Remembering WANG COMPUTERS & WORD PROCESSING 1973-1981 Office Automation Minicomputers
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- Опубліковано 31 тра 2024
- A short non-technical look back at some of WANG's early computers and Word Processors 1973-1981.
From the 1970’s to the mid 1980’s, Wang Laboratories was a global leader in word processing and office automation. Founded in 1951 in Massachusetts, it established headquarters in Cambridge, then Tewksbury and finally Lowell, Mass. At its peak in the 1980s, annual revenue reached $3 billion, with over 33,000 employees.
IN 1955, Wang produced an early computer (WEDILOG digital differential analyzer) for U.S. Gov.
In the mid-1960s, Wang Labs introduced innovative electronic calculators, including the “logarithmic calculating instrument” or LOCI in 1964, and the programmable LOCI-2, in 1965. Wang also released a variety of products, including the successful 300, and 700 series calculators.
WORD PROCESSING and BUSINESS COMPUTING
The Wang model 1200 of 1972 could perform basic word processing functions, but lacked a CRT screen.
Wang released the Model 2200 minicomputer in May 1973. It had a video display screen, keyboard and cassette tape drive; 4k RAM and “BASIC” language built-in. The 2200 was very successful, selling over 10,000 units in the first few years.
Wang is especially remembered for its very successful Wang WPS, Word Processing System, introduced in June 1976; it sold 5,000 units in the first two years. Word Processing Computers became highly popular in the mid 1970’s and ‘80’s. By 1980, Wang dominated the dedicated word processing market.
Wang worked to integrate its OIS (Office Information Systems) line and its Wang VS (Virtual Storage) line to facilitate office automation during the late 1970's and early 1980's.
Wang products continued in use for years. Due to market losses, however, Wang filed for bankruptcy in 1992 and underwent restructuring. In 1999, Wang Global acquired by by Dutch computer firm Getronics for $2 billion. In 2007, CompuCom Systems, Inc., acquired the North American operations of Getronics.
RECOMMENDED REFERENCES FOR MORE WANG HISTORY:--------------------
The following are some excellent web resources for historical info
on Wang computers.
Old Calculator Museum.com
oldcalculatormuseum.com/wangl...
Wang 1200.org
wang1200.org/
Wang 2200.org
www.wang2200.org/
Wang3300.org
wang3300.org/
Datapro Research Report: Wang Laboratories 2200 Series (1981)
www.bitsavers.org/pdf/datapro/...
Vintage Computers: Wang Computers
www.horniger.de/computer/wang/...
Wang Museum Netherlands
www.wangmuseum.nl/
National Museum of American History (Wang LOCI and Calculator photos)
americanhistory.si.edu/
Rhode Island Computer Museum
www.ricomputermuseum.org/
Computer Museum Mountain View
computerhistory.org/
Bitsavers.org
www.bitsavers.org
IEEE Computer Soc. Art.: Computer Pioneers: An Wang by J.A.N. Lee
history.computer.org/pioneers...
Wang Corporate Records (Harvard)
hollisarchives.lib.harvard.ed...
-- Timeline of a few Key Events 1951-1976 (DRAFT) (some dates approx.)
1951 Wang Laboratories founded in Massachusetts.
1955 Wang incorporated in Delaware. An Wang was registered as president and treasurer.
1955 (May) Wang is granted a U.S. patent for “magnetic "Pulse Transfer Controlling Device,” which helped make magnetic core memory practical.
1955 WEDILOG Differential Analyzer, a vacuum tube and diode machine, is produced for the U.S. Government.
1956 (March 4) Wang sells his memory core patent to IBM for $500,000.
1958-59 Weditrol (“Wang Electronic Digital Control Units”) sold for $700 each.
1959-1963 Wang works with Compugraphic to produce the Linasec, a semi-automated phototypesetting machine.
1964 The LOCI-1 calculator is completed.
1965 LOCI-2, its first programmable scientific calculator, is released.
1965 Wang announces the 300 family of calculators. Base model sells for $1,700.
1967 Wang went public and sold 210,000 shares of common stock on NYSE.
1968 Wang announces the 700 advanced programming calculator.
1968 Wang introduces the model 4000 computer.
1970 Wang introduces the model 3300 computer.
1971 Wang introduces the Series 600 programmable calculator.
1973 Wang 2200 computer released in April (about $8,500).
1973 Wang’s rudimentary word processing machine, the 1200, is introduced.
1975 Wang WCS family 10, 20, 30 introduced. Similar architecture to the Wang 2200, but are marketed primarily to business and commercial customers.
