

Celebrating LEO, the world’s first business computer - robin_reala
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/celebrating-leo-worlds-first-business.html

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rev087
Watched this during a coding break, so only half of my mind was actually
paying attention. At some point, a friendly looking grandma appear and say
something like "we had only 2k to work with". My attention shifted imediately,
and I said out loud: "Wait...what?", and moved the seek slider back to
actually read her name and position.

What a beautiful moment. It is indeed easy to forget the work of the pioneers,
and we need indeed to document and spread their stories to the new
generations.

~~~
brlewis
It puts a new spin on the phrase, "technology a grandmother could use",
doesn't it?

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jrmg
There's an interesting book about this that came out a few years ago, "A
Computer Called Leo". Not available as an ebook, unfortunately, but it's on
Amazon.com[1] (for crazy money), or Amazon.co.uk[2] (for a more sensible
price). I think Americans can still order from Amazon.co.uk, it just takes
longer to arrive.

There's also a not-too-trolly (it's from 2003) Slashdot discussion at
[http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/03/05/02/1621204/a-comput...](http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/03/05/02/1621204/a-computer-
called-leo) .

[1] <http://www.amazon.com/Computer-Called-Leo-P-S/dp/1841151866> [2]
[http://www.amazon.co.uk/Computer-Called-LEO-worlds-
computer/...](http://www.amazon.co.uk/Computer-Called-LEO-worlds-
computer/dp/1841151866)

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robterrell
Thanks for that, I'd never head of LEO before. Those brits sure liked their
mechanical computers, didn't they? With Babbage, Bletchley Park and LEO in
their shared history, I'd half expect to open a Acorn micro and find pistons.

We need more of this kind of thing, capturing the remembrances of the industry
trailblazers, before it's too late.

~~~
nobody31415926
LEO wasn't mechanical it was electronic (Lyons Electronic Office), as was
Colossus(Bletchley park)

Babbage's computer was mechanical, but it was in 1832 - before even the 8008
was popular. Remember at this time, silicon Valley was still Mexican!

