Fifty Years Ago .... from the pages of Computer Weekly

18th July 1974 computing, compiled by TNMOC volunteer archivist, Brian Aldous.

A selection of stories from Computer Weekly from 18th July 1974. The full archive of Computer Weekly can be seen at TNMOC, where there are special rolling displays of front pages from 25 and 40 years ago.

Dataset to sell Scan-Optics range in UK: Complementing the range of input/output media that it already sells, Dataset, the wholly-owned peripheral equipment marketing subsidiary of ICL, has signed an agreement with Scan-Optics Inc, of Connnecticut, under which it will sell the Scan-Optics range of OCR systems to ICL mainframe users in the UK. Scan-Optics Ltd, the UK subsidiary of the US company, will continue to cover the rest of the British market. Dataset already has a similar agreement with the British OMR equipment manufacturer, Data Recognition, and has sold six DR Dataterm 3 OMR terminals to ICL 1900 users. It has also sold six Mark Document Reader OMR devices supplied under an agreement with Bell and Howell. With the Scan-Optics systems, Dataset enters a completely different market to that for low-cost OMR devices. The cheapest Scan-Optics systems costs about £60,000 and typical configurations sell for about £80,000. The most versatile Scan-Optics system, the 20/20 handles forms ranging in size from 3 by 41/2-inch stubs to 9 by 14-inch pages. Other systems to be sold by Dataset are the 20/10 and the 4/10. All three read characters at up to 2,000 per second, covering a range of founts that can include OCR A, OCR B, IBM 1403, E13B and hand printed characters. (CW 402 18/7/1974 p40)