Editing Wang Laboratories (section)

==The Wang VS computer line==
The first '''Wang VS''' computer was introduced in 1977, the same year as [[Digital Equipment Corporation]]'s [[VAX]];<ref>"The VAX 11/780 was introduced on October 25, 1977 at the Digital Equipment Corporation's Annual Meeting of Shareholders. It was the first member of the VAX family." {{cite web 
|title=VAX 11/780 
|url=http://www.old-computers.com/history/detail.asp?n=20&t=3 
|access-date=2020-03-22 
|archive-date=2019-10-03 
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191003074921/http://www.old-computers.com/history/detail.asp?n=20&t=3 
|url-status=dead 
}}</ref> both continued for decades.<ref>Wang's VS was desupported in 2014</ref><ref name=VS.End2014/> The VS [[instruction set]] was compatible with the [[IBM System/360]] series, but it did not run any System/360 system software.

===Software===
The VS operating system and all system software were built from the ground up to support interactive users as well as batch operations. The VS was aimed at the business data processing market in general and IBM in particular. While many programming languages were available, the VS was programmed in [[COBOL]]. Other languages supported in the VS [[integrated development environment]] included [[Assembly language|Assembler]], COBOL 74, COBOL 85, BASIC, [[Ada (programming language)|Ada]], [[RPG II]], C, [[PL/I]], [[FORTRAN]], Glossary, MABASIC, SPEED II, and Procedure (a scripting language). [[Pascal (programming language)|Pascal]] was also supported for I/O co-processor development. The Wang PACE (Professional Application Creation Environment) [[4GL]] and database was used from the mid-1980s onward by customers and third-party developers to build complex applications, sometimes involving many thousands of screens, hundreds of distinct application modules, and serving many hundreds of users. Substantial [[vertical application]]s were developed for the Wang VS by third-party software houses throughout the 1980s in COBOL, PACE, BASIC, PL/I, and RPG II. The [[Wang OFFICE]] family of applications and Wang WP were both popular applications on the VS. Word Processing ran on the VS through services that emulated the OIS environment and downloaded the WP software as "microcode" (in Wang terminology) to VS workstations.

===Hardware===
The press and the industry referred to the class of machines made by Wang, including the VS, as "minicomputers,"<ref>Berg, Eric N. (1985), "Fast Prime Computer to Make Debut," ''The New York Times,'' January 22, 1985, d1: "The Prime model should also face stiff competition from other new high-speed minicomputers, such as the Data General Corporation's MV 10000, Wang Laboratories Inc.'s VS 300, and the International Business Machines Corporation's 4381 Model 3"</ref><ref>Stein, Charles (1986): "A High-Tech David Faltered as Goliath," ''The Boston Globe,'' November 27, 1989, Business section, p. 1: "the VS-300, a top of the line minicomputer Wang brought out in 1985..."</ref><ref>Rosenberg, Robert (1992): "Company Fumbles Its Alliance with Giant IBM," ''The Boston Globe,'' July 28, 1992, Business section, p. 37: "a steep decline in sales of its VS minicomputer and the recession generally, has pushed the Lowell computer maker to the brink"</ref> and Kenney's 1992 book refers to the VS line as "minicomputers" throughout.<ref>{{cite book | first = Charles C. | last = Kenney | title = Riding the Runaway Horse: The Rise and Decline of Wang Laboratories | publisher = Little, Brown and Company | year = 1992 | isbn = 978-0-316-48919-5 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/ridingrunawayhor00kenn }}: index entry p. 320, pp. 97–9, and elsewhere</ref> Although some argue that the high-end VS machines and their successors should qualify as [[Mainframe computer|mainframes]], Wang avoided this term. In his autobiography, An Wang, rather than calling the VS 300 a mainframe, said that it "verges on mainframe performance."<ref>{{cite book | first1 = An | last1 = Wang | title = Lessons: An Autobiography |first2=Eugene |last2=Linden | year = 1986 | publisher = Addison-Wesley | isbn = 978-0-201-09400-8 | url=https://archive.org/details/lessonsautobiogr0000wang | url-access=registration}}, p. 206</ref> He went on to draw the distinction between the "mainframes" at the high end of IBM's line ("just as Detroit would rather sell large cars ... so IBM would rather sell mainframes")—in which IBM had a virtual monopoly—with the "mid-sized systems" in which IBM had not achieved dominance: "The minicomputer market is still healthy. This is good for the customer and good for minicomputer makers."{{sfn|Wang|Linden|1986|p=213}} 
* The '''VS7000''' was introduced in 1987.<ref>{{cite web  
   |url=https://www.CBR#onl1ne.com/news/wang_adds_vs7000_cpu_line
   |title=Wang adds VS7000 CPU Line |website=Computer Business Review
   |date=January 14, 1987}}{{dead-link|date=May 2023}}</ref> These were a renumbering of the VS100<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=[[Computerworld]]
   |date=June 18, 1984  |page=27
   |title=State Distributes 40 VS 100 processors}}</ref> and VS300, with their more powerful counterpart upgrades identified as VS7110, VS7120, and VS7130 (for the VS100) as the new high-end machine in this series.

* Later models, the small '''VS5000''' series, launched in 1988, were user-installable, with the smallest being similarly sized to contemporary PCs.
* The largest iteration, the '''VS10000''', supported many users. The VS10000 used "[[emitter-coupled logic|emitter coupled logic]]" (ECL).  ECL is a very fast current-based logic that necessitates the use of 375 amp, 3-volt power supplies, massive heat-sinks, and large squirrel cage blowers. The VS1000 computer drew up to ten kilowatts of power.{{citation needed|date=November 2020|reason=possibly Star Manufacturing staff if they still exist}} The VS1000 was designed to run multiple concurrent operating systems and was piloted with the VS ver7 and a Unix operating system.