https://wiki.eternal-september.net/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=IBMIBM - Revision history2026-10-17T03:45:04ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.40.1https://wiki.eternal-september.net/index.php?title=IBM&diff=6139&oldid=prevNemo: /* IBM AKA International Business Machines Corporation AKA Big Blue */2026-01-20T05:48:45Z<p><span dir="auto"><span class="autocomment">IBM AKA International Business Machines Corporation AKA Big Blue</span></span></p>
<table style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122;" data-mw="interface">
<col class="diff-marker" />
<col class="diff-content" />
<col class="diff-marker" />
<col class="diff-content" />
<tr class="diff-title" lang="en">
<td colspan="2" style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;">← Older revision</td>
<td colspan="2" style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;">Revision as of 05:48, 20 January 2026</td>
</tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno" id="mw-diff-left-l6">Line 6:</td>
<td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 6:</td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Throughout its history, IBM has alternatingly colluded with and strategically undermined its only significant rival: the formidable communications giant [[bell-labs|Bell Systems]] AKA [[ma-bell|Ma Bell]]. Industry lore posits [[COBOL|COBOL]]'s adoption as the United States' semi-official business computing language to be the initial genesis of the feud. Over the last thirty-odd years, IBM has engaged in a veritable patent arms race with its rival - a contest commonly known as the "[[error|patent wars]]". Despite Ma Bell's significant budgetary and personnel advantages, IBM holds the record for most U.S. patents generated by a business or corporation for 29 years running <ref> IBM has been widely accused of artificially inflating patent numbers by coding slight modifications to old patents as new submissions and inundating the patent office with hundreds of superfluous, essentially useless/non-monetizable, and/or trivial inventions2.</div></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Throughout its history, IBM has alternatingly colluded with and strategically undermined its only significant rival: the formidable communications giant [[bell-labs|Bell Systems]] AKA [[ma-bell|Ma Bell]]. Industry lore posits [[COBOL|COBOL]]'s adoption as the United States' semi-official business computing language to be the initial genesis of the feud. Over the last thirty-odd years, IBM has engaged in a veritable patent arms race with its rival - a contest commonly known as the "[[error|patent wars]]". Despite Ma Bell's significant budgetary and personnel advantages, IBM holds the record for most U.S. patents generated by a business or corporation for 29 years running <ref> IBM has been widely accused of artificially inflating patent numbers by coding slight modifications to old patents as new submissions and inundating the patent office with hundreds of superfluous, essentially useless/non-monetizable, and/or trivial inventions2.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>2Examples include: out-of-office email systems (years after the service had become standard), mood-adjusting elevator music, the "keyboard umbrella" (a device designed to prevent "wet keyboard syndrome"), and patent licensing management - essentially an attempt at patenting the patent process itself. IBM's patent-generating strategy also included occasional and often ill-fated collusions with members of the hacking, phracking, and [[phreaking]]. </ref>.</div></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>2Examples include: out-of-office email systems (years after the service had become standard), mood-adjusting elevator music, the "keyboard umbrella" (a device designed to prevent "wet keyboard syndrome"), and patent licensing management - essentially an attempt at patenting the patent process itself. IBM's patent-generating strategy also included occasional and often ill-fated collusions with members of the hacking, phracking, and [[phreaking]]. </ref>.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker" data-marker="−"></td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><del style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;"></del></div></td><td colspan="2" class="diff-side-added"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker" data-marker="−"></td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><del style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;"><kbd><small>Ωref#<nowiki>[</nowiki>[[i-antichrist|I, Antichrist]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> :: ''[https://eternal-september.net/i-antichrist/running-cola-is-africa.html Running Cola is Africa].''</kbd></small></del></div></td><td colspan="2" class="diff-side-added"></td></tr>
</table>Nemohttps://wiki.eternal-september.net/index.php?title=IBM&diff=6138&oldid=prevNemo: /* IBM AKA International Business Machines Corporation AKA Big BlueΩ */2026-01-20T05:48:31Z<p><span dir="auto"><span class="autocomment">IBM AKA International Business Machines Corporation AKA Big BlueΩ</span></span></p>
<table style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122;" data-mw="interface">
<col class="diff-marker" />
<col class="diff-content" />
<col class="diff-marker" />
<col class="diff-content" />
<tr class="diff-title" lang="en">
<td colspan="2" style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;">← Older revision</td>
<td colspan="2" style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;">Revision as of 05:48, 20 January 2026</td>
</tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno" id="mw-diff-left-l1">Line 1:</td>
<td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 1:</td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker" data-marker="−"></td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>==IBM AKA International Business Machines Corporation AKA Big Blue<del style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;"><sup>[https://eternal-september.net/i-antichrist/running-cola-is-africa.html Ω]</sup></del>==</div></td><td class="diff-marker" data-marker="+"></td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>==IBM AKA International Business Machines Corporation AKA Big Blue==</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>'''[related: Patent Wars, ''[[Running-cola|Running Cola is Africa]]'']'''</div></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>'''[related: Patent Wars, ''[[Running-cola|Running Cola is Africa]]'']'''</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>----</div></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>----</div></td></tr>
</table>Nemohttps://wiki.eternal-september.net/index.php?title=IBM&diff=5390&oldid=prevNemo: /* IBM AKA International Business Machines Corporation AKA Big BlueΩ */2025-07-15T23:58:12Z<p><span dir="auto"><span class="autocomment">IBM AKA International Business Machines Corporation AKA Big BlueΩ</span></span></p>
<table style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122;" data-mw="interface">
<col class="diff-marker" />
<col class="diff-content" />
<col class="diff-marker" />
<col class="diff-content" />
<tr class="diff-title" lang="en">
<td colspan="2" style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;">← Older revision</td>
<td colspan="2" style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;">Revision as of 23:58, 15 July 2025</td>
</tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno" id="mw-diff-left-l4">Line 4:</td>