1976 (June) Wang introduced its first CRT based word processor, the Wang WPS (Word Processing System) - Наука та технологія
I worked for Wang Labs as a support analyst and developer in Ireland in the late 80's as my first job. It lasted a lot longer than 1981. VS series were well engineered machines, both HW and OS, very efficient in memory use with time sharing OS, easy to use and operate. Wang WP was well designed and PACE RDB was a good competitor in the relational DB space. WIIS(imaging) was also a strong offering. In general, the company had good standards and many good people. Many patents. Fred Wang was an innovator, and did his best, but not to the standard of his father, An Wang, who was also a great driving innovative force and more business savvy. It had its heyday and was a great company for many years. I still recall the buzz of competing head to head with other strong 80's vendors including IBM in the crowded and ultimately squeezed mini-computer space.
Hi Alan, thank you very much for your comment and sharing of some of your history with Wang Labs. It sounds like you were right in the thick of the microcomputer competition of those days. I am familiar with Wang WP, but not so much with PACE RDB. Sounds like you have quite a depth of experience. Thank you again for sharing. ~ After Wang, did you move to another tech company? ~ Victor, CHAP
Hello!Is there any possible that we could have an interview with you since we are very interested in Wang Labs and we are looking for ex-employees to join us to tell the story of this legendary company.
I worked for a marketing firm in Northern California that handled all of the advertising and collateral for Intel Semiconductors in the mid-to-late 1970's. We developed a campaign that required testimonials from customers of Intel. Wang Labs was a customer. We set up an interview in the Boston area with An Wang, the founder of Wang Labs. Our Creative Director and I flew there and arrived at Wang Labs the next day. His staff was very welcoming and professional. The interview was with A Wang, along with a photo shoot. We waited for Mr. Wang to meet us somewhere in their building. When he arrived and walked in to the room, it was almost like the air was being sucked out. He had a presence like Andy Grove or Steve Jobs. Almost like a superstar. He could not have been more hospitable and supportive. I was so impressed. He asked me to take a minute with him after everything was done and said: "Tell Robert Noyce that we will stay our of the Microprocessor business if he stays out of the desktop word-processing business." To have A Wang ask me to deliver a message to Bob Noyce was a high point in my career!!
Hi @NYBORN2012, that is an amazingly cool story!! Thanks very much for sharing it. Sounds like you were a computer "celebrity" in your own right. and a great story to tell the grand kids! ~ Victor, at CHAP
I enjoyed all 10 years the company took good care of their employees and promoted growth for me in which I started as a component level board repair technician later worked in Engineering department, Field Service also product support engineering technician involved in the VS 300 Rev 1 design level at the Wang Tower supporting the I/O hard drive and magnetic tape controller boards running hours of test also known as burn in time for future Revision correcting and improvement done by the design engineer. I ran test to see board behavior with different hard drive and tape units performance.
I was a Wang tech (they called us Customer Engineers) in the 80's. Our branch split us into WP (word processing) and DP ( data processing) . I was a DP tech and worked on 2200 and VS hardware.
Did you see Dr Wang in person ?
@@BHARGAV_GAJJAR yes, he came to Seattle and they hosted a big employee party. He made his way around the room and shook everyone's hand.
This is all a shock to me, even as a computer nerd born in 1982, I've never heard of Wang Computers except for a t-shirt reference in The Simpsons which I just thought was a play on the word Wang.
As an EE-student during my 1979 summer job in a construction office in Hamburg/Germany I had contact with a Wang 2200 system doing engineering calculations for flood protection constructions at Hamburg's habour against highest water levels of river Elbe ... I still remember my astonishment about these big data storage disks, which got sucked in by low air pressure after loading them onto the disk drive motor ... with their "gigantic" storage volumes of 5 Megabytes ... ;-)
That was so much advanced compared to the university time sharing system PDP-10 (DEC) still operating with magnetic core memory using Teletype Terminals ... storing my Algol-60 programs (e.g. runing the quick-sort algorithm) still on punch tape ... ;-)
Hi Hans, sounds like fascinating times! ~ Hunter, at CHAP
@@ComputerHistoryArchivesProject ... OH YES SIR ... I wanted from my very beginnings on to understand exactly the insides of computers ... which let me find my later career path into full custom chip desgn (Matra-Harris Semiconducteurs) ... that were in fact really big fun times for me ... I have great memories about that time of adventures ... all these fancy EDA-tools were still in their infancy ... ;-) ... it were all (b)leading edge technologies back than ... one high point for me was the experiences with on-chip e-beam testing using the new e-beam test system IDS-5000 from Schlumberge ... the first e-beam test system capable of measurements directly through the chip's glas passivation, which made the results so much more reliable ... e.g. measuring on-chip race conditions between clock-tree and data pathes ...
