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Thomas Watson Jr.'s 1963 memo on the CDC 6600 resurfaces

Original: Watson Jr. memo about CDC 6600 (1963)

A 1963 internal memo from IBM chief executive Thomas Watson Jr. about the Control Data Corporation 6600, then the world's fastest computer, is being recirculated via the Computer History Museum's archive. In the memo Watson acknowledged IBM had lost the supercomputer lead to CDC and its designer Seymour Cray, urging employees to respond. Readers are revisiting it as a striking example of candid competitive assessment from a tech giant at the height of the mainframe era.

Why now: The memo's unusually candid admission that a rival had out-engineered IBM still resonates with people interested in computing history and competition.

Thomas Watson Jr.IBMControl Data CorporationCDC 6600Computer History Museum

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• Watson Jr. memo about CDC 6600 (1963) · mooreds · 27

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