'80 Mbytes of storage for under $12k!' and other ad favorites through the years
Sharon Machlis
June 14, 2007(Computerworld)
It's rare for us to spend an hour-long staff meeting in nonstop laughter.
But that's pretty much what happened when we gathered to go through old print issues of Computerworld as part of our 40th anniversary celebration.
The original idea of hauling those Computerworld issues out of storage was to look at important stories and people throughout the years. But we couldn't get over the ads!
"80 Mbytes of storage for less than $12,000!" boasts one. In another, a woman in hot pants touts a modem that's, yes, "maybe even sexy." There's even a campy B movie celebrity hawking development software.
It was too much fun not to share. So after one of the best meetings ever, we bring you 10 of our favorite, most entertaining IT ads from four decades of Computerworld. If you'd like, you can try to guess what year the ad ran before clicking the image to find out. Click through, and you'll also find out the top Computerworld stories from the issue, as well as a larger version of the image.
Such a deal
You can purchase this 80MB disk system for less than $12k -- and even better, 300MB for under $20k!
Not very irresistible today, but apparently a bargain back when this was published. So good, in fact, that prices were valid only for resellers buying at least 40 systems.
Have an idea when this might have been published? We'll offer this headline hint from the front page of the same issue: "Mainframes Not Always a Must, Citibank Officer Advises Users."
It's 'versatile, dependable, compatible and maybe even sexy'
These modems are "all performers," this ad not-so-subtly boasts -- from 1,200 bit/sec. all the way up to 4,800 bit/sec.
What year do you think an advertisement would be using a model in hot pants? Headline hints: "Univac 9700 Offers Compatibility, Price"; "Technology Makes Move Out of Core City Feasible."
The software touted here runs "on most Z80/8080/8085 microcomputers with CP/M, 48K and terminal with addressable cursor."
Not only do you get all the features of a high-priced word processing system, but "with WordStar, you have a true screen image of what your printout will look like before you print it! With WordStar, you'll erase, insert, delete and move entire blocks of copy."
"You say you don't know your process from your loop? Or your CASE from your GOTO? No doubt, you're suffering from COBOLitis," says this ad from the folks at Yourdon Press.
"Everyone needs to use the computer? With The Personal Mainframe, up to 512 users can work interactively at their own terminals," says an ad for this system that touts computing availability beyond the glass-enclosed data center.
How do you know when you need this system? "When people are waiting in line for their applications. When some people need a decision-making tool and others need a number-cruncher."
Well before the era of handhelds or even laptops came "briefcase portability." This system features interactive CRT terminal, control unit, keyboard, acoustic coupler and 5-in. video monitor.
Any idea what year "totable" meant "able to be lugged around in a briefcase?" Headline hint: "IBM Decries Justice's Use of FBI as 'Coercive'" (part of the IBM antitrust trial).
Every office used to have them, but we haven't seen one in years. It's called a "typewriter." And in this ad, readers are told that a "little ball turns an ordinary Selectric typewriter into the only bilingual input device in the world.
"So, instead of a big, expensive data preparation center and the expensive personnel that go with it, all you need is a couple of Selectrics (which you may already have), a few DF-2 elements and our Optical Page Reader."
I'm not sure the current generation of students would even recognize the Selectric type ball in the picture.
Publishing year headline hint: "13 Models Beef Up Burroughs 700s."
"MultiSpeed is multi-talented. It's small. Light. And gives you the option of running at a clock speed of either 9.54 or 4.77 MHz," boasts this ad from NEC showing what a laptop of its day was like. It weighed in at 11.2 lb. with 640K of memory, dual 720K drives and five built-in programs.
Do you remember what year this was state of the art? Headline hint: "OS/2 to bind PC to hosts, leap 640K wall."
Remember Elvira, Mistress of the Dark? Besides appearing on TV in features like Elvira's Movie Macabre Halloween Special, Elvira also invited Computerworld readers to "cut through paper-based CASE [computer-aided software engineering] methods with LBMS" software.
"The scariest thing about CASE is the several hundred pounds of books that land on your desk and for which you've paid fifteen gazillion dollars, when you buy off on a CASE development methodology," she writes.
Can you guess what year Elvira appeared in this Computerworld ad? Headline hint: "IBM delays notebook arrival in U.S."
