<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html>
<head>
<title>UTas ePrints - The myth of the computer revolution</title>
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/javascript/auto.js"><!-- padder --></script>
<style type="text/css" media="screen">@import url(http://eprints.utas.edu.au/style/auto.css);</style>
<style type="text/css" media="print">@import url(http://eprints.utas.edu.au/style/print.css);</style>
<link rel="icon" href="/images/eprints/favicon.ico" type="image/x-icon" />
<link rel="shortcut icon" href="/images/eprints/favicon.ico" type="image/x-icon" />
<link rel="Top" href="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/" />
<link rel="Search" href="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/cgi/search" />
<meta content="Holmes, Neville" name="eprints.creators_name" />
<meta content="neville.holmes@utas.edu.au" name="eprints.creators_id" />
<meta content="article" name="eprints.type" />
<meta content="2007-09-26" name="eprints.datestamp" />
<meta content="2008-01-08 15:30:00" name="eprints.lastmod" />
<meta content="show" name="eprints.metadata_visibility" />
<meta content="The myth of the computer revolution" name="eprints.title" />
<meta content="pub" name="eprints.ispublished" />
<meta content="350202" name="eprints.subjects" />
<meta content="370601" name="eprints.subjects" />
<meta content="350211" name="eprints.subjects" />
<meta content="public" name="eprints.full_text_status" />
<meta content="millennium bug, Cobol, early computer use, conservatism, technological evolution, neofeudalism" name="eprints.keywords" />
<meta content="This essay has been more formally published as Essay 2.1 of the author's book "Computers and People" (Wiley, 2006). This material is presented to ensure timely dissemination of scholarly and technical work. Copyright and all rights therein are retained by authors or by other copyright holders. All persons copying this information are expected to adhere to the terms and constraints invoked by each author's copyright. In most cases, these works may not be reposted without the explicit permission of the copyright holder.
Copyright 1998 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or to reuse any copyrighted component of this work in other works must be obtained from the IEEE." name="eprints.note" />
<meta content="This essay covers a large number of points very briefly: the misunderstanding of the millennium bug, the hyperbole of computer publicity, the very conservative nature of computer use by government and industry, the suppression of innovation through computer use, the misunderstanding of technological evolution, computers and the rise of neofeudalism." name="eprints.abstract" />
<meta content="1998-11" name="eprints.date" />
<meta content="published" name="eprints.date_type" />
<meta content="Computer" name="eprints.publication" />
<meta content="31" name="eprints.volume" />
<meta content="11" name="eprints.number" />
<meta content="121-122" name="eprints.pagerange" />
<meta content="10.1109/MC.1998.730742" name="eprints.id_number" />
<meta content="UNSPECIFIED" name="eprints.thesis_type" />
<meta content="FALSE" name="eprints.refereed" />
<meta content="0018-9162" name="eprints.issn" />
<meta content="http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/MC.1998.730742" name="eprints.official_url" />
<meta content="Holmes, Neville (1998) The myth of the computer revolution. Computer, 31 (11). pp. 121-122. ISSN 0018-9162" name="eprints.citation" />
<meta content="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/2004/1/Cm98Nv.pdf" name="eprints.document_url" />
<link rel="schema.DC" href="http://purl.org/DC/elements/1.0/" />
<meta content="The myth of the computer revolution" name="DC.title" />
<meta content="Holmes, Neville" name="DC.creator" />
