13 ms·

Andy Grove has died

1333 points by sajid 11y ago

akamaka 11y ago
For those who are interested in knowing more about Andy Grove and the early days of Intel, I highly recommend Tedlow's biography. Of all the biographies or business histories I've read, I can't think of one which does a better job of making you feel like you're hanging out with him, hearing his war stories, and getting a real feel for what kind of guy he was and what drove him and his company to success. http://www.amazon.com/Andy-Grove-Life-Times-American/dp/1591841399 http://www.amazon.com/Andy-Grove-Life-Times-American/dp/1591...
- ausjke 11y ago
  Thanks. Just bought a copy.
  - voltagex_ 11y ago
    Are these the same book? http://www.amazon.com/Andy-Grove-Times-American-Business/dp/1591841828 http://www.amazon.com/Andy-Grove-Times-American-Business/dp/... http://www.amazon.com/Andy-Grove-Life-Times-American/dp/1591841399 http://www.amazon.com/Andy-Grove-Life-Times-American/dp/1591... There doesn't seem to be a Kindle / ePub version, unfortunately.
    - emmasz 11y ago
      I'm sure there will be one, now that he passed. At least, I hope it will.
- filereaper 11y ago
  I read this book about Andy Grove and Intel in high-school, made a huge impact in my career choices. https://www.amazon.ca/Inside-Intel-Worlds-Powerful-Company/dp/0452276438/175-8456345-4596560?ie=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0 https://www.amazon.ca/Inside-Intel-Worlds-Powerful-Company/d...
- hkmurakami 11y ago
  Just wanted to mention that in the last several hours, the price of a used hardcover copy of the book on Amazon has gone from $0.01 to $2.93 (which probably represents about 30 copies sold). Actually kind of incredible to see this sort of inventory change happen in real time. (I bought the cheapest "very good" condition item for $0.41 + shipping)
  - dom96 11y ago
    It's incredibly cheap in comparison to the UK. Guess there just aren't as many used copies here.
- bestham 11y ago
  Tedlow did a wonderful Google Talk about his book: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7yqwOI0-SQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7yqwOI0-SQ
  - akamaka 11y ago
    Wow, cool, thanks for sharing this!
- leoc 11y ago
  Thanks! While we're at it, do you have an opinion on Michael S. Malone's /The Intel Trinity/ http://www.amazon.com/The-Intel-Trinity-Important-Company/dp/0062226762 http://www.amazon.com/The-Intel-Trinity-Important-Company/dp... ?
stuart78 11y ago
What a loss. High Output Management remains one of the finest books on our industry that I have read, and I'm glad we have that to help carry his torch forward.
Uhhrrr 11y ago
From Wikipedia, >Grove's office was an 8-ft by 9-ft cubicle like the other employees, as he disliked separate "mahogany-paneled corner offices." He states, "I've been living in cubicles since 1978 — and it hasn't hurt a whole lot." Preferring this egalitarian atmosphere, he thereby made his work area accessible to anyone who walked by. There were no reserved parking spaces, and Grove parked wherever there was a space.
- jmspring 11y ago
  It seems like early Intel and HP higher ups were more in tune with egalitarianism as well not being aloof or unapproachable. The Moore foundation has been an amazing charity. Here in Santa Cruz, Andy Grove built a house out on one of the streets near the beach between Santa Cruz and Capitola. He worked with neighbors (according to local press) to not be out of place in the design, etc. Contrast that with Zuckerberg and his recent building issues, or how many modern C-levels want their out of the way offices, etc. Maybe it was just a different time.
  - gogopuppygogo 11y ago
    Gates also is known for having built a home that stood out. It's not about the era its about the person.
    - blairanderson 11y ago
      It is extravagant but hardly stands out. You can only see it by boat if you already know where to look.
      - 13of40 11y ago
        I think there used to be some gangly red steel sculpture down by the lake that you could spot. I haven't sailed past there in years, though.
    - Scuds 11y ago
      Yeah, but since he's trying to give all his money away, it's kind of a boondoggle of the mid 90's. https://goo.gl/maps/jxsqBmwVBPD2 https://goo.gl/maps/jxsqBmwVBPD2
ausjke 11y ago
R.I.P Read his book "Only the Paranoid Survive" many years ago, he fought for cancer before I think, also remember his cubicle and no-reserved parking as mentioned here. What a great man.
rdl 11y ago
RIP. I'm in the process of re-reading High Output Nanagement, which was only one of many contributions Andy Grove made to the world. Thank you for everything you did.
deleted 11y ago
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aswanson 11y ago
Hard nosed, no bullshit fighter. Rest in peace.
amazingandyyy 11y ago
Only the Paranoid Survive!! RIP
omarforgotpwd 11y ago
One of the Valley's founding fathers. May he rest in peace. If you haven't read it: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0679762884?keywords=high%20output%20management&qid=1458607003&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0679762884?keywords=high%20...
lifeisstillgood 11y ago
It may just be a function of my own middle-age, but we seem to be losing more of the old Giants - in politics, arts and commerce, and looking ahead, everyone seems, well, smaller in comparison. Just as software without silicon to run on is, well, smaller, the software moguls of today can only run on hardware because people like Andy put it underneath them a generation before.
- thisrod 11y ago
  "I strode among giants, friends tell me now, though at the time I felt like a misfit associating with oddballs." - Steve Roper, Camp 4: Recollections of a Yosemite Rockclimber. Perhaps that is less true of Groves, who came from the lineage of Bell and Shockley. I'm sure it applies to the great technologists of our future.
Adams472 11y ago
