100x100
January 28, 2011 9:24 AM Subscribe
100x100 is a short video about IBM's 100 year history with milestones told by individuals who were born the year they were marked. IBM has been a progressive force not only in technology, but in the workplace. Previously - the Errol Morris film also made for the centennial anniversary.
This post was deleted for the following reason: there is an IMB is 100 thread from a few days ago, maybe put this in there? -- jessamyn
IBM has been a progressive force not only in technology, but in the workplace.
*cough*
posted by mecran01 at 9:34 AM on January 28, 2011 [4 favorites]
*cough*
posted by mecran01 at 9:34 AM on January 28, 2011 [4 favorites]
Did you just post a 13 minute IBM commercial?
posted by charles kaapjes at 9:36 AM on January 28, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by charles kaapjes at 9:36 AM on January 28, 2011 [2 favorites]
Don't have time to watch the whole thing at work. Does it mention the fact that Thomas Watson received an Iron Cross from Hitler's own hand due to the work IBM had done helping to "organize" the records on the Jewish population of Eastern Europe?
Always love to ask IBM folks about that. Most don't recall that part of the orientation.
posted by tomb at 9:41 AM on January 28, 2011
Always love to ask IBM folks about that. Most don't recall that part of the orientation.
posted by tomb at 9:41 AM on January 28, 2011
Does it mention the fact that Thomas Watson received an Iron Cross from Hitler's own hand due to the work IBM had done helping to "organize" the records on the Jewish population of Eastern Europe?
Always love to ask IBM folks about that. Most don't recall that part of the orientation.
Charming. Do you also walk into Volkswagon dealerships and ask the salesmen there about how the company was started by Nazi Germany while looking at the stats on the Toureg?
posted by hippybear at 9:46 AM on January 28, 2011 [2 favorites]
Always love to ask IBM folks about that. Most don't recall that part of the orientation.
Charming. Do you also walk into Volkswagon dealerships and ask the salesmen there about how the company was started by Nazi Germany while looking at the stats on the Toureg?
posted by hippybear at 9:46 AM on January 28, 2011 [2 favorites]
And before anyone calls me on it. Yes I know it was a Eagle with Stars medal, not an Iron Cross. But most of the IBM folks wouldn't know what an Eagle with Stars medal was, but they know an Iron Cross.
And yes, he gave it back. But still, the Nazi's call you in 37 and say Hey, we wanna give you a medal. What would you do?
posted by tomb at 9:48 AM on January 28, 2011
And yes, he gave it back. But still, the Nazi's call you in 37 and say Hey, we wanna give you a medal. What would you do?
posted by tomb at 9:48 AM on January 28, 2011
Charming. Do you also walk into Volkswagon dealerships and ask the salesmen there about how the company was started by Nazi Germany while looking at the stats on the Toureg?
No. Because Volkswagon was a GERMAN company. Not an American company that was profiting hand over fist from their relationship with Nazis.
posted by tomb at 9:49 AM on January 28, 2011
No. Because Volkswagon was a GERMAN company. Not an American company that was profiting hand over fist from their relationship with Nazis.
posted by tomb at 9:49 AM on January 28, 2011
Haha, over on YouTube, half (or more) of the comments are about IBMNazi as well. Sigh.
posted by ReeMonster at 10:00 AM on January 28, 2011
posted by ReeMonster at 10:00 AM on January 28, 2011
Just imagine what Microsoft's 100th Anniversary (holographic 3D) promotional video will be like in 2075!
posted by oneswellfoop at 10:02 AM on January 28, 2011
posted by oneswellfoop at 10:02 AM on January 28, 2011
If you put up a post that proudly announces how progressive a company is, then expect to hear from some folks who think otherwise.
posted by Postroad at 10:14 AM on January 28, 2011
posted by Postroad at 10:14 AM on January 28, 2011
No. Because Volkswagon was a GERMAN company. Not an American company that was profiting hand over fist from their relationship with Nazis.
Sigh. Hate to continue the derail, but "IBM Sold Computers to the Nazis" is a half-truth at best. Please read the history of what actually happened before mouthing off about it.
Also, in 1937, nobody fully knew what monsters the Nazis would turn out to be. Given that IBM didn't want their very profitable German business operations being nationalized, it's not really a surprise that their president would want to make a symbolic gesture of friendship toward the newly-formed Third Reich.
Looking through their eyes, I'm having a tough time envisioning how they could have done things differently. It's not even remotely a black & white situation. I don't think that Hitler ever sent a letter to Thomas Watson asking him to sell them computers in American currency to help the Nazis exterminate the Jews.
posted by schmod at 10:16 AM on January 28, 2011
Sigh. Hate to continue the derail, but "IBM Sold Computers to the Nazis" is a half-truth at best. Please read the history of what actually happened before mouthing off about it.