<meta content="350202 Business Information Systems (incl. Data Processing)" name="DC.subject" />
<meta content="370601 History and Philosophy of Science and Technology" name="DC.subject" />
<meta content="350211 Innovation and Technology Management" name="DC.subject" />
<meta content="This essay covers a large number of points very briefly: the misunderstanding of the millennium bug, the hyperbole of computer publicity, the very conservative nature of computer use by government and industry, the suppression of innovation through computer use, the misunderstanding of technological evolution, computers and the rise of neofeudalism." name="DC.description" />
<meta content="1998-11" name="DC.date" />
<meta content="Article" name="DC.type" />
<meta content="NonPeerReviewed" name="DC.type" />
<meta content="application/pdf" name="DC.format" />
<meta content="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/2004/1/Cm98Nv.pdf" name="DC.identifier" />
<meta content="http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/MC.1998.730742" name="DC.relation" />
<meta content="Holmes, Neville (1998) The myth of the computer revolution. Computer, 31 (11). pp. 121-122. ISSN 0018-9162" name="DC.identifier" />
<meta content="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/2004/" name="DC.relation" />
<link rel="alternate" href="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/cgi/export/2004/BibTeX/epprod-eprint-2004.bib" title="BibTeX" type="text/plain" />
<link rel="alternate" href="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/cgi/export/2004/ContextObject/epprod-eprint-2004.xml" title="OpenURL ContextObject" type="text/xml" />
<link rel="alternate" href="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/cgi/export/2004/ContextObject::Dissertation/epprod-eprint-2004.xml" title="OpenURL Dissertation" type="text/xml" />
<link rel="alternate" href="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/cgi/export/2004/ContextObject::Journal/epprod-eprint-2004.xml" title="OpenURL Journal" type="text/xml" />
<link rel="alternate" href="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/cgi/export/2004/DC/epprod-eprint-2004.txt" title="Dublin Core" type="text/plain" />
<link rel="alternate" href="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/cgi/export/2004/DIDL/epprod-eprint-2004.xml" title="DIDL" type="text/xml" />
<link rel="alternate" href="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/cgi/export/2004/EndNote/epprod-eprint-2004.enw" title="EndNote" type="text/plain" />
<link rel="alternate" href="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/cgi/export/2004/HTML/epprod-eprint-2004.html" title="HTML Citation" type="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
<link rel="alternate" href="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/cgi/export/2004/METS/epprod-eprint-2004.xml" title="METS" type="text/xml" />
<link rel="alternate" href="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/cgi/export/2004/MODS/epprod-eprint-2004.xml" title="MODS" type="text/xml" />
<link rel="alternate" href="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/cgi/export/2004/RIS/epprod-eprint-2004.ris" title="Reference Manager" type="text/plain" />
<link rel="alternate" href="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/cgi/export/2004/Refer/epprod-eprint-2004.refer" title="Refer" type="text/plain" />
<link rel="alternate" href="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/cgi/export/2004/Simple/epprod-eprint-2004text" title="Simple Metadata" type="text/plain" />
<link rel="alternate" href="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/cgi/export/2004/Text/epprod-eprint-2004.txt" title="ASCII Citation" type="text/plain; charset=utf-8" />