<td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 4:</td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Founded in 1911 as a holding company of manufacturers of record-keeping and other tabulation systems. The company pivoted to technical research and development following World War I, and came into prominence by supplying weapons and technical equipment to both the allies and Nazi forces in World War II. Emboldened by the wartime cash boon of the 1940's, IBM began to focus increasingly on the development of [[ai|artificial intelligence]], releasing the IBM 704, a rudimentary chess playing [[terminator|automaton]], in 1956. A focus on AI-generated language and graphix systems emerged in the 1960's: in 1968, members of IBM Tokyo's Computer Technique Group debuted a series of digital prints entitled Running Cola is AfricaΩ, a work commonly thought to be the first piece of AI-generated art. The company concurrently intensified its chess-related efforts in the early 1990's, culminating in the release of [[deep-blue|Deep Blue]], a viciously competitive, grand-master-level computer - the model's second generation soundly defeated world champion Gary Kasparov. In the mid-1990's, IBM began to focus more specifically on the development of machine sentience using neural network modeling. Despite the company's stated altruistic aims, critics of IBM decried the company's efforts as potentially apocalyptic, drawing comparisons to the dystopian sci-fi scenarios of [[terminator|''Terminator'']]'s [[skynet-syndrome|SkyNet]], [[blade-runner|''Blade Runner'']]'s Tyrell Corporation, [[Knight-rider|''Knight Rider'']], [[Metal-gear-solid|Metal Gear Solid]], and the general morose future portrayed in [[william-gibson|William Gibson]]'s <ref> Ironically, IBM purchased an AI-assisted anti-virus software dubbed "BlackICE" - a reference to Gibson's fictional "ICE" cyber defence systems - in 1999 for $78 million dollars, despite the program's penchant for bugs and "hallucinations". </ref>''Neuromancer''.</div></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Founded in 1911 as a holding company of manufacturers of record-keeping and other tabulation systems. The company pivoted to technical research and development following World War I, and came into prominence by supplying weapons and technical equipment to both the allies and Nazi forces in World War II. Emboldened by the wartime cash boon of the 1940's, IBM began to focus increasingly on the development of [[ai|artificial intelligence]], releasing the IBM 704, a rudimentary chess playing [[terminator|automaton]], in 1956. A focus on AI-generated language and graphix systems emerged in the 1960's: in 1968, members of IBM Tokyo's Computer Technique Group debuted a series of digital prints entitled Running Cola is AfricaΩ, a work commonly thought to be the first piece of AI-generated art. The company concurrently intensified its chess-related efforts in the early 1990's, culminating in the release of [[deep-blue|Deep Blue]], a viciously competitive, grand-master-level computer - the model's second generation soundly defeated world champion Gary Kasparov. In the mid-1990's, IBM began to focus more specifically on the development of machine sentience using neural network modeling. Despite the company's stated altruistic aims, critics of IBM decried the company's efforts as potentially apocalyptic, drawing comparisons to the dystopian sci-fi scenarios of [[terminator|''Terminator'']]'s [[skynet-syndrome|SkyNet]], [[blade-runner|''Blade Runner'']]'s Tyrell Corporation, [[Knight-rider|''Knight Rider'']], [[Metal-gear-solid|Metal Gear Solid]], and the general morose future portrayed in [[william-gibson|William Gibson]]'s <ref> Ironically, IBM purchased an AI-assisted anti-virus software dubbed "BlackICE" - a reference to Gibson's fictional "ICE" cyber defence systems - in 1999 for $78 million dollars, despite the program's penchant for bugs and "hallucinations". </ref>''Neuromancer''.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br/></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br/></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker" data-marker="−"></td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Throughout its history, IBM has alternatingly colluded with and strategically undermined its only significant rival: the formidable communications giant [[bell-labs|Bell Systems]] AKA [[ma-bell|Ma Bell]]. Industry lore posits [[<del style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">ŒCOBOL</del>|COBOL]]'s adoption as the United States' semi-official business computing language to be the initial genesis of the feud. Over the last thirty-odd years, IBM has engaged in a veritable patent arms race with its rival - a contest commonly known as the "[[error|patent wars]]". Despite Ma Bell's significant budgetary and personnel advantages, IBM holds the record for most U.S. patents generated by a business or corporation for 29 years running <ref> IBM has been widely accused of artificially inflating patent numbers by coding slight modifications to old patents as new submissions and inundating the patent office with hundreds of superfluous, essentially useless/non-monetizable, and/or trivial inventions2.</div></td><td class="diff-marker" data-marker="+"></td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Throughout its history, IBM has alternatingly colluded with and strategically undermined its only significant rival: the formidable communications giant [[bell-labs|Bell Systems]] AKA [[ma-bell|Ma Bell]]. Industry lore posits [[<ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">COBOL</ins>|COBOL]]'s adoption as the United States' semi-official business computing language to be the initial genesis of the feud. Over the last thirty-odd years, IBM has engaged in a veritable patent arms race with its rival - a contest commonly known as the "[[error|patent wars]]". Despite Ma Bell's significant budgetary and personnel advantages, IBM holds the record for most U.S. patents generated by a business or corporation for 29 years running <ref> IBM has been widely accused of artificially inflating patent numbers by coding slight modifications to old patents as new submissions and inundating the patent office with hundreds of superfluous, essentially useless/non-monetizable, and/or trivial inventions2.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>2Examples include: out-of-office email systems (years after the service had become standard), mood-adjusting elevator music, the "keyboard umbrella" (a device designed to prevent "wet keyboard syndrome"), and patent licensing management - essentially an attempt at patenting the patent process itself. IBM's patent-generating strategy also included occasional and often ill-fated collusions with members of the hacking, phracking, and [[phreaking]]. </ref>.</div></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>2Examples include: out-of-office email systems (years after the service had become standard), mood-adjusting elevator music, the "keyboard umbrella" (a device designed to prevent "wet keyboard syndrome"), and patent licensing management - essentially an attempt at patenting the patent process itself. IBM's patent-generating strategy also included occasional and often ill-fated collusions with members of the hacking, phracking, and [[phreaking]]. </ref>.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br/></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br/></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><kbd><small>Ωref#<nowiki>[</nowiki>[[i-antichrist|I, Antichrist]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> :: ''[https://eternal-september.net/i-antichrist/running-cola-is-africa.html Running Cola is Africa].''</kbd></small></div></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><kbd><small>Ωref#<nowiki>[</nowiki>[[i-antichrist|I, Antichrist]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> :: ''[https://eternal-september.net/i-antichrist/running-cola-is-africa.html Running Cola is Africa].''</kbd></small></div></td></tr>
