Ron D'Eau Claire wrote:
In the late 1960's some IBM system programmers decided to use the
solidus (slash) through the letter "O" to differentiate it from the
simple circle that was used for zero at Sylvania's Electronic Defense
Laboratories where I worked as a writer.
Ron, I remember that thankfully short-lived experiment, from probably around
1972. :-) I worked for a tax company that ran returns in a service bureau
that was all IBM mainframe gear and IBM-trained ops and programmers. For a
while I was rather confused, because I thought EVERYBODY used the slash
through the zero, not through the alpha O -- after all, hams did it that way!
I knew that much! I was told in no uncertain terms that the slash went through
the O, not the zero. But after that one job that year, I never heard of it
again.
Nice to know that IBM didn't successfully dictate everything in the computer
world -- nor does even Microsoft do so today. An idea still has to be a GOOD
idea and have some merit, even if the most meritorious idea doesn't
necessarily win 100% of the time...
Bill W5WVO
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