Georgina Ferry

Having lived through computer history and even worked on a relative of the LEO (English Electric Leo KDF6) I found the book fascinating. Gripping even. The author gives an excellent account of the early conception and development of LEO. It was clearly a superior computer ahead of it's time, developed by an enthusiastic bunch of people. It is interesting that the developers believed in strong system methodology as much as computerisation of business systems. The ending was sad to read how the machine and people faded away.… (more)

"On Thursday, 29 November 1951, LEO took over Bakery Valuations from the clerks who had previously done the work, and became the first computer in the world to run a routine office job."

LEO wasn't the first computer in the world, nor the fastest. But it was hugely significant -- it was the first that wasn't built by, and for, scientists and mathematicians. It represented the first, uncertain steps down a road that we take for granted these days -- that of business automation. It was a computer designed to be used for the ordinary, the everyday. This book tells its story, and that of the men who dreamed and built it.

It's an interesting story, and Ferry tells it well. Much of it seems unlikely, and the whole episode deserves to be more widely known. One of Ferry's stated aims is to redress the imbalance which has seen LEO remain largely unsung and unacknowledged in histories of computing.

Computing would go on to be dominated by American firms, supported by investment from government and the military that their British counterparts failed to provide. But for a time, the leaders in the field were a handful of visionaries and pragmatists at a British catering company. Extraordinary.… (more)