Editing GE-200 series (section)

==Background==
The series was designed by a team led by [[Homer Oldfield|Homer R. “Barney” Oldfield]], and which included [[Arnold Spielberg]] (father of film director [[Steven Spielberg]]). GE chairman [[Ralph J. Cordiner]] had forbidden GE from entering the general purpose computer business, rejecting several proposals by Oldfield by simply writing "No" across them and sending them back. Oldfield, somewhat deceptively, claimed that the GE-200 series would be industrial control computers. By the time Cordiner found out otherwise, it was too late and the machine was in production; Cordiner fired Oldfield at the product rollout. Even though the machine was selling well, Cordiner ordered that GE leave the computer business within 18 months (it actually took several years).<ref>{{cite web |last1=GE Reports staff |title=It's BASIC: Arnold Spielberg and the Birth of Personal Computing |url=http://www.gereports.com/post/117791167040/its-basic-arnold-spielberg-and-the-birth-of |website=GE Reports |publisher=General Electric Company |access-date=2 May 2015 |date=30 April 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150503110958/http://www.gereports.com/post/117791167040/its-basic-arnold-spielberg-and-the-birth-of |archive-date=3 May 2015 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|title=Arnold Spielberg, Father of Steven Spielberg, Dead at 103|url=https://www.etonline.com/arnold-spielberg-father-of-steven-spielberg-dead-at-103-152000|access-date=2020-09-08|publisher=[[Entertainment Tonight]]|language=en-US|quote=As a computer designer and engineer, Arnold worked on and helped design the groundbreaking GE-225 mainframe computer in 1960, which would go on to form the basis for the coding tools that would pave the way for personal computing.}}</ref>