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m →Final years and the Sterling Software takeover battle: replaced: Chairman → chairman, President → president (2) |
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Meanwhile, Data Products, which had moved its office to [[Sherman Oaks, California]] in 1964 and renamed itself slightly to Dataproducts,<ref name="yost-wf"/><ref name="yost-cip-5"/> was suffering from falling behind IBM on disk drive technology; its eventually successful printer business had not yet taken off.<ref name="webster-123"/> In order to placate its subsidiary, the three Informatics co-founders were given 7.5 percent of Data Products stock in 1965.<ref name="ck-81"/> As Tomash later said, "To satisfy them, we deliberately took the step that we knew would separate us in the long run."<ref name="webster-123"/>
In May 1966 there was an [[IPO]] of Informatics stock, priced at $7.50 per share, that brought in $3.5 million.<ref name="ck-81"/> Only the third software company to have stock issued for it and thus becoming a public company,<!-- would like a stronger source for this --><ref name="legacy-bauer">{{cite web | url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/name/walter-bauer-obituary?pid=1000000179314003 | title=Walter Ferdinand Bauer: Obituary | date=25 March 2016 | publisher=Legacy.com | access-date=March 18, 2017}}</ref> it was listed on the [[Over-the-counter (finance)|over-the-counter market]], based in New York.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1970/09/27/90422358.pdf | title=Over-the-Counter Quotations | newspaper=The New York Times | date=September 27, 1970 | page=175}}</ref> However, 60 percent of its stock was still held by Dataproducts.<ref name="cw-15yrs"/> At that time Informatics had revenues of $4.5 million and a net income of $171,000, and the number of employees was around 300.<ref name="ck-81"/> By 1967 Informatics had something possessed 3% to 4% of the total market for custom-built software.<ref name="ck-66"/>
During the mid-1960s the U.S. stock market went through what was known as the "go-go market" boom, and computer companies become special darlings of traders.<ref>Campbell-Kelly, ''From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog'', pp. 79–80.</ref> Informatics was no exception; its [[price–earnings ratio]] rose from 25 at the time of its IPO to 200 by mid-1968 and over 600 by early 1969, despite the company having only $40,000 in earnings for the previous year.<ref name="ck-81"/> Informatics used the proceeds from additional offerings during this period to fund development of its Mark IV product and to create a Data Services Division.<ref name="ck-81"/>
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and that higher price became a typical cost for customers.<ref name="ck-8">Campbell-Kelly, ''From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog'', p. 8.</ref>
By 1977,<ref>{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=liFebAEUnTEC&
By 1984 it was still the best-selling software product targeted to corporations in the world, with some 3,000 installations.<ref>Campbell-Kelly, ''From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog'', p. 7.</ref>
At its peak, it was responsible for $30 million in revenues per year.<ref name="frank-47"/>
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However, starting in 1980, the technological age of the product became apparent and sales of Mark IV leveled off, amassing only about 60 percent of what Informatics had planned for.<ref>Campbell-Kelly, ''From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog'', p. 118. See also chart on p. 117.</ref>
A successor product, Mark V, was released in 1981–82.<ref name="elec-markv">{{cite news |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tllJAQAAIAAJ&q=informatics+%22mark+v%22
The same taxonomy of application generators mentioned earlier placed Mark V in the category of "Application Development Systems", as it covered more advanced capabilities such as generating online systems with screen dialogue and similar features.<ref name="card-graf"/> Mark V was made available for two IBM mainframe online transaction processing environments, [[IBM Information Management System|IMS/DC]] and, beginning in 1983, [[CICS]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xg3P92QsSqIC&pg=PA57 |title=Informatics Updates Mark V For IBM CICS Environments |magazine=Computerworld |date=October 3, 1983 |page=57}}</ref> Mark V never become a dominant force in the marketplace like Mark IV was. It had many competitors, including products from Applied Data Research, IBM, [[Cincom Systems]], [[DMW Europe]], and [[CA-Telon#Pansophic Systems|Pansophic Systems]].<ref>Konsynski, "Advances in Information System Design", p. 27.</ref>
Following the acquisition by Sterling Software, Mark IV continued to be a significant product, but in 1994 it was renamed VISION:Builder.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qYgnAQAAMAAJ&q=%22sterling+software%22+%22mark+iv%22+%22vision:builder%22
===Government services and online search===
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By the late 1970s into the 1980s, Geno P. Tolari was the head of Informatics' government and military services operations, which was based in [[San Francisco, California]].<ref>{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ICoe1vr9x3kC&pg=PA164 | title=Executive Corner | magazine=Computerworld | date=June 5, 1978 | page=164}}</ref><ref name="oh-wyly-32"/>
