<company> (IBM) The best known American computer manufacturer,
founded by Thomas J. Watson (born 1874-02-17), known as "Big
Blue" after the colour of its logo. IBM makes everything from
mainframes to personal computers (PCs) and has been
immensely successful in selling them, chiefly to business. It
has often been said that "Nobody has ever been sacked for
buying IBM".
The IBM PC in its various versions has been so successful
that unqualified reference to a "PC" almost certainly means a
PC from IBM, or one of the many brands of clone produced by
other manufacturers to cash in on IBM's original success.
Alternative expansions of "IBM" such as Inferior But
Marketable; It's Better Manually; Insidious Black Magic; It's
Been Malfunctioning; Incontinent Bowel Movement, illustrate
the considerable antipathy most hackers have long felt toward
the "industry leader" (see fear and loathing).
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