<link rel="alternate" href="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/cgi/export/2004/XML/epprod-eprint-2004.xml" title="EP3 XML" type="text/xml" />
</head>
<body bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000" onLoad="loadRoutine(); MM_preloadImages('images/eprints/ePrints_banner_r5_c5_f2.gif','images/eprints/ePrints_banner_r5_c7_f2.gif','images/eprints/ePrints_banner_r5_c8_f2.gif','images/eprints/ePrints_banner_r5_c9_f2.gif','images/eprints/ePrints_banner_r5_c10_f2.gif','images/eprints/ePrints_banner_r5_c11_f2.gif','images/eprints/ePrints_banner_r6_c4_f2.gif')">
<div class="ep_noprint"><noscript><style type="text/css">@import url(http://eprints.utas.edu.au/style/nojs.css);</style></noscript></div>
<table width="795" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr>
<td><script language="JavaScript1.2">mmLoadMenus();</script>
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="795">
<!-- fwtable fwsrc="eprints_banner_final2.png" fwbase="ePrints_banner.gif" fwstyle="Dreamweaver" fwdocid = "1249563342" fwnested="0" -->
<tr>
<td><img src="/images/eprints/spacer.gif" width="32" height="1" border="0" alt="" /></td>
<td><img src="/images/eprints/spacer.gif" width="104" height="1" border="0" alt="" /></td>
<td><img src="/images/eprints/spacer.gif" width="44" height="1" border="0" alt="" /></td>
<td><img src="/images/eprints/spacer.gif" width="105" height="1" border="0" alt="" /></td>
<td><img src="/images/eprints/spacer.gif" width="41" height="1" border="0" alt="" /></td>
<td><img src="/images/eprints/spacer.gif" width="16" height="1" border="0" alt="" /></td>
<td><img src="/images/eprints/spacer.gif" width="68" height="1" border="0" alt="" /></td>
<td><img src="/images/eprints/spacer.gif" width="68" height="1" border="0" alt="" /></td>
<td><img src="/images/eprints/spacer.gif" width="68" height="1" border="0" alt="" /></td>
<td><img src="/images/eprints/spacer.gif" width="82" height="1" border="0" alt="" /></td>
<td><img src="/images/eprints/spacer.gif" width="69" height="1" border="0" alt="" /></td>
<td><img src="/images/eprints/spacer.gif" width="98" height="1" border="0" alt="" /></td>
<td><img src="/images/eprints/spacer.gif" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="12"><img name="ePrints_banner_r1_c1" src="/images/eprints/ePrints_banner_r1_c1.gif" width="795" height="10" border="0" alt="" /></td>
<td><img src="/images/eprints/spacer.gif" width="1" height="10" border="0" alt="" /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td rowspan="6"><img name="ePrints_banner_r2_c1" src="/images/eprints/ePrints_banner_r2_c1.gif" width="32" height="118" border="0" alt="" /></td>
<td rowspan="5"><a href="http://www.utas.edu.au/"><img name="ePrints_banner_r2_c2" src="/images/eprints/ePrints_banner_r2_c2.gif" width="104" height="103" border="0" alt="" /></a></td>
<td colspan="10"><img name="ePrints_banner_r2_c3" src="/images/eprints/ePrints_banner_r2_c3.gif" width="659" height="41" border="0" alt="" /></td>
<td><img src="/images/eprints/spacer.gif" width="1" height="41" border="0" alt="" /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="3"><a href="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/"><img name="ePrints_banner_r3_c3" src="/images/eprints/ePrints_banner_r3_c3.gif" width="190" height="31" border="0" alt="" /></a></td>
<td rowspan="2" colspan="7"><img name="ePrints_banner_r3_c6" src="/images/eprints/ePrints_banner_r3_c6.gif" width="469" height="37" border="0" alt="" /></td>
<td><img src="/images/eprints/spacer.gif" width="1" height="31" border="0" alt="" /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="3"><img name="ePrints_banner_r4_c3" src="/images/eprints/ePrints_banner_r4_c3.gif" width="190" height="6" border="0" alt="" /></td>
