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Gene Amdahl, Architect of the IBM System/360, Has Died

posted by cmn32480 on Saturday November 14 2015, @06:18AM   Printer-friendly
from the a-loss-to-the-computing-world dept.

AnonTechie writes:

Gene M. Amdahl, chief architect of IBM's System/360 mainframe and later the creator of the IBM plug-compatible mainframe vendor that bore his name, has died aged 92.

Amdahl was born in South Dakota, earning a bachelor's degree in engineering physics at the state university in 1948.

In 1950, as a PhD student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he and Charles H. Davidson designed a digital computer. In 1952, the year Amdahl received his doctorate in theoretical physics, the university began building the computer, the Wisconsin Integrally Synchronized Computer (WISC).

http://www.computerworld.com/article/3004884/high-performance-computing/gene-amdahl-ibm-mainframe-architect-then-a-rival-has-died.html

[Also Covered By]:
Bloomberg Business

New York Times

[Wikipedia Bio]: Gene Amdahl and Amdahl's law

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Bobs on Saturday November 14 2015, @10:58AM

    by Bobs (1462) on Saturday November 14 2015, @10:58AM (#263168)

    Maybe someone here can tell me if this is true or not:

    I was told that in order to frustrate competitors like Amdahl selling cheaper plug compatible mainframe/storage systems, one night, all across the world IBM techs went to client locations and changed the polarity on all the IBM equipment. The next morning none of the 3rd party equipment worked.

    Anybody hear about this, or know more?

    Thanks!

    I worked for a spin-out from Amdahl back in the day. Nice company, and was told Gene was a good guy to work with.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 14 2015, @03:16PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 14 2015, @03:16PM (#263274)

    The 370 ain't done 'til Amdahl don't run!

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 14 2015, @11:44PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 14 2015, @11:44PM (#263500)

    Wasn't Amdahl's fail-over, not an insignificant feature for big irons used in banks, utilities, and such, feature superior to IBM's?