The Origin (Coining) of the Term "Middleware"

I spent some of my own hard earned cash to scratch an itch I've had for a long time about the origin of the term "Middleware" as well as to test Google Answers. I am delighted with the results:

The Oxford English Dictionary Online (available through personal or institutional subscription) provides, as its first two quotations:

"1970 A. CHANDOR et al. Dict. Computers 254 Middleware, computer manufacturer's software which has been tailored to the particular needs of an installation."

"1972 Accountant 27 Apr. 537/2 A comparatively new term 'middleware' was introduced because, as some systems had become 'uniquely complex', standard operating systems required enhancement or modification; the programs that effected this were called 'middleware' because they came between the operating system and the application programs."

"middleware" OED Online [Oxford University Press] available by subscription at http://dictionary.oed.com

The first citation is to "A Dictionary of Computers", a/k/a "The Penguin Dictionary of Computers", edited by Anthony Chandor et al. "The Penguin Dictionary of Computers (Penguin Reference Books)"

Amazon.co.uk http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/014051127X/qid=1067540389/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_0_2/026-8392499-8130832

"Displaying books where Author is Chandor, Anthony, Title is A Dictionary of Computers" BookFinder.com http://www.bookfinder.com/search/?ac=sl&st=sl&qi=OirDDTdbyRailuduqXthXDoEZVg_1594598467_2:1:3

The second reference appears to be to the London periodical "The Accountant"., which you can find by searching major library catalogs, especially in the UK, for the title "accountant".

What I like about the definitions that Google Answers came up with is that they predate the "network-centric" definitions of Middleware. I'd always assumed that Middleware was coined in the early days of Client/Server to refer to the network-oriented software that linked client and server. But in fact, the Accountant citation clearly defines Middleware as any software between an application and an OS--way before C/S and even before computer networks were prominent. The Dictionary citation emphasizes customization ("tailored") of generic software ("manufacturer's software") to "particular needs". What this suggests to me is that Middleware is software that mediates software, i.e., mediates between a software resource (network) or set of resources (OS) and a software application. This supports my aphorism: "Metadata is data about data; Middleware is software about software."

Comments

[Wolfgang Emmerich]

I am currently writing a history of science paper on Middleware. draft appeared in ACM SIGOPS OSR at http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/1228291.1228310.

It would appear that the term Middleware was coined by Alex d'Agapeyeff at the NATO Conference on Software Engineering in Garmisch Partenkirchen, Germany in 1968. See Page 23 of Brian Randall's and Peter Naur's Report at http://homepages.cs.ncl.ac.uk/brian.randell/NATO/

d'Agapeyeff worked for Computer Analysts and Programmers (CAP) in London, a company that mainly produced accounting software at the time. I am currently investigating whether he might have had a role in the mention you identified in the "Accountant" article in the April 1972 issue.

Wolfgang

[Nick Gall]

I agree that the NATO paper is the earliest reference to "middleware". In fact, I blogged about it after this entry. Here is the link: http://ironick.typepad.com/ironick/2005/07/update_on_the_o.html . Let me know what you find out about the Accountant article. Thanks.