>>Remember that Ken Olsen said about who would want a personal computer in his home.
>
>Funny you should mention Ken Olsen. I just saw his obituary in today's paper.
>


Bummer. He left footprints.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/08/technology/business-computing/08olsen.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=ken%20olsen&st=cse

To any who have not yet read it, I recommend once again "The Soul of a New Machine," Tracy Kidder's award winning account of the creation of a new minicomputer by DEC's archrival, Data General. It is a classic of not just computer books but of American books. It is in the Modern Library, which is not home to many computer titles. (One, I believe). This is nonfiction of the highest order, reporting with heart. It even has a classic hero, Tom West. Here is a beautiful passage from the end, an account of the product's launch party --

"West came, too. He did not sit with his old team, but he did talk easily and pleasantly with many of them during the day. 'I had a great talk with West!' remarked one of the Microkids.

He wore a brown suit, conservatively tailored. He looked as though he'd been wearing a brown suit all his life. He had come to this ceremony with some reluctance, and he was decidedly in the background. At the door to the show, where name tags were handed out, West had been asked what his title was. 'Business development,' he'd said. At the cocktail party after the formal presentation, a reporter came up to him. 'You seem to know something about this machine. What did you have to do with it?' West mumbled something, waving a hand, and changed the subject. Alsing overheard this exchange. It offended his sense of reality. He couldn't let the matter stand there. So he took the reporter aside and said, 'That guy was the leader of the whole thing'."

http://www.amazon.com/Soul-New-Machine-Tracy-Kidder/dp/0316491977/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1297362451&sr=8-1