From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog: A History of the Software Industry
Search in google:
A business history of the software industry from the days of custom programming to the age of mass-market software and video games. Library Journal Campbell-Kelly (computer science, Univ. of Warwick, U.K.) presents a balanced history of the software industry from the 1950s to 1995. Dividing the business into three sectors (software contracting, corporate software precuts, and mass-market software products), he examines the key products and players in each. There is an interval of about a decade from one sector to the next, and the book follows the chronological time line of software development. Major software manufacturers of the past and present are discussed, as are their business models. The author concludes with some observations on what makes the U.S. software industry so powerful and profitable. Many years of research went into this volume, and the text is well supplemented with industry data such as sales figures, the classification of software titles, flowcharts, and advertisements for products. The result is a well-rounded look at the software industry from a business perspective. Including extensive chapter notes, this book is highly recommended for academic and larger public libraries.-Colleen Cuddy, NYU Sch. of Medicine Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
PrefaceAcknowledgments1The Software Industry12Origins of the Software Contractor, the 1950s293Programming Services, the 1960s574Origins of the Software Products Industry, 1965-1970895The Shaping of the Software Products Industry, the 1970s1216The Maturing of the Corporate Software Products Industry, 1980-19951657Early Development of the Personal Computer Software Industry, 1975-19832018Not Only Microsoft: The Maturing of the Personal Computer Software Industry, 1983-19952319Home and Recreational Software26910Reflections on the Success of the U.S. Software Industry303Notes313Sources of Chapter Frontispieces347Bibliography349Index361
