Technological transformations in history: how the computer regime grew outof existing computing regimes

In the article we describe how the digital computer regime grew out of exis ting computing regimes through a process of transformation. This transforma tion is conceptualised as a regime shift: a change in the rule set that und erpins technical change, guiding innovative activity and output into partic ular directions. Examples of such rules are technical standards, product st andards, user requirements, design rules and organisational rules of how to produce, what to produce. The paper describes how the new digital computer regime had to start from structures of the old regimes, and only later on developed its own distinctive elements. It describes how specific changes i n the existing computing regimes, particularly the increasing division of l abour, the growing schematisation of computing activities and the developme nt of more sophisticated punch card machinery, contributed to the design an d programming methods of the digital computer. How the old programming meth ods constrained the development of the new regime is also discussed. The ar ticle does not go into the actual processes of diffusion of digital compute rs into specific domains. It does however discuss the role of market demand dynamics for the evolution of digital technology, which too often is portr ayed as a technology/science push phenomenon. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V . All rights reserved.