</table>Nemohttps://wiki.eternal-september.net/index.php?title=IBM&diff=5218&oldid=prevClintxxx: /* IBM AKA International Business Machines Corporation AKA Big BlueΩ */2025-07-07T17:05:20Z<p><span dir="auto"><span class="autocomment">IBM AKA International Business Machines Corporation AKA Big BlueΩ</span></span></p>
<table style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122;" data-mw="interface">
<col class="diff-marker" />
<col class="diff-content" />
<col class="diff-marker" />
<col class="diff-content" />
<tr class="diff-title" lang="en">
<td colspan="2" style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;">← Older revision</td>
<td colspan="2" style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;">Revision as of 17:05, 7 July 2025</td>
</tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno" id="mw-diff-left-l1">Line 1:</td>
<td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 1:</td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>==IBM AKA International Business Machines Corporation AKA Big Blue<sup>[https://eternal-september.net/i-antichrist/running-cola-is-africa.html Ω]</sup>==</div></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>==IBM AKA International Business Machines Corporation AKA Big Blue<sup>[https://eternal-september.net/i-antichrist/running-cola-is-africa.html Ω]</sup>==</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker" data-marker="−"></td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>[related: Patent Wars, ''[[Running-cola|Running Cola is Africa]]'']</div></td><td class="diff-marker" data-marker="+"></td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">'''</ins>[related: Patent Wars, ''[[Running-cola|Running Cola is Africa]]'']<ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">'''</ins></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>----</div></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>----</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Founded in 1911 as a holding company of manufacturers of record-keeping and other tabulation systems. The company pivoted to technical research and development following World War I, and came into prominence by supplying weapons and technical equipment to both the allies and Nazi forces in World War II. Emboldened by the wartime cash boon of the 1940's, IBM began to focus increasingly on the development of [[ai|artificial intelligence]], releasing the IBM 704, a rudimentary chess playing [[terminator|automaton]], in 1956. A focus on AI-generated language and graphix systems emerged in the 1960's: in 1968, members of IBM Tokyo's Computer Technique Group debuted a series of digital prints entitled Running Cola is AfricaΩ, a work commonly thought to be the first piece of AI-generated art. The company concurrently intensified its chess-related efforts in the early 1990's, culminating in the release of [[deep-blue|Deep Blue]], a viciously competitive, grand-master-level computer - the model's second generation soundly defeated world champion Gary Kasparov. In the mid-1990's, IBM began to focus more specifically on the development of machine sentience using neural network modeling. Despite the company's stated altruistic aims, critics of IBM decried the company's efforts as potentially apocalyptic, drawing comparisons to the dystopian sci-fi scenarios of [[terminator|''Terminator'']]'s [[skynet-syndrome|SkyNet]], [[blade-runner|''Blade Runner'']]'s Tyrell Corporation, [[Knight-rider|''Knight Rider'']], [[Metal-gear-solid|Metal Gear Solid]], and the general morose future portrayed in [[william-gibson|William Gibson]]'s <ref> Ironically, IBM purchased an AI-assisted anti-virus software dubbed "BlackICE" - a reference to Gibson's fictional "ICE" cyber defence systems - in 1999 for $78 million dollars, despite the program's penchant for bugs and "hallucinations". </ref>''Neuromancer''.</div></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Founded in 1911 as a holding company of manufacturers of record-keeping and other tabulation systems. The company pivoted to technical research and development following World War I, and came into prominence by supplying weapons and technical equipment to both the allies and Nazi forces in World War II. Emboldened by the wartime cash boon of the 1940's, IBM began to focus increasingly on the development of [[ai|artificial intelligence]], releasing the IBM 704, a rudimentary chess playing [[terminator|automaton]], in 1956. A focus on AI-generated language and graphix systems emerged in the 1960's: in 1968, members of IBM Tokyo's Computer Technique Group debuted a series of digital prints entitled Running Cola is AfricaΩ, a work commonly thought to be the first piece of AI-generated art. The company concurrently intensified its chess-related efforts in the early 1990's, culminating in the release of [[deep-blue|Deep Blue]], a viciously competitive, grand-master-level computer - the model's second generation soundly defeated world champion Gary Kasparov. In the mid-1990's, IBM began to focus more specifically on the development of machine sentience using neural network modeling. Despite the company's stated altruistic aims, critics of IBM decried the company's efforts as potentially apocalyptic, drawing comparisons to the dystopian sci-fi scenarios of [[terminator|''Terminator'']]'s [[skynet-syndrome|SkyNet]], [[blade-runner|''Blade Runner'']]'s Tyrell Corporation, [[Knight-rider|''Knight Rider'']], [[Metal-gear-solid|Metal Gear Solid]], and the general morose future portrayed in [[william-gibson|William Gibson]]'s <ref> Ironically, IBM purchased an AI-assisted anti-virus software dubbed "BlackICE" - a reference to Gibson's fictional "ICE" cyber defence systems - in 1999 for $78 million dollars, despite the program's penchant for bugs and "hallucinations". </ref>''Neuromancer''.</div></td></tr>
</table>Clintxxxhttps://wiki.eternal-september.net/index.php?title=IBM&diff=5080&oldid=prevNemo: /* IBM AKA International Business Machines Corporation AKA Big BlueΩ */2025-06-17T01:38:23Z<p><span dir="auto"><span class="autocomment">IBM AKA International Business Machines Corporation AKA Big BlueΩ</span></span></p>
<table style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122;" data-mw="interface">
<col class="diff-marker" />
<col class="diff-content" />
<col class="diff-marker" />
<col class="diff-content" />
<tr class="diff-title" lang="en">
<td colspan="2" style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;">← Older revision</td>
<td colspan="2" style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;">Revision as of 01:38, 17 June 2025</td>
</tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno" id="mw-diff-left-l4">Line 4:</td>
<td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 4:</td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Founded in 1911 as a holding company of manufacturers of record-keeping and other tabulation systems. The company pivoted to technical research and development following World War I, and came into prominence by supplying weapons and technical equipment to both the allies and Nazi forces in World War II. Emboldened by the wartime cash boon of the 1940's, IBM began to focus increasingly on the development of [[ai|artificial intelligence]], releasing the IBM 704, a rudimentary chess playing [[terminator|automaton]], in 1956. A focus on AI-generated language and graphix systems emerged in the 1960's: in 1968, members of IBM Tokyo's Computer Technique Group debuted a series of digital prints entitled Running Cola is AfricaΩ, a work commonly thought to be the first piece of AI-generated art. The company concurrently intensified its chess-related efforts in the early 1990's, culminating in the release of [[deep-blue|Deep Blue]], a viciously competitive, grand-master-level computer - the model's second generation soundly defeated world champion Gary Kasparov. In the mid-1990's, IBM began to focus more specifically on the development of machine sentience using neural network modeling. Despite the company's stated altruistic aims, critics of IBM decried the company's efforts as potentially apocalyptic, drawing comparisons to the dystopian sci-fi scenarios of [[terminator|''Terminator'']]'s [[skynet-syndrome|SkyNet]], [[blade-runner|''Blade Runner'']]'s Tyrell Corporation, [[Knight-rider|''Knight Rider'']], [[Metal-gear-solid|Metal Gear Solid]], and the general morose future portrayed in [[william-gibson|William Gibson]]'s <ref> Ironically, IBM purchased an AI-assisted anti-virus software dubbed "BlackICE" - a reference to Gibson's fictional "ICE" cyber defence systems - in 1999 for $78 million dollars, despite the program's penchant for bugs and "hallucinations". </ref>''Neuromancer''.