Following the Sterling Software takeover, Tolari stayed on as chief of what became known as the Federal Systems Group.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9WUVAQAAMAAJ | title=The Texas 500 | publisher=Reference Press | date=1994 | page=144| isbn=9781878753397 }}</ref>
===Data Services Division===
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seems kind of minor -->
Typical customers of the Data Services Division during the 1970s included the [[General Services Administration]] for hosting a teleprocessing services program,<ref>{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mHkuAQAAIAAJ
the [[National Highway Traffic Safety Administration]] for hosting a reporting system,<ref>{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L7fv8Ls0pMAC&pg=RA1-PA56
and Simplan Systems, Inc. for macroeconomic modeling.<ref name="sd-dsd">{{cite news | magazine=Software Digest | date=1979
Informatics still offered time-sharing services into the early 1980s.<ref name="cw-slowcycle"/> Then the Fairfield division, by that time known as the Data Services Operation, was sold to Mellonics Systems Development, a division of the [[Litton Industries]] conglomerate, in 1984.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MdBP83DW6g4C&pg=RA1-PA102 | title=Mergers and Acquisitions | magazine=Computerworld | date=July 16, 1984 | page=102}}</ref>
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[[Image:Informatics computer room wide view.jpg|thumb|left|260px|An Informatics raised-floor computer room in the early 1980s]]
During 1979 and 1980 Informatics tried to broaden its range of IBM mainframe-related products beyond just Mark IV.<ref name="cw-eggs">{{cite news |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xO3lFEMUpVoC&pg=RA1-PA55
Answer/2 was a product released in 1979 that was billed as a moderately priced [[Report generator|report writer]] for files on [[History of IBM mainframe operating systems#System.2F370 and virtual memory operating systems|IBM mainframe operating systems]].<ref>{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aeMv0MQf9t4C&pg=PA50 | title=Introducing Answer/2 by Informatics | magazine=Computerworld | date=April 23, 1979 | page=50}} Advertisement.</ref>
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[[Image:Informatics General programmer at terminal.jpg|thumb|right|260px|An Informatics programmer working on the TAPS product in 1983]]
The Terminal Application Processing System, known as TAPS, had been created by a [[Midtown Manhattan]]-based firm named Decision Strategy Corporation,<ref name="cw-with-corr">{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1Idn6b5E06sC&pg=PA24
The core idea was to allow, by the creation of tables and other specifications, the user to create all of the functionality needed by an online application, without requiring user programming.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SKiv04PgC-kC&pg=PT10
During the late 1970s TAPS was ported to a number of minicomputer platforms, including the [[Digital Equipment Corporation]] [[PDP-11]], the [[Hewlett-Packard]] [[HP 3000]], [[Perkin Elmer]]'s [[Interdata]] minicomputers, and the [[IBM Series/1]], along with systems from [[Harris Corporation]] and [[Tandem Computers]].<ref>{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aeMv0MQf9t4C&pg=PA26 | title=Letters to the Editor: 'Taps' Marketing | first=Linda C. | last=Diamond | magazine=Computerworld | date=April 23, 1979 | page=26}}</ref>
At this time some 70 percent of TAPS sales were to other companies doing software development, such as [[McCormack & Dodge]] and On-Line Systems, Inc.,<ref name="doc-prime">{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jnbXHp5GdQ8C&pg=PA68
Over time Decision Strategy Corporation fell under financial stress<!-- GB --> and went through a significant downsizing.<!-- EA --> In October 1980, it was acquired by Informatics.<ref name="cw-aq-taps">{{cite news |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1Um4zkCCo38C&pg=RA1-PA68
application building system.<ref name="cw-aq-taps"/><ref name="frank-95"/> As part of the acquisition, Informatics created a TAPS Division in New York with Parrella as its head.<ref name="cw-aq-taps"/>
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also supported was the [[NCR Corporation#Small computers|NCR 9300 under ITX]].<ref>{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X_o3RYqR1x0C&pg=PA37 | title=NCR 9300 | magazine=Computerworld | date=May 9, 1983 | pages=35–37}} Advertisement.</ref>
Projects were undertaken to expand the number of IBM platforms that could host TAPS, to include not just System 370 OS-based ones such as [[OS/VS1]] but also the DOS-based [[DOS/360 and successors#SSX/VSE|SSX/VSE]] for the [[IBM 4300]], and even the relatively obscure [[IBM 8100]] distributed processing engine.<ref>"Project Assignments – Development". Memorandum, Informatics General Corporation, June 8, 1984.</ref>
The overall goal was a product that could span across mainframes, minicomputers, and microcomputers.<ref name="cw-oalj">{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tnAU_FUOjU4C&pg=RA1-PA58
Applications could be built and tested in one environment, such as an IBM mainframe in a data center, and then run in another environment, such a minicomputer located in a regional ___location or a microcomputer located in the field.<ref name="TAPS-UG"/>
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===Legal software divisions===
Informatics had two divisions that related to computer support for [[law firm]]s.
