|
dinosaurs mating n.
Said to occur when yet another
big iron merger or buyout occurs; reflects a perception by
hackers that these signal another stage in the long, slow dying of
the mainframe industry. In its glory days of the 1960s, it
was `IBM and the Seven Dwarves': Burroughs, Control Data, General
Electric, Honeywell, NCR, RCA, and Univac. RCA and GE sold out
early, and it was `IBM and the Bunch' (Burroughs, Univac, NCR,
Control Data, and Honeywell) for a while. Honeywell was bought out
by Bull; Burroughs merged with Univac to form Unisys (in 1984 --
this was when the phrase `dinosaurs mating' was coined); and in
1991 AT&T absorbed NCR (but spat it back out a few years
later). Control Data still exists but is no longer in the mainframe
business. More such earth-shaking unions of doomed giants seem
inevitable.
All times are GMT +1. The time now is 10:23 PM.
|