<td><img src="/images/eprints/spacer.gif" width="1" height="6" border="0" alt="" /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2"><img name="ePrints_banner_r5_c3" src="/images/eprints/ePrints_banner_r5_c3.gif" width="149" height="1" border="0" alt="" /></td>
<td rowspan="2" colspan="2"><a href="/information.html" onMouseOut="MM_swapImgRestore();MM_startTimeout()" onMouseOver="MM_showMenu(window.mm_menu_0821132634_0,0,25,null,'ePrints_banner_r5_c5');MM_swapImage('ePrints_banner_r5_c5','','/images/eprints/ePrints_banner_r5_c5_f2.gif',1);"><img name="ePrints_banner_r5_c5" src="/images/eprints/ePrints_banner_r5_c5.gif" width="57" height="25" border="0" alt="About" /></a></td>
<td rowspan="2"><a href="/view/" onMouseOut="MM_swapImgRestore();MM_startTimeout()" onMouseOver="MM_showMenu(window.mm_menu_0821133021_1,0,25,null,'ePrints_banner_r5_c7');MM_swapImage('ePrints_banner_r5_c7','','/images/eprints/ePrints_banner_r5_c7_f2.gif',1);"><img name="ePrints_banner_r5_c7" src="/images/eprints/ePrints_banner_r5_c7.gif" width="68" height="25" border="0" alt="Browse" /></a></td>
<td rowspan="2"><a href="/perl/search/simple" onMouseOut="MM_swapImgRestore();MM_startTimeout()" onMouseOver="MM_showMenu(window.mm_menu_0821133201_2,0,25,null,'ePrints_banner_r5_c8');MM_swapImage('ePrints_banner_r5_c8','','/images/eprints/ePrints_banner_r5_c8_f2.gif',1);"><img name="ePrints_banner_r5_c8" src="/images/eprints/ePrints_banner_r5_c8.gif" width="68" height="25" border="0" alt="Search" /></a></td>
<td rowspan="2"><a href="/perl/register" onMouseOut="MM_swapImgRestore();MM_startTimeout();" onMouseOver="MM_showMenu(window.mm_menu_1018171924_3,0,25,null,'ePrints_banner_r5_c9');MM_swapImage('ePrints_banner_r5_c9','','/images/eprints/ePrints_banner_r5_c9_f2.gif',1);"><img name="ePrints_banner_r5_c9" src="/images/eprints/ePrints_banner_r5_c9.gif" width="68" height="25" border="0" alt="register" /></a></td>
<td rowspan="2"><a href="/perl/users/home" onMouseOut="MM_swapImgRestore();MM_startTimeout()" onMouseOver="MM_showMenu(window.mm_menu_0821133422_4,0,25,null,'ePrints_banner_r5_c10');MM_swapImage('ePrints_banner_r5_c10','','/images/eprints/ePrints_banner_r5_c10_f2.gif',1);"><img name="ePrints_banner_r5_c10" src="/images/eprints/ePrints_banner_r5_c10.gif" width="82" height="25" border="0" alt="user area" /></a></td>
<td rowspan="2"><a href="/help/" onMouseOut="MM_swapImgRestore();MM_startTimeout()" onMouseOver="MM_showMenu(window.mm_menu_0821133514_5,0,25,null,'ePrints_banner_r5_c11');MM_swapImage('ePrints_banner_r5_c11','','/images/eprints/ePrints_banner_r5_c11_f2.gif',1);"><img name="ePrints_banner_r5_c11" src="/images/eprints/ePrints_banner_r5_c11.gif" width="69" height="25" border="0" alt="Help" /></a></td>
<td rowspan="3" colspan="4"><img name="ePrints_banner_r5_c12" src="/images/eprints/ePrints_banner_r5_c12.gif" width="98" height="40" border="0" alt="" /></td>
<td><img src="/images/eprints/spacer.gif" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td rowspan="2"><img name="ePrints_banner_r6_c3" src="/images/eprints/ePrints_banner_r6_c3.gif" width="44" height="39" border="0" alt="ePrints home" /></td>
<td><a href="/" onMouseOut="MM_swapImgRestore()" onMouseOver="MM_swapImage('ePrints_banner_r6_c4','','/images/eprints/ePrints_banner_r6_c4_f2.gif',1);"><img name="ePrints_banner_r6_c4" src="/images/eprints/ePrints_banner_r6_c4.gif" width="105" height="24" border="0" alt="ePrints home" /></a></td>
<td><img src="/images/eprints/spacer.gif" width="1" height="24" border="0" alt="" /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><img name="ePrints_banner_r7_c2" src="/images/eprints/ePrints_banner_r7_c2.gif" width="104" height="15" border="0" alt="" /></td>
<td colspan="8"><img name="ePrints_banner_r7_c4" src="/images/eprints/ePrints_banner_r7_c4.gif" width="517" height="15" border="0" alt="" /></td>
<td><img src="/images/eprints/spacer.gif" width="1" height="15" border="0" alt="" /></td>
</tr>
