Computer: SPERRY UNIVAC Systems: CEO Lyet talk to Employees 1978 Rare original film (Unisys)

Computer History: Sperry Univac: Sperry CEO talks to Employees 1978; J. Paul Lyet, Sperry Chairman & CEO gives a high-level overview of Sperry Univac products and computer systems used in defense, business, medicine, aviation, agriculture industry, maritime applications and more. A rare film not seen for 45 years. Provided for historical review and comment. Computer History Archives Project (CHAP). Run time 16 mins.

2K and 4K stock footage available from
PeriscopeFilm

For more information on History of Sperry Corporation & related companies, visit:

VIP Club Eagan, MN
Information Technology (IT) Pioneers
Retirees and former employees of Unisys, Lockheed Martin, and their heritage companies

UNISYS Corporation

Charles Babbage Institute

[obsoleteprofessor]

I was driving around in my Chevette when this film was made.

[derekchristenson]

Neat! Hard to believe that this was made just a few short years before I was born.

An old coworker of mine (years ago) worked for Sperry Univac back in the day. His opinions on the company were... mixed. He said that they cut corners when they didn't need to, such as use very brittle plastic power switches on their terminals, making it a 100% probability that every terminal would be sent back for service when everything about it still worked, but you couldn't turn it on anymore. He also recounted a meeting at which one of the big wigs there encouraged attendees to "aim to be Number Two." The idea being that aiming for Number One was just too expensive, but by intentionally being second best, they would get a lot of business on the budget end. This did not go over well with the fellow that I worked with many years later. (All of this is, of course, second-hand information, but my coworker was a trustworthy guy, so I have no reason to doubt it, even though I cannot verify any of it.)

[thesteelrodent]

0:22 this guy is walking around with a write-protect ring in his hand, and looks like he applies it to one of the reels on top of the tape drive just at it cuts to the next clip. One of the most ingenious standardized ways to write protect reel-to-reel tape. Much more durable than the sticky tape that went on the later floppy disks

lots of cool tech stuff in this video, though, and some I had no idea Sperry was involved in

[headpox]

Thanks, CHAP, for once again bringing such a wonderful presentation to YouTube.

[sabrinatirabassi]

Of course the tecnology has been largely improved today, but most of those things were the starting point of things (the ECG machine, the mail sorting machine) that we mostly give for granted in our world.

[wmffmw]

Actually there was a push to develop MiniComputers and Microprocessor based Systems while Mainframes where being phased out as I.C.'s became denser.

[BillMauchly]

You can see what a diverse bunch of machines they made. I guess that’s why they lost there way in the computer hardware business 😮

[lilblackduc]

America was a much better place than today, in 1978...🇺🇸 😎👍☕ (low-wattage trolls may dessent below)

[davidjames]

Lyet (Lee-ayyy) died 2 years after retiring after 35 years with the company. he was only 67. life is precious and we should enjoy it while we can. stop being slaves to technology and to the system and make do with what you have.