One was the Legal Information Services Division, which was begun around 1974, was based in [[Rockville, Maryland]], and provided a service bureau for litigation support services.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o7kNYfytNeQC&pg
In particular it offered a legal support service that assisted law firms with large-scale document maintenance and retrieval functions in complex litigation efforts.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=inwqAQAAMAAJ&q=informatics+%22Legal+Information+Services+division%22
The basis for this service was online search work in the legal area that Informatics had done as part of its government services work in such areas.<ref name="bh-321"/>
This unit was also sometimes known as Legal Information Services Operations.<ref name="az-pss"/>
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https://books.google.com/books?id=HkOi-MNO4oQC&pg=PA1145&lpg=PA1145 -->
Continuing to sell the Wang-based Legal Time Management System turnkey solution,<ref>{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ULU8AQAAIAAJ&q=informatics+legal+turnkey+%22wang+vs%22
the Phoenix division had yearly revenues on the order of $30 million by the mid-1980s.<ref name="lat-lsd">{{cite news | url=http://articles.latimes.com/1986-04-08/business/fi-25518_1_sterling-software | title=Sterling Sells Phoenix Unit of Informatics | newspaper=Los Angeles Times | date=April 8, 1986}}</ref> It would claim in advertisements in the ''[[ABA Journal]]'' to have 30 of the largest 100 law firms as customers and to be the top supplier of integrated legal word and data processing systems.<ref name="aba-no1">{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=18AZJOghhXUC&pg=PA2 | title=Who's the leader in law office automation? | magazine=ABA Journal | date=February 1, 1987 | pages=4–5}}</ref>
Following the Sterling Software acquisition, the Rockville operation was sold in 1987 to ATLIS. As an entity, ATLIS Legal Information Services persisted at least into the early 1990s.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TjWtllGWXF0C&pg
===Professional services===
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== Aftermath and legacy ==
Overnight, Sterling Software became a $200 million in revenue company, up from $20 million, and one of the biggest firms in the software industry.<ref name="nyt-93"/> One ''[[Computerworld]]'' writer referred to the takeover as "the guppy swallowing the whale."<ref>{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9VIcNk5bRkEC&pg=PA95 | title=Merger mania strikes at the heart of the information economy |
The entire Informatics corporate headquarters office in Woodland Hills was let go, including Bauer.<ref name="frank-83"/> Bauer had been CEO of Informatics for its entire 23-year history, in what he believed was a record at the time for the longest period that a founding CEO had lasted in that position in a company.<ref name="bauer-oh-2-5">Johnson, "Oral History of Walter Bauer" (1995), p. 5.</ref> Bauer also believed he was the longest-tenured CEO in the computer industry at that time.<ref name="bauer-oh-2-5"/>
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The Ordernet business of Informatics was expanded greatly under Sterling Software as a series of [[e-commerce]] initiatives under the rubrics Electronic Document Interchange and Electronic Data Interchange, so much so that it was later spun off as its own company, [[Sterling Commerce]], in 1996.<ref name="Allison p. 33"/>
