Think that spreadsheet in your company’s accounts dept is old? 70 years ago, LEO ran the first business app
Seventy years ago this week, LEO, the world’s first computer for business, ran one of the first enterprise applications after several experimental test runs.
Built for British catering and tea shop giant J Lyons, the Lyons Electronic Office, dubbed LEO, took inspiration from the Cambridge EDSAC, which ran its first programs in 1949.
The LEO, however, was business-focused, and was initially used for the firm’s bakery valuation jobs (which were run weekly) before expanding its reach into more of J Lyons’ back-office functions, such as payroll.
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Cross in transphobia
Sadly there seems to be very little of her writing translated into English, and biographical articles often end up being more about how she was murdered than how she lived.
The Anarchist Library has two of her articles that have been translated.
Interesting that the article mentions Bessie Smith, but not Ma Rainey in the category of “rules breakers.”