So cool. 5MB was actually very impressive in 1979.
@@justintw888 ... the first UNIX OSes used just 20 kB ... ! ... and Bill Gates thought that 640 kB operational computer memory (DRAM) is more than necessary for all future ... ;-)
@@hansvetter8653 yep I still remember 8086 memory segment register and QEMM :)
I worked for Wang from 1979 through 1989 Field Service Rep and my last three years Product Support Engineering Technician at Wang Tower in Lowell
Those sound like they were the "good years" with Wang. Did you enjoy the work there?
🎼 Everybody have fun tonight, Everybody Wang Chung tonight 🎼
The most memorable Wang moment that sticks in my mind was their 80’s advertising campaign with the slogan “Wang Cares”. When the marketing material arrived in Australia and the UK it was greeted with massive laughter. Seems like nobody checked it would be confused by some colloquial slang in these countries :-)
Ages ago, we bought a Wang flatbed plotter at auction. The receipt said "Wang machine", and everyone had a giggle. Years later, I learned why. ;^)
I worked on a Wang VS65. They were being put in the US Postal service in the early 80's. The Memphis Data Center had 2 Wang VS 100's which mirrored each other. I got to see all of these machines.
Hi Brent, sounds very cool. Good experience too. ~
My first computer was a second hand Wang Labs PC-260, a 286 IBM Compatible computer from 1989. I still have it!
It's getting a bit tired nowadays, but I have very fond memories of playing Space Quest on it for many hours. My Dad used it as an office machine for a short period of time, as well.
I have some sort of Wang PC clone with an 8086 (not 8088). It's been years since I used it.
Oh man we had the same machine and I used to love playing space quest and the Oregon trail on it as a kid
@@seanc.5310 Hey!! That's epic!
Such a simple little machine, yet so much character.
For what it's worth, I recently uploaded a video where I use it for some testing of a hard drive emulator, and play a few games to test it further.
@@orinokonx01 i will check it out. I’m new to your channel, looks like i have some videos to watch!
@@seanc.5310 Well, I appreciate that!
Working on a new video right now, actually. Bit of a project, so it may take a little while.
I will be revisiting the Wang PC at some point!
Wow. My Wang predates those in this video.
The first computer I ever worked on was a Wang System 30 when I was in business college in Chicago. That was like in 1982.
Many people used a Wang as the 1st computer they ever used in their high school.
I had my first exposure to a Wang OIS word processor at a former school called Control Data Institute in 1988. I really needed not to attend school because I possessed typewriting skills since I was 12 years old. The word processor gave me appreciation for electronic office machines more than card punch machines and key-to-disc data terminals. Now that I do word processing and other business tasks on the microcomputer, I will have no need to even think of looking back.
Hi Captain Keyboard, Thanks for mentioning "Control Data Institute," I remember their ads well! They had a competitor school called "Computer Learning Center "CLC" which I actually attended in 1983. They taught BAL, RPC, COBOL and other tech courses. You are right though, the micro's took over the WP tasks and ultimately did it better in the long run. Good times though! Once you master the micros, you don't look back. ~ Victor
@@ComputerHistoryArchivesProject Good Morning, Victory Victor! First, you are welcome. Second, I saw the television advertisement of Control Data Institute on black and white television. The Wang OIS was not the first word processor I learned at Control Data Institute in Manhattan, New York. The IBM Displaywriter with TextPak 4 was the first word processor I touched. I was the only student to learn it. All my classmates were assigned to the Wang. The instructress knew that I have a typewriting skill. Maybe that is the reason she started me with hands-on training on that IBM word processor. Instead of following the student guide which would have shown me certain parts of the pages to read in the IBM instruction manual and skip the other things the manual did not mention, I forsook the student guide and read the IBM manual from beginning to end in the self-paced training course. On many days, I learned at least two portions of the manual. I liked the IBM Displaywriter so much that learning word processing on that "typewriting" computer was like learning how to play the pipe organ in a cathedral. Also, I began to despise the keypunch keyboarding I did at work on the Nixdorf (formerly Entrex) data terminal at work. My yen for the microcomputer made me realize that keypunch would be going out of style when the microcomputer keyboard advanced to 103 104 keys. In the meantime, I wanted to own an IBM Displaywriter so much that I daydreamed of owning one in a secret place, working for Jessica Fletcher, so that I would have lots of electronic information to help solve her cases. Now that I have a Dell Inspiron keyboard with Microsoft Windows 10 Pro, Microsoft Office 2021 Professional; and a Brother P-Touch label printer, I have been doing more than I would if I only had an IBM Displaywriter. Unfortunately, my bad time at Control Data Institute was upon graduation. I was unsuccessful in gaining employment using my newly-acquired skills, even though I presented myself with a corporate appearance and a corporate attitude. Thank you for being so thoughtful enough to render your invaluable time to type to me. Happy Keyboarding!