</div></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Founded in 1911 as a holding company of manufacturers of record-keeping and other tabulation systems. The company pivoted to technical research and development following World War I, and came into prominence by supplying weapons and technical equipment to both the allies and Nazi forces in World War II. Emboldened by the wartime cash boon of the 1940's, IBM began to focus increasingly on the development of [[ai|artificial intelligence]], releasing the IBM 704, a rudimentary chess playing [[terminator|automaton]], in 1956. A focus on AI-generated language and graphix systems emerged in the 1960's: in 1968, members of IBM Tokyo's Computer Technique Group debuted a series of digital prints entitled Running Cola is AfricaΩ, a work commonly thought to be the first piece of AI-generated art. The company concurrently intensified its chess-related efforts in the early 1990's, culminating in the release of [[deep-blue|Deep Blue]], a viciously competitive, grand-master-level computer - the model's second generation soundly defeated world champion Gary Kasparov. In the mid-1990's, IBM began to focus more specifically on the development of machine sentience using neural network modeling. Despite the company's stated altruistic aims, critics of IBM decried the company's efforts as potentially apocalyptic, drawing comparisons to the dystopian sci-fi scenarios of [[terminator|''Terminator'']]'s [[skynet-syndrome|SkyNet]], [[blade-runner|''Blade Runner'']]'s Tyrell Corporation, [[Knight-rider|''Knight Rider'']], [[Metal-gear-solid|Metal Gear Solid]], and the general morose future portrayed in [[william-gibson|William Gibson]]'s <ref> Ironically, IBM purchased an AI-assisted anti-virus software dubbed "BlackICE" - a reference to Gibson's fictional "ICE" cyber defence systems - in 1999 for $78 million dollars, despite the program's penchant for bugs and "hallucinations". </ref>''Neuromancer''.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br/></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br/></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker" data-marker="−"></td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Throughout its history, IBM has alternatingly colluded with and strategically undermined its only significant rival: the formidable communications giant [[bell-labs|Bell Systems]] AKA [[ma-bell|Ma Bell]]. Industry lore posits [[<del style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">error</del>|COBOL]]'s adoption as the United States' semi-official business computing language to be the initial genesis of the feud. Over the last thirty-odd years, IBM has engaged in a veritable patent arms race with its rival - a contest commonly known as the "[[error|patent wars]]". Despite Ma Bell's significant budgetary and personnel advantages, IBM holds the record for most U.S. patents generated by a business or corporation for 29 years running <ref> IBM has been widely accused of artificially inflating patent numbers by coding slight modifications to old patents as new submissions and inundating the patent office with hundreds of superfluous, essentially useless/non-monetizable, and/or trivial inventions2.</div></td><td class="diff-marker" data-marker="+"></td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Throughout its history, IBM has alternatingly colluded with and strategically undermined its only significant rival: the formidable communications giant [[bell-labs|Bell Systems]] AKA [[ma-bell|Ma Bell]]. Industry lore posits [[<ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">ŒCOBOL</ins>|COBOL]]'s adoption as the United States' semi-official business computing language to be the initial genesis of the feud. Over the last thirty-odd years, IBM has engaged in a veritable patent arms race with its rival - a contest commonly known as the "[[error|patent wars]]". Despite Ma Bell's significant budgetary and personnel advantages, IBM holds the record for most U.S. patents generated by a business or corporation for 29 years running <ref> IBM has been widely accused of artificially inflating patent numbers by coding slight modifications to old patents as new submissions and inundating the patent office with hundreds of superfluous, essentially useless/non-monetizable, and/or trivial inventions2.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>2Examples include: out-of-office email systems (years after the service had become standard), mood-adjusting elevator music, the "keyboard umbrella" (a device designed to prevent "wet keyboard syndrome"), and patent licensing management - essentially an attempt at patenting the patent process itself. IBM's patent-generating strategy also included occasional and often ill-fated collusions with members of the hacking, phracking, and [[phreaking]]. </ref>.</div></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>2Examples include: out-of-office email systems (years after the service had become standard), mood-adjusting elevator music, the "keyboard umbrella" (a device designed to prevent "wet keyboard syndrome"), and patent licensing management - essentially an attempt at patenting the patent process itself. IBM's patent-generating strategy also included occasional and often ill-fated collusions with members of the hacking, phracking, and [[phreaking]]. </ref>.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br/></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br/></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><kbd><small>Ωref#<nowiki>[</nowiki>[[i-antichrist|I, Antichrist]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> :: ''[https://eternal-september.net/i-antichrist/running-cola-is-africa.html Running Cola is Africa].''</kbd></small></div></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><kbd><small>Ωref#<nowiki>[</nowiki>[[i-antichrist|I, Antichrist]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> :: ''[https://eternal-september.net/i-antichrist/running-cola-is-africa.html Running Cola is Africa].''</kbd></small></div></td></tr>
</table>Nemohttps://wiki.eternal-september.net/index.php?title=IBM&diff=4339&oldid=prevLmsuarez: /* IBM AKA International Business Machines Corporation AKA Big BlueΩ */2025-02-28T18:03:25Z<p><span dir="auto"><span class="autocomment">IBM AKA International Business Machines Corporation AKA Big BlueΩ</span></span></p>
<table style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122;" data-mw="interface">
<col class="diff-marker" />
<col class="diff-content" />
<col class="diff-marker" />
<col class="diff-content" />
<tr class="diff-title" lang="en">
<td colspan="2" style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;">← Older revision</td>
<td colspan="2" style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;">Revision as of 18:03, 28 February 2025</td>
</tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno" id="mw-diff-left-l1">Line 1:</td>
