[1] : Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001)

eighty-column mind n. ibm the sort said to be possessed by persons
   for whom the transition from punched card to tape was traumatic
   nobody has dared tell them about disks yet. it is said that these
   people, including according to an old joke the founder of ibm, will be
   buried `face down, 9-edge first' the 9-edge being the bottom of the
   card. this directive is inscribed on ibm's 1402 and 1622 card readers
   and is referenced in a famous bit of doggerel called "the last bug", the
   climactic lines of which are as follows:

     he died at the console
     of hunger and thirst.
     next day he was buried,
     face down, 9-edge first.
  
   the eighty-column mind was thought by most hackers to dominate ibm's
   customer base and its thinking. this only began to change in the
   mid-1990s when ibm began to reinvent itself after the triumph of the
   killer micro. see ibm, fear and loathing, card walloper. a copy
   of "the last bug" lives on the the gnu site at
   `http://www.gnu.org/fun/jokes/last.bug.html'.


see also:
punched card killer micro ibm fear and loathing card walloper 

[2] : The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03)

eighty-column mind
     
         the sort said to be possessed by persons for whom the
        transition from punched card to paper tape was traumatic
        nobody has dared tell them about disks yet.  it is said that
        these people, including according to an old joke the founder
        of ibm, will be buried "face down, 9-edge first" the 9-edge
        being the bottom of the card.  this directive is inscribed on
        ibm's 1402 and 1622 card readers and is referenced in a famous
        bit of doggerel called "the last bug", the climactic lines of
        which are as follows:
     
          he died at the console
          of hunger and thirst.
          next day he was buried,
          face down, 9-edge first.
     
        the eighty-column mind is thought by most hackers to
        dominate ibm's customer base and its thinking.
     
        see fear and loathing, card walloper.
     
        jargon file
     
        1996-08-16
     
     
see also:
punched card paper tape ibm hackers fear and loathing card walloper 
jargon file 

Mind >> M Words
Mind, definition of term: Mind
mind_pag1.html

Mind Reader >> M Words
Mind Reader, definition of term: Mind Reader
mind+reader_pag1.html

Meeting Of Mind >> M Words
Meeting Of Mind, definition of term: Meeting Of Mind
meeting+of+mind_pag1.html

Frame Of Mind >> F Words
Frame Of Mind, definition of term: Frame Of Mind
frame+of+mind_pag1.html

Bear In Mind >> B Words
Bear In Mind, definition of term: Bear In Mind
bear+in+mind_pag1.html