Ireland’s first computers 1956-69
This is where it all began. A world of punched cards and computers without screens. A profession that was too young to offer career paths. An era when electronic hardware was considered so precious that it was kept running around the clock. The first decade of computing in Ireland, furthermore, was dominated by just two technology suppliers. Everyone who wanted to get involved was expected to pledge allegiance to one side or the other.
Minicomputer systems and software 1969-82
Office managers introduced them to replace mechanical accounting machines. Factories installed them to control production equipment. Engineers and architects adopted them to calculate the figures for construction projects. The minicomputers of the 1970s penetrated numerous workplaces in Ireland. They also, almost by accident, paved the way for a cluster of small Irish firms to become software exporters in the early 1980s.
Large computer installations 1970-90
The top tier of user organisations in Ireland always stood apart from the rest. In the 1970s they installed mainframes in purpose-built computer centres and grew their own programming groups. They subsequently changed these ways to take advantage of minicomputers and PCs. By the end of the 1980s distributed systems and decentralised operations had come into vogue.
Lives of the PC dealers 1978-88
At first the microcomputer was little more than a tool for coding practice and schools were the only buyers. Then IBM entered the business and triggered a tsunami of dealer start-ups. By the middle of the 1980s it seemed like somebody on every corner was selling PCs. Academics, office product suppliers, photocopier salespeople and aspiring software publishers all had a go.
Software localisation in Ireland 1982-2002
Attempts to apply manufacturing models to the software industry in the 1980s had unintended results. Language engineering proved to be a much more critical activity than disk duplication or document printing. By the 1990s Dublin had become the leading source of expertise and new ideas in software localisation. This was a strand of information technology where, for a time at least, Ireland became the centre of the world.
How the internet came to Ireland 1987-97
One of the first internet service providers in Europe was also the first ever campus company in Trinity College Dublin. But the internet eruption of the 1990s was not simply the result of academic initiatives. The new medium arrived in Ireland at just the right time for businesses that had been experimenting with information and transaction services based on other networking technologies. Then, just as all these strands were drawing together, the World Wide Web appeared.
Web pioneers 1992-99
The ninth web server in the world had a Latin name and contained information about Irish language manuscripts. A handful of other sites went live in Ireland over the next two years. From 1995 onwards, however, new web projects, tools and services appeared regularly and evolved rapidly.