資料來源 : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing
dinosaurs mating
The activity said to occur when yet another {big
iron} merger or buy-out occurs; reflects a perception by
hackers that these signal another stage in the long, slow
dying of the {mainframe} industry. Also described as
"elephants mating": lots of noise and action at a high level,
with an eventual outcome in the somewhat distant future.
In its glory days of the 1960s, it was "{IBM} and the Seven
Dwarves": {Burroughs}, {Control Data}, {General Electric},
{Honeywell}, {NCR}, {RCA}, and {Univac}. Early on, RCA sold
out to Univac and GE also sold out, and it was "IBM and the
BUNCH" (an acronym for Burroughs, Univac, NCR, Control Data,
and Honeywell) for a while. Honeywell was bought out by Bull.
Univac in turn merged with {Sperry} to form Sperry/Univac,
which was later merged (although the employees of Sperry
called it a hostile takeover) with Burroughs to form {Unisys}
in 1986 (this was when the phrase "dinosaurs mating" was
coined). In 1991 {AT&T} absorbed NCR, only to spit it out
again in 1996. Unisys bought {Convergent Technologies} in
1988 and later others.
More such earth-shaking unions of doomed giants seem
inevitable.
[More dates?]
[{Jargon File}]
(1998-07-10)