Hi Captain Keyboard, thank you for the fascinating history. You have quite the in-depth background in the early Displaywriter. I never used a Displaywriter, but did use IBM "Displaywrite/3" on the PC, and "Displaywrite/36" on the IBM System/36. I was told they looked similar to the Displaywriter command screen and menus.... ; )
@@ComputerHistoryArchivesProject Blessed are you! Like the software, the IBM hardware and the compatible computers were on the verge of improvements. The printers were being changed so that text font and weights can be set in different parts of the document without the need for printer stops and replacing daisy wheels and typeface falls constantly, even when printing only one copy of the document. All that I wanted to do on the job I do today, right in the privacy of my home. I am learning to use more features in the software programs that I would unlikely learn in a typical job. Thank you for typing to me, and Happy Keyboarding!
I remember when I worked in the office of an insurance company processing claims by hand. There was a computer in the office but no one was permitted to touch it except the supervisors. This was in the early 70s.
I'm probably on the younger side of those who know of WANG. My mom worked at a high tech company which did Remote Sensing (creating the hardware/software for manipulating image data from satellites starting somewhere in the late 70's)... Her office had just moved to IBM PC's and put the WANG terminal in a corner as a backup system / during transition. This was approx mid 80's. So whenever we visited the office, I'd get to play on the WANG. I specifically remember the green screen (I believe PM-004-B terminal) and menu where you'd choose a number to do something. I'd make pictures similar to ASCII art you see today in the Word Processor or play games. Too bad I wasn't old enough to take the whole system once the time came for them to remove it fully from the office!
There is also a great little book (intended for children doing research) Dr. An Wang: Computer Pioneer (People of Distinction Biographies) Library Binding - January 1, 1993 you can find on Amazon. Sad to see it taken out of libraries but I guess not super relevant these days.
Hi Consure, great story, thank you! Glad to hear from an actual Wang user. It is amazing how high they flew for a short time, and now, little is known about them except from past users and Wang techs. ~
I remember the Wang brand of computers from the mid-80s, but knew nothing about the company until now. Good gear, from what I recall.
Their computer products were well made. They had a solid hold on the market at one time.
The law firm I worked for, Skadden Arps, used WANG computers in the late 80's early 90's.
Hi SargeTech, law firms loved the Wang WP systems, and could easily afford them despite the price tag. Thanks for your feedback! ~ Victor, at CHAP
wow. never heard of Wang. great video.
Hi Zeenoh, very glad you enjoyed it. This little clip barely scratches the surface of the Wang product line. They were a rival to IBM and DEC in office automation in early 1980's... then it went south. A fascinating history. They filed for bankruptcy in 1992, just when the world wide web was getting started, so we don't find as much about them without a little hunting. Thank you for the feedback! ~ Victor, CHAP
Thank you very much to all our viewers and supporters! UA-cam now offers a quick way to leave a tip if you would like to help us produce more historical content, just click on the "THANKS" and heart symbol above. Thanks so much! ~ CHAP
I had no idea Exxon was making word processing machines and other office computers in the 80s.
Yes, everyone was jumping on the WP bandwagon back then. No one wanted to be left out...
Me neither. This is a whole new world of experience.
Thank you for this video.
Hi Felix. thank you, you are most welcome! Victor
Wang had some great computer systems. Dr Wang invented SIMM memory. Uninstalled it in some of their PCs. I also programmed on their VS series mini computers. They were fantastic. They became very expensive, and lost their competitive edge. I was sad to see them go.