The Informatics brand name may have lasted longest in connection with one of its aforementioned legal software entities, the Professional Software Systems Division. Sterling Software renamed it as the Informatics Legal Systems division, then sold it in 1986 to Baron Data Systems,<ref name="lat-lsd"/> a company that made legal and medical systems.<ref name="nw-briefs"/> Advertisements from that entity stressed "Informatics" far more than "Baron Data".<ref name="aba-no1"/> In 1987 Baron Data was acquired by [[Convergent Technologies]], a computer maker;<ref name="nw-briefs">{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cxwEAAAAMBAJ&pg
In 2000, Sterling Software was sold to [[Computer Associates]].<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB950538698506309305 | title= Computer Associates Sets Deal To Acquire Sterling Software | author-first= William M. | author-last=Bulkeley | newspaper=The Wall Street Journal | date=February 15, 2000}}</ref> That same year, Sterling Commerce was sold to [[SBC Communications]]; it later became part of IBM.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.zdnet.com/article/ibm-buys-sterling-commerce-for-us1-4-billion/ | title=IBM buys Sterling Commerce for US$1.4 billion | author-first=Larry | author-last=Dignan | publisher=ZDNet | date=May 25, 2010 }}</ref>
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==Bibliography==
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{cite book |
* {{cite interview |last=Bauer |first=Walter |interviewer=[[Arthur Norberg|Arthur L. Norberg]] |title=An Interview with Walter Bauer |publisher=Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota |___location=New York |date=May 16, 1983 | url=http://conservancy.umn.edu/bitstream/handle/11299/107108/oh061wb.pdf?sequence=1 }}
* {{cite interview | last=Bauer | first=Walter | interviewer=Luanne Johnson | title=Oral History of Walter Bauer | publisher=Computer History Museum | date=March 26, 1986 | ___location=Los Angeles, California | url=http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/text/Oral_History/Bauer_Walter/Bauer_Walter_1.oral_history.1986.102658224.pdf }}
* {{cite interview | last=Bauer | first=Walter | interviewer=Luanne Johnson | title=Oral History of Walter Bauer | publisher=Computer History Museum | date=June 16, 1995 | ___location=telephone | url=http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/text/Oral_History/Bauer_Walter/Bauer_Walter_2.oral_history.1995.102658248.pdf }}
* {{cite journal | last=Bauer | first=Walter F. | title=Informatics and (et) Informatique | journal=IEEE Annals of the History of Computing | volume=18 | issue=2 | date=1996 | pages=323–334 | url=http://softwarehistory.org/history/Bauer1.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031219085236/http://softwarehistory.org/history/Bauer1.html | archive-date=December 19, 2003 }}
* {{cite book |
* {{cite book | title=From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog: A History of the Software Industry | url=https://archive.org/details/fromairlinereser00mart_0 | url-access=registration | first=Martin | last=Campbell-Kelly | publisher=MIT Press | ___location=Cambridge, Massachusetts | year=2003 | isbn=9780262033039 }}
* {{cite conference |
* {{cite book | title=The Computer Establishment | url=https://archive.org/details/computerestablis00fish | url-access=registration | first=Katharine Davis | last=Fishman | publisher= McGraw-Hill Book Company | ___location=New York | year=1981 | isbn=9780070211278 | type=paperback 1982}}
* {{cite book | last=Frank | first=Werner L. | title=Legacy: The Saga of a German-Jewish Family Across Time and Circumstance | publisher=Avotaynu Foundation | ___location= Bergenfield, New Jersey | year=2003 | chapter=Chapter 22: Achieving the American Dream: Becoming an Entrepreneur | chapter-url=http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/text/Oral_History/Frank_Werner/Frank_Werner.oral_history.2006.102657942.pdf | pages=478–529}} Chapter also appears beginning on p. 31 of pdf and cited page numbers are to those pages.
