1. International Business Machines IBM The best known American computer manufacturer, founded by Thomas J. Watson born 1874-02-17, known as "Big Blue" after the colour of its logo. IBM makes everything from mainframes to personal computers PCs and has been immensely successful in selling them, chiefly to business. It has often been said that "Nobody has ever been sacked for buying IBM". The IBM PC in its various versions has been so successful that unqualified reference to a "PC" almost certainly means a PC from IBM, or one of the many brands of clone produced by other manufacturers to cash in on IBMs original success. Alternative expansions of "IBM" such as Inferior But Marketable; Its Better Manually; Insidious Black Magic; Its Been Malfunctioning; Incontinent Bowel Movement, illustrate the considerable antipathy most hackers have long felt toward the "industry leader" see fear and loathing. Quarterly sales $15351M, profits $689M Aug 1994. Home http://www. ibm. com/.
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