Hi Michael, the VS series programming sounds very interesting. It seems like the VS series was very popular at one time. It doesn't seem like many physical systems survived, but it was a long time ago in the "IT" world. : )
@@ComputerHistoryArchivesProject
The VS Line went from PC size to large machines. I loved COBOL programming on a VS. Those were the good old days, that and programming on OS/2. Yes, I'm old! 😁
Me too. The first machine I ever programmed was a VS-80, then later the VS-100 with a gargantuan 2MB of main memory. VS COBOL was a pleasure to program in, and later I worked with PACE, which was also a great product. I was hanging around the local Wang offices and would undoubtedly have ended up working for them, but then it all cratered. I was sad to see them go too.
Appreciate all your excellent content. Still have my Wang MS DOS/Windows 3 PC from 1990. Sad to see the company's demise, great quality build machines but just couldn't compete against the influx of much cheaper PC clones at the time.
Hi Vision SX, thank you very much for your kind words. Wow, you still have the Wang pc! 30 years, not too shabby.
Something to hold onto. -- There was so much more of WANG back to 1955 as well, we were hoping to make a much longer "documentary", but alas, some day. Glad you enjoyed this teaser... Victor
I had seen some Wang computer in the uk thrown out stuff from the 1970's
One of their sales offices was Wang Cologne. Think about it.
Thanks so much for the laugh!🤣🤣🤣
@@ian_b That's a genuine period joke that deserves to be remembered along with Wang itself.
Let us not forget Nicolas Cage's line in "Peggy Sue Got Married".
Well, you could never accuse them of being part of the corporate circlejerk.
I grew up in Queens Village NYC, Word was that An Wang grew up a few blocks from where my parents' house was. I look but can not find if this was true. oWell
I worked for Olivetti programming their A5 and A6 computers in the late 70’s. One of our salesmen badly wanted to go into a Wang owning business and say “Let me see your Wang!” Lol
.... ( :
I loved that the Wang terminals had a relay under the keyboard that would click every time the user pressed a key. That way giving IBM keyboard tactile feedback at a lower price.
It's the prices that get me. Luckily the price of RAM has fallen dramatically.
So much code and human-hours efforts were just thrown away... It would be interesting to know what kind of programming language they used to write all that stuff for those "terminals" firmware. I am really afraid of hearing ASM and direct OPcodes..😵💫😮
According to Wikipedia the Wang 2200, that was based on Intel's 8080, was booting into..... *long dramatic drum roll* .... ----->> BASIC!!! So nothing to worry about. :D
@@andreasklindt7144 But what did they use to write all those text editors and other software? 🙄🙄
@@ran2wild370 I've no clue. Maybe Fortran, Cobol or C? Just guessing.
@@andreasklindt7144 me too. I just don't want to take the fact that they might did it in ASM... that would sound scary
The word processing software was written in PLM-80 language
I own one, please tell me where I might sell it and its worth.. a 700 series wang calculator!
You might try Worthpoint, Etsy, eBay, etc. Sounds like a nice item.
@@ComputerHistoryArchivesProject ty so much ! It was my dads and he started using this and was able to keep one in the 60s - wished he would have taken more as they salvaged them ! I’ll keep trying ! I want someone worthy of keeping it in the museums to educate kids today !! 🫶
Nothing on Wang VS minicomputers?
Hi RaymondHng, looking for some good video material on the Wang VS mini family. Hopefully, we will come up with some good historical info to share. Thanks! ~
Unfortunately it was the “last” big thing.
So I guess the Wang just couldn't keep up with the newer tech?
Hi Mopar Stephen, good question! There are articles and at least one book on the rise and downfall of Wang. Their machines were well constructed, solid, somewhat expensive, and not very flexible. The microcomputers that were produced by competitors were lighter, cheaper, easier to modify. That may be just one of the reasons they didn't keep up. There were reportedly management issues as well. The downfall of many a good company. ~
It's pronounced weighng
Roger Connolly - was at Wang UK along with Alan Davies and Ian Diery - in 1980 I sold $1000000 in March a single month - 2nd top sales worldwide. Word Processing was going crazy every large corporate wanted it. Then was 1st Dealer in UK and turned over large volumes of the Wang writer.
David keeps us together as best he can - every couple of years but attendee numbers are dwindling now .
Wang dang dump goes the computer company! Lol
The narration sounds artificial.