THE LOGICAL VIEW

Made by an unknown animation company for IBM, this film "The Logical View" promotes the System/38 microcomputer, a multi-user system which was announced in 1978 and released in 1980. The film paints a wonderful picture of the kind of conundrum faced by many small businesses that have grown into large businesses -- and have lost the ability to manage data as a result. The story suggests that the System/38, with its flexible architecture and ability to handle multiple users, is a game changer. It is true that the System/38 was innovative for its era. It could handle from a dozen to several dozen terminals, had a unique (for that era) 48-bit addressing system, and an integrated database system. The innovative hardware and programming permitted many functions associated with large computers to be combined into the System/38's more compact system. These included many advanced features, including a single-level store, object-oriented addressing, and a high-level machine interface to the user. System/38 had been developed over eight years by IBM's laboratory in Rochester, Minn., and it was manufactured both in Minnesota and in Vimercate, Italy. Application development programs for the System/38 were developed in Atlanta, Ga., and Menlo Park, Calif. The System/38 performed well but didn't sell in great numbers (only around 20,000 units) in its five years of production, but was still considered a commercial success. It was superseded by the AS/400 midrange computer family in 1988.