</table></td>
</tr>
<tr><td><table width="100%" style="font-size: 90%; border: solid 1px #ccc; padding: 3px"><tr>
<td align="left"><a href="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/cgi/users/home">Login</a> | <a href="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/cgi/register">Create Account</a></td>
<td align="right" style="white-space: nowrap">
<form method="get" accept-charset="utf-8" action="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/cgi/search" style="display:inline">
<input class="ep_tm_searchbarbox" size="20" type="text" name="q" />
<input class="ep_tm_searchbarbutton" value="Search" type="submit" name="_action_search" />
<input type="hidden" name="_order" value="bytitle" />
<input type="hidden" name="basic_srchtype" value="ALL" />
<input type="hidden" name="_satisfyall" value="ALL" />
</form>
</td>
</tr></table></td></tr>
<tr>
<td class="toplinks"><!-- InstanceBeginEditable name="content" -->
<div align="center">
<table width="720" class="ep_tm_main"><tr><td align="left">
<h1 class="ep_tm_pagetitle">The myth of the computer revolution</h1>
<p style="margin-bottom: 1em" class="not_ep_block"><span class="person_name">Holmes, Neville</span> (1998) <xhtml:em>The myth of the computer revolution.</xhtml:em> Computer, 31 (11). pp. 121-122. ISSN 0018-9162</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em" class="not_ep_block"></p><table style="margin-bottom: 1em" class="not_ep_block"><tr><td valign="top" style="text-align:center"><a onmouseover="EPJS_ShowPreview( event, 'doc_preview_2480' );" href="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/2004/1/Cm98Nv.pdf" onmouseout="EPJS_HidePreview( event, 'doc_preview_2480' );"><img alt="[img]" src="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/style/images/fileicons/application_pdf.png" class="ep_doc_icon" border="0" /></a><div class="ep_preview" id="doc_preview_2480"><table><tr><td><img alt="" src="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/2004/thumbnails/1/preview.png" class="ep_preview_image" border="0" /><div class="ep_preview_title">Preview</div></td></tr></table></div></td><td valign="top"><a href="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/2004/1/Cm98Nv.pdf"><span class="ep_document_citation">PDF</span></a> - Requires a PDF viewer<br />176Kb</td></tr></table><p style="margin-bottom: 1em" class="not_ep_block">Official URL: <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/MC.1998.730742">http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/MC.1998.730742</a></p><div class="not_ep_block"><h2>Abstract</h2><p style="padding-bottom: 16px; text-align: left; margin: 1em auto 0em auto">This essay covers a large number of points very briefly: the misunderstanding of the millennium bug, the hyperbole of computer publicity, the very conservative nature of computer use by government and industry, the suppression of innovation through computer use, the misunderstanding of technological evolution, computers and the rise of neofeudalism.</p></div><table style="margin-bottom: 1em" cellpadding="3" class="not_ep_block" border="0"><tr><th valign="top" class="ep_row">Item Type:</th><td valign="top" class="ep_row">Article</td></tr><tr><th valign="top" class="ep_row">Additional Information:</th><td valign="top" class="ep_row">This essay has been more formally published as Essay 2.1 of the author's book "Computers and People" (Wiley, 2006). This material is presented to ensure timely dissemination of scholarly and technical work. Copyright and all rights therein are retained by authors or by other copyright holders. All persons copying this information are expected to adhere to the terms and constraints invoked by each author's copyright. In most cases, these works may not be reposted without the explicit permission of the copyright holder.
