6 The Maturing of the Mainframe
The Rise of IBM
THE 1957 FILM Desk Set, a light romantic comedy starring Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy, was also the first major motion picture to feature an electronic computer. In the film Tracy plays the “efficiency expert” Richard Sumner, who is charged with introducing computer technology into the research division of the fictional Federal Broadcasting Network. Opposed to his efforts is Bunny Watson (the Hepburn character), who resents what she believes to be an attempt to replace her and her fellow librarians with an “electronic brain machine.” As Tracy and Hepburn spar and banter, and eventually fall in love, the imposing EMERAC (Electro-Magnetic Memory and Research ...
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