Business needs came first for the teashop company's computer
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There are two stories in this satisfying little book: one the story of a computer, or rather line of computers, and the other the story of a company. The curve of the Lyons company is traced from the company's origins in catering for exhibitions in the 19th century, through its heights in the 20s and 30s when its tea shops were the clerical worker's favoured lunch stop, to the post-way years of austerity when formica had replaced marble and service by waitresses (or "Nippys") had given way to self-service. At this point a visionary management, always looking for increased efficeincy in the business of getting buns from bakeries to plates as cost-effectively as possible, starts to automate its clerical functions by computer. What was so remarkable about this, as Georgina Ferry makes very clear, was that no company in the woorld had previously done this. Computers had been tools for universities and government researchers, not management information systems for businesses. What emerges clearly from her account is that the systems developers never lost sight of business needs in their extraordinary efforts to invent an industry from scratch. This book has several delights: the description of mercury delay lines shows how difficult it was to implement memory in the pre-semiconductor age and the continuous Swiss Roll bakery is a hard image to forget. Ironically in view of its origins in "temperance fare", Lyons was swallowed up by a brewery at last. The computer subsidiary, having blazed a trail in business automation, was itself consumed by English Electric to become part of ICL and later Fujitsu. Georgina Ferry - wisely - does not draw too explicitly conclusions about British entrepreneurial skills from the whole history: she leaves us however with an impression that the history of computing in Britain and elsewhere might have been very different if opportunities had been grasped.
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Entertaining and illuminating
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This little book is a fascinating look at one of the little known stories of computer history: that UK catering giant Lyons not only built the world first business computer, but then set up their own company (Lyons Electronic Office or LEO for short)to sell the machines to European businesses trying to get back on their feet after the war.
The book is well written, and easy enough to understand whatever your understanding of computers is like. The notion of a computer is introduced early on, as well as the peculiar requirements of the massive Lyons empire that led to the introduction of the LEO. The book not only charts the development and introduction of the machine, but also the ultimate decline of the once proud company and the fate of its groudbreaking technology. The story is ultimately a typical story of an economically challenged post-war British company trying to recover its pre-war heyday, but the tone of the book is always upbeat, concentrating on the achievements other than their ultimate failure.
Computer history owes a great deal to British efforts. The UK built (in secret) the first wholly digital computer (Colossus), the first electronically-programmable computer and the first dedicated office computer but these achievements are often overlooked in other books which are mostly written by American authors and concentrate on the US story (fair enough) but are then presented as the whole story. This little book is a timely, readable and utterly likeable reminder that once upon the time the UK led the world in computer research, development and application and that the US hasn't always been the leader in the field.
Highly recommended.
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A fascinating story well told
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I'm only a few chapters into this book, but am back to buy another copy to give to a friend. If you are interested in how innovation happens in business, or in the development of the computer industry, or in the application from first principles of computers to real-world problems, or in productive co-operation between industry and academia, or in user-centred product development, or in how immigrants can benefit an economy, then there is raw material for you in this book. It is (at least as far as I have read) a gripping story rather than an academic analysis- read how it was, and then if you feel so inclined draw your own conclusions. When I joined the computer industry in 1965, a friend in IBM confided in me that the Leo (Lyons Electronic Office) series of computers (already in there last days) were IBM's most serious rival in commercial computing. This book makes this entirely credible. If you're British, read it and reflect on how British people managed to invent both commercial computing and the web, and yet Britain manages now to be a distant follower in both areas of endeavour.
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Brings back the pioneering days of British Computing
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Being 'in the trade' myself, and having used in my time Computers from Elliott, ICT, GEC, ICL, Data General, DEC, Burroughs, as well as IBM, I wondered whether this would just be a 're-hash' of some old war stories. I was pleasantly surprised as to how Georgina Ferry had managed to breathe fresh life into the old tale. It's particularly ironic today with all the emphasis on Data Modelling, Business Modelling, UML etc to look back at John Simmons's work and see just how visionary he was to take a Business-driven approach to both software & hardware nearly 40 years ago. One puzzle remains : John Simmons retired in 1968; there's no mention in this book of what happened to him thereafter, but we do get biographies of all the other key characters.
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Superbly Evocative Picture of the Pre-Silicon Era
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As an enthusiast of vacuum tube radio technology, with its smells of hot dust and pipe tobacco, I found the story of the Lyons Electronic Office to be a superb metaphor for the British approach to engineering - uncertain, incremental, cautious, yet with flashes of great brilliance. John Simmons and his team knew they were far ahead of everyone else (just as, earlier, at Bletchley Park, Thomas Flowers and Alan Turing must have known the same about their 'Colossus' machine) and we see that the dedication and enthusiasm produced by that awareness led them to the very forefront of an emerging technology. In 2003, vacuum tubes and tanks of mercury must seem very 'Heath Robinson' to us, yet it is worth reflecting upon the vast distance the computing industry has travelled in the 50 years since LEO. For a vivid example of this journey - go to the Science Museum in London and take a look at the Ferranti 'Pegasus' machine on display as a contemporary of LEO. Alas, the business world failed to capitalise on the opportunity and the subsequent mergers meant opportunity was lost.In fairness, the author does make the point that the mergers that led to the creation of ICL had to happen to make the industry, as a whole, stand any kind of chance against the huge US market. Despite this, the Americans were still able to achieve dominance. This is a fascinating story, skilfully told to engage and capture the reader's attention. There are no heavy techie details and no long/boring corporate manifestos - just the plain simple story of the vision of those who saw an opportunity to advance their own view of the application of knowledge for the benefit of all.
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