<td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 1:</td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>==IBM AKA International Business Machines Corporation AKA Big Blue<sup>[https://eternal-september.net/i-antichrist/running-cola-is-africa.html Ω]</sup>==</div></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>==IBM AKA International Business Machines Corporation AKA Big Blue<sup>[https://eternal-september.net/i-antichrist/running-cola-is-africa.html Ω]</sup>==</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker" data-marker="−"></td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>[related: Patent Wars, ''[[Running-cola]]'']</div></td><td class="diff-marker" data-marker="+"></td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>[related: Patent Wars, ''[[Running-cola<ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">|Running Cola is Africa</ins>]]'']</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>----</div></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>----</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Founded in 1911 as a holding company of manufacturers of record-keeping and other tabulation systems. The company pivoted to technical research and development following World War I, and came into prominence by supplying weapons and technical equipment to both the allies and Nazi forces in World War II. Emboldened by the wartime cash boon of the 1940's, IBM began to focus increasingly on the development of [[ai|artificial intelligence]], releasing the IBM 704, a rudimentary chess playing [[terminator|automaton]], in 1956. A focus on AI-generated language and graphix systems emerged in the 1960's: in 1968, members of IBM Tokyo's Computer Technique Group debuted a series of digital prints entitled Running Cola is AfricaΩ, a work commonly thought to be the first piece of AI-generated art. The company concurrently intensified its chess-related efforts in the early 1990's, culminating in the release of [[deep-blue|Deep Blue]], a viciously competitive, grand-master-level computer - the model's second generation soundly defeated world champion Gary Kasparov. In the mid-1990's, IBM began to focus more specifically on the development of machine sentience using neural network modeling. Despite the company's stated altruistic aims, critics of IBM decried the company's efforts as potentially apocalyptic, drawing comparisons to the dystopian sci-fi scenarios of [[terminator|''Terminator'']]'s [[skynet-syndrome|SkyNet]], [[blade-runner|''Blade Runner'']]'s Tyrell Corporation, [[Knight-rider|''Knight Rider'']], [[Metal-gear-solid|Metal Gear Solid]], and the general morose future portrayed in [[william-gibson|William Gibson]]'s <ref> Ironically, IBM purchased an AI-assisted anti-virus software dubbed "BlackICE" - a reference to Gibson's fictional "ICE" cyber defence systems - in 1999 for $78 million dollars, despite the program's penchant for bugs and "hallucinations". </ref>''Neuromancer''.</div></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Founded in 1911 as a holding company of manufacturers of record-keeping and other tabulation systems. The company pivoted to technical research and development following World War I, and came into prominence by supplying weapons and technical equipment to both the allies and Nazi forces in World War II. Emboldened by the wartime cash boon of the 1940's, IBM began to focus increasingly on the development of [[ai|artificial intelligence]], releasing the IBM 704, a rudimentary chess playing [[terminator|automaton]], in 1956. A focus on AI-generated language and graphix systems emerged in the 1960's: in 1968, members of IBM Tokyo's Computer Technique Group debuted a series of digital prints entitled Running Cola is AfricaΩ, a work commonly thought to be the first piece of AI-generated art. The company concurrently intensified its chess-related efforts in the early 1990's, culminating in the release of [[deep-blue|Deep Blue]], a viciously competitive, grand-master-level computer - the model's second generation soundly defeated world champion Gary Kasparov. In the mid-1990's, IBM began to focus more specifically on the development of machine sentience using neural network modeling. Despite the company's stated altruistic aims, critics of IBM decried the company's efforts as potentially apocalyptic, drawing comparisons to the dystopian sci-fi scenarios of [[terminator|''Terminator'']]'s [[skynet-syndrome|SkyNet]], [[blade-runner|''Blade Runner'']]'s Tyrell Corporation, [[Knight-rider|''Knight Rider'']], [[Metal-gear-solid|Metal Gear Solid]], and the general morose future portrayed in [[william-gibson|William Gibson]]'s <ref> Ironically, IBM purchased an AI-assisted anti-virus software dubbed "BlackICE" - a reference to Gibson's fictional "ICE" cyber defence systems - in 1999 for $78 million dollars, despite the program's penchant for bugs and "hallucinations". </ref>''Neuromancer''.</div></td></tr>
</table>Lmsuarezhttps://wiki.eternal-september.net/index.php?title=IBM&diff=4337&oldid=prevLmsuarez: /* IBM AKA International Business Machines Corporation AKA Big BlueΩ */2025-02-28T18:02:33Z<p><span dir="auto"><span class="autocomment">IBM AKA International Business Machines Corporation AKA Big BlueΩ</span></span></p>
<table style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122;" data-mw="interface">
<col class="diff-marker" />
<col class="diff-content" />
<col class="diff-marker" />
<col class="diff-content" />
<tr class="diff-title" lang="en">
<td colspan="2" style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;">← Older revision</td>
<td colspan="2" style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;">Revision as of 18:02, 28 February 2025</td>
</tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno" id="mw-diff-left-l1">Line 1:</td>
<td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 1:</td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>==IBM AKA International Business Machines Corporation AKA Big Blue<sup>[https://eternal-september.net/i-antichrist/running-cola-is-africa.html Ω]</sup>==</div></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>==IBM AKA International Business Machines Corporation AKA Big Blue<sup>[https://eternal-september.net/i-antichrist/running-cola-is-africa.html Ω]</sup>==</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker" data-marker="−"></td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>[related: Patent Wars, Running <del style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">Cola</del>]</div></td><td class="diff-marker" data-marker="+"></td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>[related: Patent Wars, <ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">''[[</ins>Running<ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">-cola]]''</ins>]</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>----</div></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>----</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Founded in 1911 as a holding company of manufacturers of record-keeping and other tabulation systems. The company pivoted to technical research and development following World War I, and came into prominence by supplying weapons and technical equipment to both the allies and Nazi forces in World War II. Emboldened by the wartime cash boon of the 1940's, IBM began to focus increasingly on the development of [[ai|artificial intelligence]], releasing the IBM 704, a rudimentary chess playing [[terminator|automaton]], in 1956. A focus on AI-generated language and graphix systems emerged in the 1960's: in 1968, members of IBM Tokyo's Computer Technique Group debuted a series of digital prints entitled Running Cola is AfricaΩ, a work commonly thought to be the first piece of AI-generated art. The company concurrently intensified its chess-related efforts in the early 1990's, culminating in the release of [[deep-blue|Deep Blue]], a viciously competitive, grand-master-level computer - the model's second generation soundly defeated world champion Gary Kasparov. In the mid-1990's, IBM began to focus more specifically on the development of machine sentience using neural network modeling. Despite the company's stated altruistic aims, critics of IBM decried the company's efforts as potentially apocalyptic, drawing comparisons to the dystopian sci-fi scenarios of [[terminator|''Terminator'']]'s [[skynet-syndrome|SkyNet]], [[blade-runner|''Blade Runner'']]'s Tyrell Corporation, [[Knight-rider|''Knight Rider'']], [[Metal-gear-solid|Metal Gear Solid]], and the general morose future portrayed in [[william-gibson|William Gibson]]'s <ref> Ironically, IBM purchased an AI-assisted anti-virus software dubbed "BlackICE" - a reference to Gibson's fictional "ICE" cyber defence systems - in 1999 for $78 million dollars, despite the program's penchant for bugs and "hallucinations". </ref>''Neuromancer''.