Also, in 1937, nobody fully knew what monsters the Nazis would turn out to be. Given that IBM didn't want their very profitable German business operations being nationalized, it's not really a surprise that their president would want to make a symbolic gesture of friendship toward the newly-formed Third Reich.
Looking through their eyes, I'm having a tough time envisioning how they could have done things differently. It's not even remotely a black & white situation. I don't think that Hitler ever sent a letter to Thomas Watson asking him to sell them computers in American currency to help the Nazis exterminate the Jews.
posted by schmod at 10:16 AM on January 28, 2011
schmod, have you ever read the book that mecran01 links to, granted its disguised as a cough.
But IBM's Hollerith punch card technology did exist. Aided by the company's custom-designed and constantly updated Hollerith systems, Hitler was able to automate his persecution of the Jews. Historians have always been amazed at the speed and accuracy with which the Nazis were able to identify and locate European Jewry. Until now, the pieces of this puzzle have never been fully assembled. The fact is, IBM technology was used to organize nearly everything in Germany and then Nazi Europe, from the identification of the Jews in censuses, registrations, and ancestral tracing programs to the running of railroads and organizing of concentration camp slave labor.
IBM and its German subsidiary custom-designed complex solutions, one by one, anticipating the Reich's needs. They did not merely sell the machines and walk away. Instead, IBM leased these machines for high fees and became the sole source of the billions of punch cards Hitler needed.
posted by infini at 10:28 AM on January 28, 2011
But IBM's Hollerith punch card technology did exist. Aided by the company's custom-designed and constantly updated Hollerith systems, Hitler was able to automate his persecution of the Jews. Historians have always been amazed at the speed and accuracy with which the Nazis were able to identify and locate European Jewry. Until now, the pieces of this puzzle have never been fully assembled. The fact is, IBM technology was used to organize nearly everything in Germany and then Nazi Europe, from the identification of the Jews in censuses, registrations, and ancestral tracing programs to the running of railroads and organizing of concentration camp slave labor.
IBM and its German subsidiary custom-designed complex solutions, one by one, anticipating the Reich's needs. They did not merely sell the machines and walk away. Instead, IBM leased these machines for high fees and became the sole source of the billions of punch cards Hitler needed.
posted by infini at 10:28 AM on January 28, 2011
Half the comments are about IBM's involvement in the Holocaust? I smell a coordinated campaign. Indeed, this issue seems to have been sparked by one particular 2002 book - IBM and the Holocaust - which argued for IBM's complicity. It seems that the company supplied census-tabulating machines to the Nazis; of course, unlike other countries, the Nazis would use this data to carry out the holocaust.
Background: List of companies involved in the Holocaust | IBM and the Holocaust
It was perhaps significant that the video skipped over wartime activities almost in their entirety, for better and for worse. Watching that video, you'd almost think that the first half of the 20th century was a cheerful, optimistic time.
posted by bicyclefish at 10:33 AM on January 28, 2011
Background: List of companies involved in the Holocaust | IBM and the Holocaust
It was perhaps significant that the video skipped over wartime activities almost in their entirety, for better and for worse. Watching that video, you'd almost think that the first half of the 20th century was a cheerful, optimistic time.
posted by bicyclefish at 10:33 AM on January 28, 2011
Half the comments are about IBM's involvement in the Holocaust? I smell a coordinated campaign.
Uh, this is pretty much just people on the internet being people on the internet.
posted by dobie at 10:42 AM on January 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
Uh, this is pretty much just people on the internet being people on the internet.
posted by dobie at 10:42 AM on January 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
The IBM of today is not the IBM of WWII. Since I was recently "absorbed" by IBM's growth strategy of buying companies that are profitable, I have mixed feelings about the company as a whole. However, the training and corporate indoctrination I have received since becoming an IBMer shows how seriously they take integrity, diversity, and international cooperation. The video in the training regarding workplace harassment mainly concentrated on a worker with a same-sex partner being harassed by his manager (in sometimes subtle ways). Other training modules stress observing cultural norms and trying to understand views of others not like you. Their business conduct guidelines are thorough and without a doubt the best guidelines I've read from any company I've worked for in the past.
Of course, you will have your own views. But the fact is that IBM today is a company of 400,000 people from around the world, so trying to portray them as a part of a conspiracy to help the Nazis succeed today just doesn't make sense. Remember, the founders of the United States owned slaves. But things improve over time, or at least I like to think so.
posted by Roger Dodger at 10:45 AM on January 28, 2011 [3 favorites]
Of course, you will have your own views. But the fact is that IBM today is a company of 400,000 people from around the world, so trying to portray them as a part of a conspiracy to help the Nazis succeed today just doesn't make sense. Remember, the founders of the United States owned slaves. But things improve over time, or at least I like to think so.
posted by Roger Dodger at 10:45 AM on January 28, 2011 [3 favorites]
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posted by schmod at 9:29 AM on January 28, 2011