On June 16, 1911 a company called Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (C-T-R) officially opened for business in New York City. In 1924 it changed its name to something most of you recognize: International Business Machines, otherwise known as IBM. Today the company that pioneered the modern tech industry celebrates its 100 anniversary.
In a press release today, IBM goes over just some of the products and achievements the company has made in the last 100 years. Among them was the launch of the IBM Personal Computer back in 1981 which started the trend of having a PC in the home rather than just at the office. PCs that copied IBM's basic design are still in use today even though IBM itself sold off its PC business in 2005 to Levono. Before the IBM PC the company was known for making massive computers mostly for large businesses.
IBM has launched a special web site to celebrate its 100th birthday. Some of the company's other major achievements include the electric typewriter (actually acquired from another company), the floppy disk for PCs, the first magnetic hard disk drive and most recently Watson, the supercomputer that gained fame earlier this year by beating the top players of the TV show Jeopardy. IBM holds more patents than any other US company.
Not everything has gone smoothly for the company over the years. In 1969, the US Department of Justice filed an anti-trust lawsuit against IBM, claiming that the company had a monopoly on computers made for business. After 13 years the Justice Department finally dropped the lawsuit in 1982.
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