dinosaurs mating

dinosaurs mating
 n.

   Said to occur when yet another {big iron} merger or buyout occurs;
   originally reflected a perception by hackers that these signal another
   stage in the long, slow dying of the {mainframe} industry. In the
   mainframe industry's glory days of the 1960s, it was `IBM and the
   Seven Dwarfs': Burroughs, Control Data, General Electric, Honeywell,
   NCR, RCA, and Univac. RCA and GE sold out early, and it was `IBM and
   the Bunch' (Burroughs, Univac, NCR, Control Data, and Honeywell) for a
   while. Honeywell was bought out by Bull; Burroughs merged with Univac
   to form Unisys (in 1984 -- this was when the phrase dinosaurs mating
   was coined); and in 1991 AT&T absorbed NCR (but spat it back out a few
   years later). Control Data still exists but is no longer in the
   mainframe business. In similar wave of dinosaur-matings as the PC
   business began to consolidate after 1995, Digital Equipment was bought
   by Compaq which was bought by Hewlett-Packard. More such earth-shaking
   unions of doomed giants seem inevitable.
    

dinosaurs mating

   <humour> 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)