Anon (1952) The Layman’s Guide to LEO: -Anon (1952) The Layman’s Guide to LEO, Lyons.The guide was circulated to Lyons executives and senior management to help them understand how computers, and in particular LEO, worked. The typewritten document is in part based on Ernest Lenaerts Development of the LEO Computer – see below. The manuscript was donated to the LEO Computers Society […]
Anon (1962), Computers for Shell-Mex and BP: -Anon (1962), Computers for Shell-Mex and BP. An 8 page brochure published by management for distribution to employees explaining the forthcoming installation of a LEO III computer in a new office complex to be opened in the New Town of Hemel Hempstead. The brochure suggests the role the computer will play and lauds the benefits of moving […]
Anon (1963), Wythenshawe The Second Computer Centre for Shell-Mex and BP: -Anon (1963), Wythenshawem The Second Computer Centre for Shell-Mex and BP. A 7 page brochure like the one for Hemel Hempstead announcing the establishment of the norther computer centre to house a LEO III at Wythenshawe and singing the praises of Manchester and Wythenshawe
Bird, P. (1994) ‘LEO, the First Business Computer’, Hasler Publishing: -Peter Bird joined Lyons when, as he says, ‘the pioneering years of computing were no more than folk history.’ Nonetheless, through his ‘talking with old-timers’ and delving through the Lyons archives, he has made an important contribution to the LEO story. Of particular value are the appendices which, inter alia, give details of the instruction […]
David Caminer, John Aris, Peter Hermon and Frank Land (1996) The World’s First Business Computer: -David Caminer, John Aris, Peter Hermon and Frank Land (1996) The World’s First Business Computer: User-Driven Innovation.London: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 401 pages, ISBN 0-07-709236-8 Reviewed by:Professor Robin Mansell, Science Policy Research Unit, University of SussexProfessor of Media and the Internet, London School of Economics
References: -[1] Pugh, E. W. (1995) Building IBM: Shaping an Industry and Its Technology. Cambridge MA: The MIT Press. [2] Ibid. [3] Mowery, D. and Rosenberg, N. (1979) ‘The influence of market demand upon innovation: a critical review of some recent empirical studies’, Research Policy, Vol. 8, pp. 102-153. [4] von Hippel, E. (1978) ‘Users as Innovators’, Technology Review, Vol. […]
Caminer, D.T., Aris, J.B.B., Hermon, P.M.R. and Land, F.F. (eds.) (1996):-Caminer, D.T., Aris, J.B.B., Hermon, P.M.R. and Land, F.F. (eds.) (1996) ‘User Driven Innovation: The world’s first business computer’, McGraw Hill, Maidenhead.A first-hand account written by thirteen of the early users who developed the disciplines of systems engineering and put LEO to work on economic, time-dependent business applications, starting in 1951. Included is an edited […]
Caminer, D.T., Aris, J.B.B., Hermon, P.M.R. and Land F.F. (eds.) (1998):-Caminer, D.T., Aris, J.B.B., Hermon, P.M.R. and Land F.F. (eds.) (1998) ‘LEO, the Incredible Story of the World’s First Business Computer’ McGraw Hill, New York.The revised United States edition of User-Driven Innovation, a Chinese edition was published in 2000
Dr Terry Gourvish:-Dr Terry Gourvish, Director Business History Unit, LSE, in LSE Business History Newssheet, “This is a major contribution to the history of computing and computers in the UK. A full scale case study of LEO computers, written by members of the team who experienced all its trials and tribulations, it provides a fascinating insight into […]
Neil Fitzgerald,:-Neil Fitzgerald, editor of CA magazine, in The Scotsman, Business section. . “Can-do culture, empowerment, user-driven innovation, business process re-engineering, flat organisations, quality, short lines of communications and decision making. We are led to believe that these are radical, modern ideas. However, a book that has come into my hands shows that they were being […]
Dr John Pinkerton:-Dr John Pinkerton, review in ICL Technical Journal “Telling the story of how the foundations of data processing were laid from 1949 onwards has evidently been a labour of love. This is a work of scholarship but eminently readable nevertheless. It will be seen as a major contribution to the history of business computing; it […]
Professor George Mitchell:-Professor George Mitchell, review published Journal of Operational Research Society.. “This fascinating book tells the life story of LEO. Rather over a third of the book is the historical record, carefully researched and engagingly written up by Caminer. The rest is largely personal memoirs of those involved in the early days, including accounts of several […]
John Perkins:-John Perkins, National Computer Centre Newsletter, “The book is a fascinating adventure story in which the dynamics of an extraordinary group of people made the seemingly impossible happen.”
Professor John Ward:-Professor John Ward in the Journal of Strategic Information Systems. “The story of that first business computer: Leo – Lyons Electronic Office – is told in this book. Whilst it is history, reflection on what was achieved and not achieved and why still has many lessons of relevance to the successful use of IT today […]
I. A. Lovelock:-I. A. Lovelock in Management Accounting. “This book is a first-hand account of how this astounding innovation came about. It is a flesh and blood, warts and all story related by the participants, brimming over with the same enthusiasm that enabled the unlikeliest of organisations to lead the way into the future that we are […]
Professor T. Brady:-Professor T. Brady, Brighton University “As well as being a fascinating piece of historical writing the book provides food for thought in the supposedly computer literate world of the 21st Century. Spectacular computer disasters such as the London Stock Exchange’s Taurus system have left us with rather jaundiced perceptions about computer projects. Why were […]
Professor Paul Ceruzzi:-Professor Paul Ceruzzi, Smithsonian Institute Washington “Most surveys of the history of computing mark the beginning of the commercial computer age with the delivery of the first UNIVAC in 1951. The better ones note the first delivery of a UNIVAC to a commercial, not government, customer (General Electric) in 1954. Only the best histories mention […]
Ferry, Georgina (2003) ‘A Computer Called LEO’:-Ferry, Georgina (2003) ‘A Computer Called LEO’, Fourth Estate, London.‘LEO and its creators deserve their place in history not because of what it was, but because of what it did. For LEO was the first computer in the world to be harnessed to the task of running a business. A paperback edition was published […]
Coombs, M. (2003) Review:-Coombs, M. (2003) Review: ‘A Computer called LEO’ (Ferry, G.), European Journal of Information Systems, Vol. 12, Issue 4, 241-24. http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/53095/Book-Review-A-Computer-Called-LEO
Caminer H., editor (2016):-Caminer H., editor (2016) ‘LEO remembered: by the people who worked on the world’s first business computers’, LEO Computers Society. Collection of reminiscences, testifying to a sense of collective endeavour among the LEO community.
Lenaerts, E. (1948) ‘Development of the LEO Computer:-Lenaerts, E. (1948) ‘Development of the LEO Computer: Brief Description of EDSAC’.Peter Bird collected and had bound (September 1992) the photocopies of the handwritten description of EDSAC compiled by Ernest Lenaerts in October 1948, with contributions from David Caminer, Derek Hemy, Thomas Thompson and others. It formed the basis of a larger publication titled The […]
Simmons,J.R.M. (1962) ‘LEO and the Manager’:-Simmons,J.R.M. (1962) ‘LEO and the Managers’, Macdonald, London.The paperless office concept of the Lyons Comptroller, whose support was vital to the LEO project
Maurice Wilkes User-driven innovation:-Maurice Wilkes User-driven innovation: the world’s first business computer. IEE Review ( Volume: 42, Issue: 4, 18 July 1996) View full document at CCH WebsiteThis document has been scanned and is available to view online. Please note that copyright is retained by the original rights holder. File Size: 369.25 KB