</div></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Founded in 1911 as a holding company of manufacturers of record-keeping and other tabulation systems. The company pivoted to technical research and development following World War I, and came into prominence by supplying weapons and technical equipment to both the allies and Nazi forces in World War II. Emboldened by the wartime cash boon of the 1940's, IBM began to focus increasingly on the development of [[ai|artificial intelligence]], releasing the IBM 704, a rudimentary chess playing [[terminator|automaton]], in 1956. A focus on AI-generated language and graphix systems emerged in the 1960's: in 1968, members of IBM Tokyo's Computer Technique Group debuted a series of digital prints entitled Running Cola is AfricaΩ, a work commonly thought to be the first piece of AI-generated art. The company concurrently intensified its chess-related efforts in the early 1990's, culminating in the release of [[deep-blue|Deep Blue]], a viciously competitive, grand-master-level computer - the model's second generation soundly defeated world champion Gary Kasparov. In the mid-1990's, IBM began to focus more specifically on the development of machine sentience using neural network modeling. Despite the company's stated altruistic aims, critics of IBM decried the company's efforts as potentially apocalyptic, drawing comparisons to the dystopian sci-fi scenarios of [[terminator|''Terminator'']]'s [[skynet-syndrome|SkyNet]], [[blade-runner|''Blade Runner'']]'s Tyrell Corporation, [[Knight-rider|''Knight Rider'']], [[Metal-gear-solid|Metal Gear Solid]], and the general morose future portrayed in [[william-gibson|William Gibson]]'s <ref> Ironically, IBM purchased an AI-assisted anti-virus software dubbed "BlackICE" - a reference to Gibson's fictional "ICE" cyber defence systems - in 1999 for $78 million dollars, despite the program's penchant for bugs and "hallucinations". </ref>''Neuromancer''.</div></td></tr>
</table>Lmsuarezhttps://wiki.eternal-september.net/index.php?title=IBM&diff=4336&oldid=prevLmsuarez: /* IBM AKA International Business Machines Corporation AKA Big BlueΩ */2025-02-28T18:01:49Z<p><span dir="auto"><span class="autocomment">IBM AKA International Business Machines Corporation AKA Big BlueΩ</span></span></p>
<table style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122;" data-mw="interface">
<col class="diff-marker" />
<col class="diff-content" />
<col class="diff-marker" />
<col class="diff-content" />
<tr class="diff-title" lang="en">
<td colspan="2" style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;">← Older revision</td>
<td colspan="2" style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;">Revision as of 18:01, 28 February 2025</td>
</tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno" id="mw-diff-left-l7">Line 7:</td>
<td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 7:</td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>2Examples include: out-of-office email systems (years after the service had become standard), mood-adjusting elevator music, the "keyboard umbrella" (a device designed to prevent "wet keyboard syndrome"), and patent licensing management - essentially an attempt at patenting the patent process itself. IBM's patent-generating strategy also included occasional and often ill-fated collusions with members of the hacking, phracking, and [[phreaking]]. </ref>.</div></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>2Examples include: out-of-office email systems (years after the service had become standard), mood-adjusting elevator music, the "keyboard umbrella" (a device designed to prevent "wet keyboard syndrome"), and patent licensing management - essentially an attempt at patenting the patent process itself. IBM's patent-generating strategy also included occasional and often ill-fated collusions with members of the hacking, phracking, and [[phreaking]]. </ref>.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br/></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br/></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker" data-marker="−"></td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><kbd>Ωref#<nowiki>[</nowiki>[[i-antichrist|I, Antichrist]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> :: ''[https://eternal-september.net/i-antichrist/running-cola-is-africa.html Running Cola is Africa].''</kbd></small></div></td><td class="diff-marker" data-marker="+"></td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><kbd<ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">><small</ins>>Ωref#<nowiki>[</nowiki>[[i-antichrist|I, Antichrist]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> :: ''[https://eternal-september.net/i-antichrist/running-cola-is-africa.html Running Cola is Africa].''</kbd></small></div></td></tr>
</table>Lmsuarezhttps://wiki.eternal-september.net/index.php?title=IBM&diff=4335&oldid=prevLmsuarez: /* IBM AKA International Business Machines Corporation AKA Big Blue */2025-02-28T18:01:35Z<p><span dir="auto"><span class="autocomment">IBM AKA International Business Machines Corporation AKA Big Blue</span></span></p>
<table style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122;" data-mw="interface">
<col class="diff-marker" />
<col class="diff-content" />
<col class="diff-marker" />
<col class="diff-content" />
<tr class="diff-title" lang="en">
<td colspan="2" style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;">← Older revision</td>
<td colspan="2" style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;">Revision as of 18:01, 28 February 2025</td>
</tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno" id="mw-diff-left-l1">Line 1:</td>
<td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 1:</td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker" data-marker="−"></td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>==IBM AKA International Business Machines Corporation AKA Big Blue==</div></td><td class="diff-marker" data-marker="+"></td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>==IBM AKA International Business Machines Corporation AKA Big Blue<ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;"><sup>[https://eternal-september.net/i-antichrist/running-cola-is-africa.html Ω]</sup></ins>==</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker" data-marker="−"></td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>[related: Patent Wars, </div></td><td class="diff-marker" data-marker="+"></td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>[related: Patent Wars, <ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">Running Cola]</ins></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>----</div></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>----</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Founded in 1911 as a holding company of manufacturers of record-keeping and other tabulation systems. The company pivoted to technical research and development following World War I, and came into prominence by supplying weapons and technical equipment to both the allies and Nazi forces in World War II. Emboldened by the wartime cash boon of the 1940's, IBM began to focus increasingly on the