Editing General Electric (section)

===Computing===
{{More citations needed section|date=January 2017}}
GE was one of the eight major computer companies of the 1960s along with [[IBM]], [[Burroughs Corporation|Burroughs]], [[NCR Corporation|NCR]], [[Control Data Corporation]], [[Honeywell]], [[RCA]], and [[UNIVAC]].<ref name="Guston">{{cite book|last1=Guston|first1=David H.|title=Encyclopedia of Nanoscience and Society|date=2010|publisher=Sage Publications|page=272|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vyp1AwAAQBAJ&pg=PA272|access-date=May 5, 2017|isbn=9781452266176|archive-date=January 20, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210120190132/https://books.google.com/books?id=vyp1AwAAQBAJ&pg=PA272|url-status=live}}</ref> GE had a line of general purpose and special purpose computers, including the [[GE-200 series|GE 200]], [[GE-400 series|GE 400]], and [[GE-600 series|GE 600]] series general-purpose computers,<ref name="Guston" /> the [[GE/PAC 4000|GE/PAC 4000 series]] [[Real-time computing|real-time]] [[process control]] computers, and the [[DATANET-30]] and Datanet 355 [[message switching]] computers (DATANET-30 and 355 were also used as front end processors for GE mainframe computers). A Datanet 500 computer was designed but never sold.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/sec/15518/General-Electric/|title=General Electric – Computing History|website=Computinghistory.org.uk|access-date=March 9, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180310010937/http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/sec/15518/General-Electric/|archive-date=March 10, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1956 [[Homer Oldfield]] was promoted to General Manager of GE's Computer Department. He facilitated the invention and construction of the [[Bank of America]] ERMA system, the first computerized system designed to read magnetized numbers on checks. But he was fired from GE in 1958 by [[Ralph J. Cordiner]] for overstepping his bounds and successfully gaining the ERMA contract. Cordiner was strongly against GE entering the computer business because he did not see the potential in it.{{Citation needed|date=February 2025}}
  
In 1962, GE started developing its [[GECOS]] (later renamed GCOS) [[operating system]], originally for [[batch processing]], but later extended to [[time-sharing]] and [[transaction processing]]. Versions of GCOS are still in use today. From 1964 to 1969, GE and [[Bell Laboratories]] (which soon dropped out) joined with [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT]] to develop the [[Multics]] operating system on the [[GE 645]] mainframe computer. The project took longer than expected and was not a major commercial success, but it demonstrated concepts such as [[single-level store|single-level storage]], [[dynamic linking]], [[hierarchical file system]], and [[Ring (computer security)|ring-oriented security]]. Active development of Multics continued until 1985.{{Citation needed|date=February 2025}}

GE got into computer manufacturing because, in the 1950s, they were the largest user of computers outside the [[United States federal government]],<ref name="Guston" /> aside from being the first business in the world to own a computer. Its major appliance manufacturing plant "[[GE Consumer & Industrial|Appliance Park]]" was the first non-governmental site to host one.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Hiner |first=Jason |url=http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/hiner/ges-200-million-bet-to-resurrect-it/10834 |title=GE's $200 million bet to resurrect IT |magazine=TechRepublic |date=November 30, 2012 |access-date=May 31, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130522080721/http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/hiner/ges-200-million-bet-to-resurrect-it/10834 |archive-date=May 22, 2013 |url-status=live }}</ref> However, in 1970, GE sold its computer division to [[Honeywell]], exiting the computer manufacturing industry,<ref name="Guston" /> though it retained its timesharing operations for some years afterward. GE was a big provider of computer time-sharing services through General Electric Information Services (GEIS, now GXS), offering online computing services that included [[GEnie]].{{Citation needed|date=February 2025}}

In 2000, when United Technologies Corp. planned to buy Honeywell, GE made a counter-offer that was approved by Honeywell.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://content.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,166732,00.html |title=The Anatomy of the GE-Honeywell Disaster |last1=Elliott |first1=Michael |date=July 8, 2001 |magazine=Time |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160627050528/http://content.time.com/time/business/article/0%2C8599%2C166732%2C00.html |archive-date=June 27, 2016 |access-date=June 27, 2016 |id=GE-Honeywell-Disaster |url-status=dead }}</ref> On July 3, 2001, the [[European Union]] issued a statement that "prohibit the proposed acquisition by General Electric Co. of Honeywell Inc.".<ref name="EU-GE-Honeywell">{{Cite web|url=http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-01-939_en.htm |title=The Commission prohibits GE's acquisition of Honeywell |date=July 3, 2001 |publisher=EU |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160627051108/http://content.time.com/time/business/article/0%2C8599%2C166732%2C00.html |archive-date=June 27, 2016 |access-date=June 27, 2016 |id=EU-GE-Honeywell |url-status=dead }}</ref> The reasons given were it "would create or strengthen dominant positions on several markets and that the remedies proposed by GE were insufficient to resolve the competition concerns resulting from the proposed acquisition of Honeywell".<ref name="EU-GE-Honeywell"/>

On June 27, 2014, GE partnered with collaborative design company Quirky to announce its connected LED bulb called Link. The Link bulb is designed to communicate with smartphones and tablets using a mobile app called [[Wink (platform)|Wink]].<ref>{{cite web |access-date=July 2, 2014 |url=http://techone3.in/ge-link-smart-led-bulb-can-communicate-with-smart-devices-8581/ |title=GE Link smart LED bulb can communicate with smart devices |publisher=TechOne3 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140706161945/http://techone3.in/ge-link-smart-led-bulb-can-communicate-with-smart-devices-8581/ |archive-date=July 6, 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
[[File:GE, Global Operations Center - Cincinnati.jpg|thumb|GE Global Operations Center in [[Downtown Cincinnati]], [[Ohio]]]]