On April 7, 1964 IBM unveiled a machine that would change the course of computing for decades. The machine was the System/360 (the name evoked the encompassing aspects of a circle), and the era of the mainframe computer was born.
Until the 360, computers were dedicated to single tasks. If a company wanted to crunch a different set of numbers, it most likely had to buy a new computer, new software and new peripherals. The 360, on the other hand, was designed to handle multiple tasks. That meant businesses could use a single system for payroll, inventory and other tasks.
Note this at the end: "Consider this. The System/360 had a whopping 8MB of memory. The PC’s accessing this web site probably measure their memory at 256MB to 512MB."
It really was a seminal machine. Anyone out there who remembers "submitting jobs" at all hours (I do not, except for a few exercises when a computer science undergrad) because "computer time" was limited will crack open the bubbly on this day. In a lot of ways, the modern era was born on that day.
[Update]: For the more nerdy, here is a summary of the System/360 at Wikipedia.
And a picture here.