development of [[ai|artificial intelligence]], releasing the IBM 704, a rudimentary chess playing [[terminator|automaton]], in 1956. A focus on AI-generated language and graphix systems emerged in the 1960's: in 1968, members of IBM Tokyo's Computer Technique Group debuted a series of digital prints entitled Running Cola is AfricaΩ, a work commonly thought to be the first piece of AI-generated art. The company concurrently intensified its chess-related efforts in the early 1990's, culminating in the release of [[deep-blue|Deep Blue]], a viciously competitive, grand-master-level computer - the model's second generation soundly defeated world champion Gary Kasparov. In the mid-1990's, IBM began to focus more specifically on the development of machine sentience using neural network modeling. Despite the company's stated altruistic aims, critics of IBM decried the company's efforts as potentially apocalyptic, drawing comparisons to the dystopian sci-fi scenarios of [[terminator|''Terminator'']]'s [[skynet-syndrome|SkyNet]], [[blade-runner|''Blade Runner'']]'s Tyrell Corporation, [[Knight-rider|''Knight Rider'']], [[Metal-gear-solid|Metal Gear Solid]], and the general morose future portrayed in [[william-gibson|William Gibson]]'s <ref> Ironically, IBM purchased an AI-assisted anti-virus software dubbed "BlackICE" - a reference to Gibson's fictional "ICE" cyber defence systems - in 1999 for $78 million dollars, despite the program's penchant for bugs and "hallucinations". </ref>''Neuromancer''.</div></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Founded in 1911 as a holding company of manufacturers of record-keeping and other tabulation systems. The company pivoted to technical research and development following World War I, and came into prominence by supplying weapons and technical equipment to both the allies and Nazi forces in World War II. Emboldened by the wartime cash boon of the 1940's, IBM began to focus increasingly on the development of [[ai|artificial intelligence]], releasing the IBM 704, a rudimentary chess playing [[terminator|automaton]], in 1956. A focus on AI-generated language and graphix systems emerged in the 1960's: in 1968, members of IBM Tokyo's Computer Technique Group debuted a series of digital prints entitled Running Cola is AfricaΩ, a work commonly thought to be the first piece of AI-generated art. The company concurrently intensified its chess-related efforts in the early 1990's, culminating in the release of [[deep-blue|Deep Blue]], a viciously competitive, grand-master-level computer - the model's second generation soundly defeated world champion Gary Kasparov. In the mid-1990's, IBM began to focus more specifically on the development of machine sentience using neural network modeling. Despite the company's stated altruistic aims, critics of IBM decried the company's efforts as potentially apocalyptic, drawing comparisons to the dystopian sci-fi scenarios of [[terminator|''Terminator'']]'s [[skynet-syndrome|SkyNet]], [[blade-runner|''Blade Runner'']]'s Tyrell Corporation, [[Knight-rider|''Knight Rider'']], [[Metal-gear-solid|Metal Gear Solid]], and the general morose future portrayed in [[william-gibson|William Gibson]]'s <ref> Ironically, IBM purchased an AI-assisted anti-virus software dubbed "BlackICE" - a reference to Gibson's fictional "ICE" cyber defence systems - in 1999 for $78 million dollars, despite the program's penchant for bugs and "hallucinations". </ref>''Neuromancer''.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno" id="mw-diff-left-l6">Line 6:</td>
<td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 6:</td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Throughout its history, IBM has alternatingly colluded with and strategically undermined its only significant rival: the formidable communications giant [[bell-labs|Bell Systems]] AKA [[ma-bell|Ma Bell]]. Industry lore posits [[error|COBOL]]'s adoption as the United States' semi-official business computing language to be the initial genesis of the feud. Over the last thirty-odd years, IBM has engaged in a veritable patent arms race with its rival - a contest commonly known as the "[[error|patent wars]]". Despite Ma Bell's significant budgetary and personnel advantages, IBM holds the record for most U.S. patents generated by a business or corporation for 29 years running <ref> IBM has been widely accused of artificially inflating patent numbers by coding slight modifications to old patents as new submissions and inundating the patent office with hundreds of superfluous, essentially useless/non-monetizable, and/or trivial inventions2.</div></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Throughout its history, IBM has alternatingly colluded with and strategically undermined its only significant rival: the formidable communications giant [[bell-labs|Bell Systems]] AKA [[ma-bell|Ma Bell]]. Industry lore posits [[error|COBOL]]'s adoption as the United States' semi-official business computing language to be the initial genesis of the feud. Over the last thirty-odd years, IBM has engaged in a veritable patent arms race with its rival - a contest commonly known as the "[[error|patent wars]]". Despite Ma Bell's significant budgetary and personnel advantages, IBM holds the record for most U.S. patents generated by a business or corporation for 29 years running <ref> IBM has been widely accused of artificially inflating patent numbers by coding slight modifications to old patents as new submissions and inundating the patent office with hundreds of superfluous, essentially useless/non-monetizable, and/or trivial inventions2.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>2Examples include: out-of-office email systems (years after the service had become standard), mood-adjusting elevator music, the "keyboard umbrella" (a device designed to prevent "wet keyboard syndrome"), and patent licensing management - essentially an attempt at patenting the patent process itself. IBM's patent-generating strategy also included occasional and often ill-fated collusions with members of the hacking, phracking, and [[phreaking]]. </ref>.</div></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>2Examples include: out-of-office email systems (years after the service had become standard), mood-adjusting elevator music, the "keyboard umbrella" (a device designed to prevent "wet keyboard syndrome"), and patent licensing management - essentially an attempt at patenting the patent process itself. IBM's patent-generating strategy also included occasional and often ill-fated collusions with members of the hacking, phracking, and [[phreaking]]. </ref>.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2" class="diff-side-deleted"></td><td class="diff-marker" data-marker="+"></td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;"></ins></div></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2" class="diff-side-deleted"></td><td class="diff-marker" data-marker="+"></td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;"><kbd>Ωref#<nowiki>[</nowiki>[[i-antichrist|I, Antichrist]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> :: ''[https://eternal-september.net/i-antichrist/running-cola-is-africa.html Running Cola is Africa].''</kbd></small></ins></div></td></tr>
</table>Lmsuarezhttps://wiki.eternal-september.net/index.php?title=IBM&diff=3934&oldid=prevLmsuarez: /* IBM AKA International Business Machines Corporation AKA Big Blue */2025-01-09T16:44:54Z<p><span dir="auto"><span class="autocomment">IBM AKA International Business Machines Corporation AKA Big Blue</span></span></p>
<table style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122;" data-mw="interface">
<col class="diff-marker" />
<col class="diff-content" />
<col class="diff-marker" />
<col class="diff-content" />
<tr class="diff-title" lang="en">
<td colspan="2" style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;">← Older revision</td>