Copyright 1998 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or to reuse any copyrighted component of this work in other works must be obtained from the IEEE.</td></tr><tr><th valign="top" class="ep_row">Keywords:</th><td valign="top" class="ep_row">millennium bug, Cobol, early computer use, conservatism, technological evolution, neofeudalism</td></tr><tr><th valign="top" class="ep_row">Subjects:</th><td valign="top" class="ep_row"><a href="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/view/subjects/350202.html">350000 Commerce, Management, Tourism and Services > 350200 Business and Management > 350202 Business Information Systems (incl. Data Processing)</a><br /><a href="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/view/subjects/370601.html">370000 Studies in Human Society > 370600 History and Philosophy of Science and Medicine > 370601 History and Philosophy of Science and Technology</a><br /><a href="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/view/subjects/350211.html">350000 Commerce, Management, Tourism and Services > 350200 Business and Management > 350211 Innovation and Technology Management</a></td></tr><tr><th valign="top" class="ep_row">ID Code:</th><td valign="top" class="ep_row">2004</td></tr><tr><th valign="top" class="ep_row">Deposited By:</th><td valign="top" class="ep_row"><span class="ep_name_citation"><span class="person_name">Mr Neville Holmes</span></span></td></tr><tr><th valign="top" class="ep_row">Deposited On:</th><td valign="top" class="ep_row">26 Sep 2007</td></tr><tr><th valign="top" class="ep_row">Last Modified:</th><td valign="top" class="ep_row">09 Jan 2008 02:30</td></tr><tr><th valign="top" class="ep_row">ePrint Statistics:</th><td valign="top" class="ep_row"><a target="ePrintStats" href="/es/index.php?action=show_detail_eprint;id=2004;">View statistics for this ePrint</a></td></tr></table><p align="right">Repository Staff Only: <a href="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/cgi/users/home?screen=EPrint::View&eprintid=2004">item control page</a></p>
</td></tr></table>
</div>
<!-- InstanceEndEditable --></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><!-- #BeginLibraryItem "/Library/footer_eprints.lbi" -->
<table width="795" border="0" align="left" cellpadding="0" class="footer">
<tr valign="top">
<td colspan="2"><div align="center"><a href="http://www.utas.edu.au">UTAS home</a> | <a href="http://www.utas.edu.au/library/">Library home</a> | <a href="/">ePrints home</a> | <a href="/contact.html">contact</a> | <a href="/information.html">about</a> | <a href="/view/">browse</a> | <a href="/perl/search/simple">search</a> | <a href="/perl/register">register</a> | <a href="/perl/users/home">user area</a> | <a href="/help/">help</a></div><br /></td>
</tr>
<tr><td colspan="2"><p><img src="/images/eprints/footerline.gif" width="100%" height="4" /></p></td></tr>
<tr valign="top">
<td width="68%" class="footer">Authorised by the University Librarian<br />
© University of Tasmania ABN 30 764 374 782<br />
<a href="http://www.utas.edu.au/cricos/">CRICOS Provider Code 00586B</a> | <a href="http://www.utas.edu.au/copyright/copyright_disclaimers.html">Copyright & Disclaimers</a> | <a href="http://www.utas.edu.au/accessibility/index.html">Accessibility</a> | <a href="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/feedback/">Site Feedback</a> </td>
<td width="32%"><div align="right">
<p align="right" class="NoPrint"><a href="http://www.utas.edu.au/"><img src="http://www.utas.edu.au/shared/logos/unioftasstrip.gif" alt="University of Tasmania Home Page" width="260" height="16" border="0" align="right" /></a></p>
<p align="right" class="NoPrint"><a href="http://www.utas.edu.au/"><br />
</a></p>
</div></td>
</tr>
<tr valign="top">
<td><p> </p></td>
<td><div align="right"><span class="NoPrint"><a href="http://www.eprints.org/software/"><img src="/images/eprintslogo.gif" alt="ePrints logo" width="77" height="29" border="0" align="bottom" /></a></span></div></td>
</tr>
</table>
<!-- #EndLibraryItem -->
<div align="center"></div></td>
</tr>
</table>
</body>
</html>
