CER Computers as Weapons of Mass Disruption: The Yugoslav Computer Industry in the 1960s, Godišnjak za društvenu istoriju, XXIV, No. 2, 2017: 99-123. (original) (raw)

CER Computers as Weapons of Mass Disruption: The Yugoslav Computer Industry in the 1960s

2017

The article investigates the history of the CER-10, the first Yugo-slav electronic computer, and the subsequent failed attempt for the establishment of the computer industry during the 1960s. While the CER-10 was an important milestone on the Yugoslav road to technological modernization, the aftermath of this project revealed myriads of problems of the entire Yugoslav state system, which included simultaneous implementation of conflicting economic policies, the heavy hand of Aleksandar Rankovic and the Yugoslav secret police in the country’s economy, as well as the channeling of federal funds into Serbian companies without much economic rationale, all of which eventually ground the establishment of this high-tech industrial sector to a halt.

Building computers in Serbia: The first half of the digital century

Computer Science and Information Systems, 2011

In this paper, we describe the early development of CER-10, the first digital computer built in Serbia, honor its inventors, and follow the professional path of its chief designers, prof. Rajko Tomovic and prof. Tihomir Aleksic, who became the first university professor of computer engineering in Serbia. We also give a short overview of CER family of computers that were developed after the CER-10 till midseventies. In the early eighties, computer revolution continued with personal computers, so we show the early attempts to produce this kind of computers in Serbia, from "build it yourself" campaigns to the industrial production, and we analyze implications of these attempts to the development of user community and evolution to the information society.

Computer Technology Transfer at the U.S.-Yugoslav Joint Venture Ei-Honeywell

Tokovi istorije, 2024

This study explores the transfer of computer technology in the U.S.-Yugoslav joint venture. As an example of a unique form of economic cooperation between socialist enterprises and West corporations, Ei-Honeywell was founded in 1978. The joint venture included Honeywell and two Yugoslav entities, the Electronic Industry in Niš and Progres from Belgrade, with a focus on manufacturing computers and related peripherals. Through the analysis of factory publications, archival documents, and interviews, the research highlights that, while the venture spurred domestic innovation, the Yugoslav enterprise was not able to achieve full autonomous production without relying on Honeywell’s licensing. Ultimately, this joint venture demonstrates another layer of U.S.-Yugoslav economic relations, illustrating efforts to enhance commercial cooperation between the two countries throughout the Cold War era.

Critical Points in the History of the Soviet Computer

Some Critical Points in the History of the Soviet Computer Industry Development, 2017

The article describes a number of critical moments in the creation of Soviet computer technology and the outstanding role of Academician Keldysh in solving these problems.

Soviet Computing and Technology Transfer: An Overview

World Politics, 1979

For a long time, the Soviet pattern of development and use of computing differed from the West in terms of time-scale, philosophy, institutional arrangements, capital decisions, and applications. Starting in the late 1950s, a major political, military, and economic reassessment of the value of computing took place; during the next dozen years, the overall Soviet view moved much closer to that of the rest of the developed world. This new perception has been backed by large political and economic commitments. Apparently the Soviet leadership is hoping that computer technology will make the existing economic system more efficient and effective, and will thus help to avoid fundamental reforms that are politically unacceptable. A massive transfer of foreign technology over the last decade has made the Soviet computer industry less isolated than during the 1960s, but its interfaces with the outside world are still narrowly defined. Serious difficulties remain in trying to transplant a sop...

Introduction: The Yugoslav Communist Legacy

Europe-Asia Studies, 2010

become a popular holiday destination and an attractive centre for students from the Non-Aligned countries with which the regime traded during the Cold War. Visitors and locals alike benefitted from the extraordinary and rapid modernisation of the country in the postwar years, including the introduction of universal free education (Hadzˇisˇehovic´2003; Tomasˇevic´2008), nominal gender equality (Sklevicky 1996), new roads, a railway line that linked Belgrade to the coast, healthcare and social insurance. The Yugoslav League of Communists (SKJ, Savez komunista Jugoslavije) formed from the Communist Party (KPJ, Komunisti cka partija Jugoslavije) in 1952 had a reputation as one of the most liberal Leninist parties in power during the Cold War era. In 1985, readers of a well-known guide book series were informed: 'Known as Milicija, Yugoslav Police are generally easy going and helpful' (Dunford et al. 1985, p. 8). Geoffrey Hosking (1985, p. 325) felt that its leader Josip Broz Tito had demonstrated that 'it was possible to institute a different kind of socialism'. Tito, as the almost unchallenged leader of the Yugoslav communists after 1936 until he passed away in 1980, was born a Habsburg citizen in 1892 on the borders between Slovene and Croat communities, and with mixed parentage. He was a leader that many Yugoslavs and non-Yugoslavs admired. His personal charm and political intuition helped to inspire a huge personality cult which still survives in pockets across the region. A Comintern survivor in an era of disappearing comrades, and a genuinely brave guerrilla leader who led the struggle against local fascists and the Axis powers during the Second World War, he overcame perhaps the biggest challenge of all when his Party was expelled from the Cominform and the rest of the communist fold by Joseph Stalin in 1948. I would like to express my thanks to Sarah Lennon,