<td colspan="2" style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;">Revision as of 16:44, 9 January 2025</td>
</tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno" id="mw-diff-left-l2">Line 2:</td>
<td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 2:</td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>[related: Patent Wars, </div></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>[related: Patent Wars, </div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>----</div></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>----</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker" data-marker="−"></td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Founded in 1911 as a holding company of manufacturers of record-keeping and other tabulation systems. The company pivoted to technical research and development following World War I, and came into prominence by supplying weapons and technical equipment to both the allies and Nazi forces in World War II. Emboldened by the wartime cash boon of the 1940's, IBM began to focus increasingly on the development of [[ai|artificial intelligence]], releasing the IBM 704, a rudimentary chess playing [[terminator|automaton]], in 1956. A focus on AI-generated language and graphix systems emerged in the 1960's: in 1968, members of IBM Tokyo's Computer Technique Group debuted a series of digital prints entitled Running Cola is AfricaΩ, a work commonly thought to be the first piece of AI-generated art. The company concurrently intensified its chess-related efforts in the early 1990's, culminating in the release of [[deep-blue|Deep Blue]], a viciously competitive, grand-master-level computer - the model's second generation soundly defeated world champion Gary Kasparov. In the mid-1990's, IBM began to focus more specifically on the development of machine sentience using neural network modeling. Despite the company's stated altruistic aims, critics of IBM decried the company's efforts as potentially apocalyptic, drawing comparisons to the dystopian sci-fi scenarios of [[terminator|''Terminator'']]'s [[skynet-syndrome|SkyNet]], [[blade-runner|''Blade Runner'']]'s Tyrell Corporation, [[Knight-rider|''Knight Rider'']], [[Metal-gear-solid|Metal Gear Solid]], and the general morose future portrayed in [[william-gibson|William Gibson]]'s <ref> Ironically, IBM purchased an AI-assisted anti-virus software dubbed BlackICE - a reference to Gibson's fictional "ICE" cyber defence systems - in 1999 for $78 million dollars, despite the program's penchant for bugs and "hallucinations". </ref>''Neuromancer''.</div></td><td class="diff-marker" data-marker="+"></td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Founded in 1911 as a holding company of manufacturers of record-keeping and other tabulation systems. The company pivoted to technical research and development following World War I, and came into prominence by supplying weapons and technical equipment to both the allies and Nazi forces in World War II. Emboldened by the wartime cash boon of the 1940's, IBM began to focus increasingly on the development of [[ai|artificial intelligence]], releasing the IBM 704, a rudimentary chess playing [[terminator|automaton]], in 1956. A focus on AI-generated language and graphix systems emerged in the 1960's: in 1968, members of IBM Tokyo's Computer Technique Group debuted a series of digital prints entitled Running Cola is AfricaΩ, a work commonly thought to be the first piece of AI-generated art. The company concurrently intensified its chess-related efforts in the early 1990's, culminating in the release of [[deep-blue|Deep Blue]], a viciously competitive, grand-master-level computer - the model's second generation soundly defeated world champion Gary Kasparov. In the mid-1990's, IBM began to focus more specifically on the development of machine sentience using neural network modeling. Despite the company's stated altruistic aims, critics of IBM decried the company's efforts as potentially apocalyptic, drawing comparisons to the dystopian sci-fi scenarios of [[terminator|''Terminator'']]'s [[skynet-syndrome|SkyNet]], [[blade-runner|''Blade Runner'']]'s Tyrell Corporation, [[Knight-rider|''Knight Rider'']], [[Metal-gear-solid|Metal Gear Solid]], and the general morose future portrayed in [[william-gibson|William Gibson]]'s <ref> Ironically, IBM purchased an AI-assisted anti-virus software dubbed <ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">"</ins>BlackICE<ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">" </ins>- a reference to Gibson's fictional "ICE" cyber defence systems - in 1999 for $78 million dollars, despite the program's penchant for bugs and "hallucinations". </ref>''Neuromancer''.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br/></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br/></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Throughout its history, IBM has alternatingly colluded with and strategically undermined its only significant rival: the formidable communications giant [[bell-labs|Bell Systems]] AKA [[ma-bell|Ma Bell]]. Industry lore posits [[error|COBOL]]'s adoption as the United States' semi-official business computing language to be the initial genesis of the feud. Over the last thirty-odd years, IBM has engaged in a veritable patent arms race with its rival - a contest commonly known as the "[[error|patent wars]]". Despite Ma Bell's significant budgetary and personnel advantages, IBM holds the record for most U.S. patents generated by a business or corporation for 29 years running <ref> IBM has been widely accused of artificially inflating patent numbers by coding slight modifications to old patents as new submissions and inundating the patent office with hundreds of superfluous, essentially useless/non-monetizable, and/or trivial inventions2.</div></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Throughout its history, IBM has alternatingly colluded with and strategically undermined its only significant rival: the formidable communications giant [[bell-labs|Bell Systems]] AKA [[ma-bell|Ma Bell]]. Industry lore posits [[error|COBOL]]'s adoption as the United States' semi-official business computing language to be the initial genesis of the feud. Over the last thirty-odd years, IBM has engaged in a veritable patent arms race with its rival - a contest commonly known as the "[[error|patent wars]]". Despite Ma Bell's significant budgetary and personnel advantages, IBM holds the record for most U.S. patents generated by a business or corporation for 29 years running <ref> IBM has been widely accused of artificially inflating patent numbers by coding slight modifications to old patents as new submissions and inundating the patent office with hundreds of superfluous, essentially useless/non-monetizable, and/or trivial inventions2.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>2Examples include: out-of-office email systems (years after the service had become standard), mood-adjusting elevator music, the "keyboard umbrella" (a device designed to prevent "wet keyboard syndrome"), and patent licensing management - essentially an attempt at patenting the patent process itself. IBM's patent-generating strategy also included occasional and often ill-fated collusions with members of the hacking, phracking, and [[phreaking]]. </ref>.</div></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>2Examples include: out-of-office email systems (years after the service had become standard), mood-adjusting elevator music, the "keyboard umbrella" (a device designed to prevent "wet keyboard syndrome"), and patent licensing management - essentially an attempt at patenting the patent process itself. IBM's patent-generating strategy also included occasional and often ill-fated collusions with members of the hacking, phracking, and [[phreaking]]. </ref>.</div></td></tr>
</table>Lmsuarez