* {{cite interview | last=Frank | first=Werner | interviewer=Jeff Yost | title=Oral History of Werner Frank | publisher=Computer History Museum | date=February 14, 2006 | ___location=Mountain View, California | url=http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/text/Oral_History/Frank_Werner/Frank_Werner.oral_history.2006.102657942.pdf }}
* {{cite journal |
* {{cite conference | last=Haigh | first=Thomas | contribution='A Veritable Bucket of Facts': Origins of the Data Base Management System, 1960–1980 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=76OOQannpBgC&pg=PA83 | title=The History and Heritage of Scientific and Technological Information Systems: Proceedings of the 2002 Conference | publisher=Information Today | ___location=Medford, New Jersey | date=2004 | pages=73–88 | editor-first=W. Boyd | editor-last=Rayward | editor2-first=Mary Ellen | editor2-last=Bowden}}
* {{cite journal | url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/369202 | title=How Data Got its Base: Information Storage Software in the 1950s and 1960s | first=Thomas | last=Haigh | journal= IEEE Annals of the History of Computing | volume= 31 | number=4 | date=October–December 2009 | pages= 6–25 |url-access=subscription |via=[[Project MUSE]] | doi=10.1109/MAHC.2009.123 | s2cid=8073037 }}
* {{cite journal | url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40397797 | title=Advances in Information System Design | author-first=Benn R. | author-last=Konsynski | journal=Journal of Management Information Systems | volume= 1 | number= 3 | date=Winter 1984–1985 | pages= 5–32 | jstor=40397797 }}
* {{cite book | title=The Coming Computer Industry Shakeout: Winners, Losers, and Survivors | url=https://archive.org/details/comingcomputerin0000mccl | url-access=registration | first=Stephen T. | last=McClellan | publisher=Wiley | ___location=New York | year=1984| isbn=9780471880639 }}
* {{cite book | last=Notto | first=Ralph W. | title=Challenge And Consequence: ... forcing change to eCommerce | publisher=Fenestra Books | ___location=Tucson, Arizona | date=2005}}
* {{cite interview | last=Postley | first=John | interviewer=Luanne Johnson | title=Oral History of John Postley | publisher=Computer History Museum | date=March 26, 1986 | ___location=Los Angeles, California | url=http://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102658229 }}
* {{cite book | last=Sokol | first=Phyllis K. | title=From EDI to Electronic Commerce: A Business Initiative | publisher=McGraw-Hill | ___location=New York | date=1995 }}
* {{cite book | title=Computers: The Life Story of a Technology |
* {{cite interview |last=Tomash |first=Erwin |interviewer=Arthur L. Norberg |title=An Interview with Erwin Tomash |publisher=Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota |___location=Los Angeles |date=May 15, 1983 | url=http://conservancy.umn.edu/bitstream/handle/11299/107677/oh060et.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y }}
* {{cite book |last=Webster |first=Edward |year=2001 |title=Print Unchained: 50 Years of Digital Printing, 1950–2000 and Beyond | ___location=West Dover |publisher=DRA of Vermont }}
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* {{cite book |last=Yost |first=Jeffrey R. |title=The Computer Industry |publisher=Greenwood Publishing |___location=Westport, Connecticut | date=2005}}
* {{cite book|last1=Yost|first1=Jeffrey R.|title=Making IT Work: A History of the Computer Services Industry|date=2017|publisher=The MIT Press|___location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|isbn=978-0-262-03672-6|oclc=978286108}}
* {{cite journal | last=Yost | first=Jeffrey R. | title=Computer Industry Pioneer: Erwin Tomash (1921–2012) | journal=IEEE Annals of the History of Computing | volume=35 | issue=2 | date=April–June 2013 | pages=4–7 | url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/522030 |url-access=subscription |via=[[Project MUSE]] | doi=10.1109/MAHC.2013.17 | s2cid=11095958 }}
* {{cite journal | last=Yost | first=Jeffrey R. | title=Werner Frank | journal=Immigrant Entrepreneurship: German-American Business Biographies, 1720 to the Present | volume= 5 | editor-first= R. Daniel | editor-last=Wadhwani | publisher= German Historical Institute | date= August 9, 2013 | url= http://www.immigrantentrepreneurship.org/entry.php?rec=156 }}
{{refend}}
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{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{cite journal | last=Bauer | first=Walter F. | title=Informatics: An Early Software Company | journal= IEEE Annals of the History of Computing | volume=18 | issue=2 | date=Summer 1996 | pages= 70–76}}
* {{cite journal | title=Informatics Acquisition by Sterling Software: Unsolicited Offer, Takeover Attempt, and Merger | first=Walter F. | last=Bauer | journal= IEEE Annals of the History of Computing | volume=28 | issue= 3 | date= July–September 2006 | pages=32–40| doi=10.1109/MAHC.2006.51 | s2cid=34259417 }}
* {{cite book | first=Richard L. | last=Forman | title=Fulfilling the Computer's Promise: The History of Informatics, 1962–1982 | publisher=Informatics General Corp. | date=1985 }} Praised by Campbell-Kelly as a major corporate history <!-- (p. 23)(and in this chapter essay https://books.google.com/books?id=NZOqCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA187),--> but is a privately published typescript and thus hard to find – [http://www.worldcat.org/title/fulfilling-the-computers-promise-the-history-of-informatics-1962-1982/oclc/29056478&referer=brief_results see WorldCat entry]
* {{cite journal | last=Postley | first=John A. | title=Mark IV: Evolution of the Software Product, a Memoir | journal = IEEE Annals of the History of Computing | volume=20 | issue=1 | date=January–March 1998 | pages= 43–50| doi=10.1109/85.646208 }}
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