7. ISBN-10
    0262033038
  8. ISBN-13
    978-0262033039
  9. See all details
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Product description

From Booklist

When writers look at the birth of the computer age, they generally focus on the tangible hardware achievements of the likes of IBM and Intel and almost solely on Microsoft when it comes to software. Campbell-Kelly tells us that in the larger perspective, Microsoft is not the center of the software universe and indeed today makes up only about 10 percent of that industry. Mass-market "shrink-wrap" software is the retail version of a much larger sector that contributes to our lives constantly, running everything from airline reservations to bank transfers, credit-card transactions, and most corporate and government functions, including the space program. This is an area that is often ignored because software is hard to define; it is the nearest product we have that is virtually pure thought. Campbell-Kelly is the first historian to give us a comprehensive overview of this hidden industry, which spawned the first user groups when companies had to write their own programs for early IBM mainframes. He includes everything from the information infrastructure of IBM's CICS and SAP's R/3 to the ever-popular gaming software. David Siegfried
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ The MIT Press (Jan. 1 2003)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 372 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0262033038
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0262033039
  • Item weight ‏ : ‎ 658 g
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 15.88 x 2.54 x 24.13 cm
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.7 3.7 out of 5 stars 12 ratings

Customer reviews

3.7 out of 5 stars
3.7 out of 5
12 global ratings

Top review from Canada

Andrew Newman
4.0 out of 5 stars A mistake are there anymore?
Reviewed in Canada on September 4, 2003
While I enjoyed the book, especially for it's exploration of the early days of the software industry there is this rather curious mistake.
"In March 1983, Warner Communications decided to cut its losses and sell Atari. The video console and home computer division was sold to Commodore Business Machines, the arcade videogame division to the Japanese firm Namco."
It was in 1984 and it was to Jack Trammiel, the founder of Commodore. Warner retained the arcade business.
It makes me wonder how true the rest of these facts are in the book or whether this is a one off mistake. Unfortunately, this ruined it for me.
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Top reviews from other countries

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pudney
5.0 out of 5 stars Good book
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 6, 2019
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Good
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Armando Fox
5.0 out of 5 stars it's easy to be turned off by works that focus exclusively ...
Reviewed in the United States on February 24, 2015
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Compact, well researched, and even entertaining history of the software industry. As a geek myself, it's easy to be turned off by works that focus exclusively on the business aspects without addressing the technological ones, but this work balances the two perspectives nicely and made for an engaging read. The focus really is on how software transformed various businesses (and on the evolution of the business of software itself), but there is enough technical perspective to anchor the narrative relative to the technological advancements of each phase of the computer industry. If you are a coder at heart but still interested in how the industry evolved, you'll enjoy this.
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Amazon-Kunde
2.0 out of 5 stars Kindl edition: From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog: A History of the Software Industry (History of Computing)
Reviewed in Germany on July 13, 2012
Verified Purchase
Diese Rezession bezieht sich nicht auf den Inhalt des Buches, an dessen Qualität ich nichts bemängeln möchte, sondern auf die Kindl-Edition, mit der ich weniger zufrieden bin. Es ist eine billige und lieblose Umsetzung. Die Fonts können nicht verändert werden, sind nicht immer 100% lesbar, und die Fußnoten sind nicht mit Links verbunden, was wirklich ärgerlich ist, wenn man wissenschaftlich arbeiten möchte. Das der Verlag es nicht einmal geschafft hat, die Kapitel einzufügen ist schon fast traurig. Da muss man wohl dankbar sein, dass es immerhin ISBN-Seitenzahlangaben gibt.
3 people found this helpful
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James Held
3.0 out of 5 stars Curious shallow and obvious
Reviewed in the United States on October 4, 2013
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The author has been there and done his research but not found much interesting or insightful to say about this amazing period of time. Dissapointing
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Andrew J. Coveney
4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting but 5 years out of date?
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 28, 2005
Verified Purchase
Whilst history itself doesn't change (although, of course, interpretations of it do) and is still interesting, I was a little disappointed that this book really only went up to the year 2000, despite a hardback publishing date of 2003 and the paperback date of 2004.
As such, I think it missed the key events of the early 2000's which have been a wake up call to the software industry.
Nonetheless, the lack of focus on Microsoft and the attention given to the likes of SAP were a welcome change from some of the other more recent computing history books. The scope from of the book (as the title suggests) from mainframe software to games also gives it some breadth missing elsewhere.
I have to say, however, that my favourite book in this area (and mentioned here) is 'Accidental Empires' which is written with great humour and not a little cynicism!
So, overall, worth reading if this is an area of interest to you but perhaps a little too academic for someone with only a casual interest in the topic.
2 people found this helpful
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