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Gene Amdahl, Pioneer of Mainframe Computing, Dies At 92 (nytimes.com)

Posted by Soulskill on from the rest-in-peace dept.

An anonymous reader writes: The NY Times reports that Dr. Gene Amdahl, who played a crucial role in developing the IBM System/360 series mainframes and formulated Amdahl's law, has died at the age of 92. "The 360 series was not one computer but a family of compatible machines. Computers in the series used processors of different speeds and power, yet all understood a common language. This allowed customers to purchase a smaller system knowing they could migrate to a larger, more powerful machine if their needs grew, without reprogramming the application software. IBM's current mainframes can still run some System/360 applications. ... Dr. Amdahl is remembered at IBM as an intellectual leader who could get different strong-minded groups to reach agreement on technical issues."

2 of 78 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Wow ... by limaCAT76 · · Score: 3, Funny

    And just how many systems are running today which are still compatible with the IBM System/360?

    Good question, on the upside nobody will be able to bully System/360 admins to run Systemd.

  2. And the Next Day they buried him face down nine... by laurencetux · · Score: 4, Funny

    edge first

    so does this count as unscheduled down time??