Inventor of First Business Computer Dies

The name of Hewlett-Packard does not belong in this article. HP did not get involved in computing until much later.

One of the Earths Great Minds has passed, thank you dear sir for your work.

Anthony should research history a little before he makes sure stupid statements. HP was producing High quality scientific and business computers long before Compaq.

Good for him, but Switched is right about school: the days of spectacular success sans degree are history!

Principle designer? Your high school "principle" should've put you in remedial English class, Will.

It is not just funny coincidence that all of the great technology was invented by people with no college degree. Our educational system, by design, stifles creativity in favor of conformity. Conformists don't invent, they imitate.

Q: Why don't you see any British computers?

A: They never figured out how to make them leak oil.

Q: Why don't you see any British computers?

A: They never figured out how to make them leak oil.

That is so sad! What a pioneer!
Why couldn't they re-boot him??

It's a damn shame you didn't post the inventors pic. I guess the frame on the computer was 1st and foremost - Oh Wait ! Maybe it invented itself !

There is a war ragging, a presidential race being run, millions of Americans are without health care, this guy dies & it makes the news?

GEORGE BUSH CANNOT SPELL COMPUTER.

Who the hell compiled this list? Missed some of the great steps in the progression. Like, Cray and the worlds first Super Computer the CDC 6600, a 64 bit octal machine that is in the G. Book of Records as the worlds first Super Computer circa 1965. (beat IBM to market by 3+ years)
Also missing: IBM's dominant role in business systems like the 360 and most important to current PC users, IBM's adoption of Microsoft DOS that standardized the software platform for applications. This event was a far greater influence on use/evolution of PC's than the APPLE. Re: APPLE, the first MAC was the big departure from PC's, not the one shown, as it first used the Xerox think tank developed Graphical User Interface that was a true innovation. Jeez, this is how history gets mangled.

Misspelled words in this story-- don't know whether to blame Will Safer or the Seattle Times! No college degree, I suppose.

Inventor of First Business Computer Dies
by Will Safer, posted Jun 30th 2008 at 3:55PM

What if the latest technology news came not out of Microsoft or Apple but instead from McDonald's or Pizza Hut? It would be surprising news, to say the least. Even so, it turns out that one of the biggest advances in computer tech for business was developed by an English food company back in 1951, and its PRINCIPLE designer, David Caminer, died on June 15 at the age of 92.

Caminer is credited by Guinness World Records with creating the world's first business computer on behalf of his employer, J. Lyons & Co, which operated a chain of bakeries and food shops. While other companies, such as IBM, soon overtook the British firm (due to what Caminer said was arrogance and a failure to appreciate the rapid pace of technology by his employer), it is Caminer who gets the credit for devising the business machine. IT'S first task was to calculate costs, prices and margins of that week's baked output.

Caminer's goal was to speed up the logistics and payroll process for Lyons, which besides running stores also served events at Wimbledon and Windsor Castle. While it took an accountant eight minutes to calculate an employee's pay, the computer, called LEO (short for Lyons Electronic Office), needed only 1.5 seconds. Although the LEO 1 has less than 100,000th the power of a current desktop personal computer it did have all those cool vacuum tubes. They hummed.

What was one thing Caminer did have in common with other great technology inventors? No college degree. (But to all you kids out there, Switched says "Be cool. Stay in school.")

The real innovation of Caminer's machine was that it could be loaded with different programs to work on different tasks. And thus modern business computing was born. [Source: The Seattle Times]