After reading Only the Paranoid Survive and High Output Management, I have a deep respect for Andy Grove and the work he did to make Intel an enduring company. He'll be missed.
dudusmaximus 11y ago
Working my way through High Output Management. Great Teacher
sanchitbareja 11y ago
RIP - having read his memoir, and his management books, I've deep respect for his work and principles that he advocated. He'll be missed
andrewstuart 11y ago
Gordon Moore created Moore's law and Andy Grove made it happen. Loved this book http://www.amazon.com/Only-Paranoid-Survive-Exploit-Challenge/dp/0385483821/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1458608327&sr=8-1&keywords=only+the+paranoid+survive http://www.amazon.com/Only-Paranoid-Survive-Exploit-Challeng...
deleted 11y ago
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p4wnc6 11y ago
What an unfortunate attitude for him to take, promoting a poor quality working environment merely because it anecdotally didn't create problems for him, thereby damaging others who may have physiological conditions (such as misophonia) or who may be more strongly introverted and need privacy for productivity. And how bad for us now that we laud such poor anecdotes and allow words like "egalitarian" to be associated with such dysfunctional, unhealthy, and productivity-damaging workspace. It's similar to hearing a 1950s endorsement for cigarettes and finding it endearing, instead of realizing that while it may have been a product of its time, the full light of data and progressive analysis has shown how horrible it really is.
- jmspring 11y ago
  Cubes dysfunctional? Interesting. Your opinions are strong. I prefer working at home, but individual offices were a nice touch if I had to be in the office, the worst of all worlds was "open offices". A senior executive not using his role to be away from the other employees is incredibly rare these days.
  - p4wnc6 11y ago
    Paul Graham expressed this much more strongly than I have, and he wrote about it over 10 years ago: "After software, the most important tool to a hacker is probably his office. Big companies think the function of office space is to express rank. But hackers use their offices for more than that: they use their office as a place to think in. And if you're a technology company, their thoughts are your product. So making hackers work in a noisy, distracting environment is like having a paint factory where the air is full of soot. The cartoon strip Dilbert has a lot to say about cubicles, and with good reason. All the hackers I know despise them. The mere prospect of being interrupted is enough to prevent hackers from working on hard problems. If you want to get real work done in an office with cubicles, you have two options: work at home, or come in early or late or on a weekend, when no one else is there. Don't companies realize this is a sign that something is broken? An office environment is supposed to be something that helps you work, not something you work despite. Companies like Cisco are proud that everyone there has a cubicle, even the CEO. But they're not so advanced as they think; obviously they still view office space as a badge of rank. Note too that Cisco is famous for doing very little product development in house. They get new technology by buying the startups that created it-- where presumably the hackers did have somewhere quiet to work. One big company that understands what hackers need is Microsoft. I once saw a recruiting ad for Microsoft with a big picture of a door. Work for us, the premise was, and we'll give you a place to work where you can actually get work done. And you know, Microsoft is remarkable among big companies in that they are able to develop software in house. Not well, perhaps, but well enough." from Great Hackers section called "The Final Frontier" http://paulgraham.com/gh.html http://paulgraham.com/gh.html I agree that open plan is the worst, but cubes are a close second, and both types of space are not as cost effective as private offices (even in dense urban areas). If the executives want to be "egalitarian" about it, then raise the conditions of everyone up. Don't act like a proud martyr and lower your own conditions. It's patronizing and solves none of the problems. Plus, executives who do this will always find other status games to play if they want to feel superior, so it's never really egalitarian anyway.
johnnyg 11y ago
High Output Management has dramatically improved the culture, communication and output of our company. I live a better life because of what this man learned and passed on. Thanks Mr. Grove, you are a giant.
- PakG1 11y ago
  Your comment just made me go purchase the book. Thanks.
mehrdada 11y ago
Can we get a black bar on top of HN? RIP
- pfarnsworth 11y ago
  Yes, we definitely need a black bar here. Grove set the tone of a lot of what we take for granted in Silicon Valley, like a meritocracy, no offices for execs, the best idea wins regardless of who suggested it, etc.
whbk 11y ago
Highly recommend Swimming Across - Andy's autobiography of his childhood. The biography Life and Times of an American picks up from there with the first ~50-75 pages recounting the story Andy told in his own words in Swimming Across. Remarkable story - a life well-lived in the face of incredible early challenges to be sure.
nanoojaboo 11y ago
another immigrant who dragged on the economy
andrewtbham 11y ago
Tribute to Andy Grove with Ben Horowitz. Worth watching. http://a16z.com/2015/09/28/the-man-who-built-silicon-valley-a-tribute-to-andy-grove/ http://a16z.com/2015/09/28/the-man-who-built-silicon-valley-...
melling 11y ago
Andy was brilliant and driven. After he retired from Intel, he worked to help find a cure for Parkinson's, from which he suffered. I wish that story had a happier ending but it does demonstrate the fight in him. http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2008/0128/070.html http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2008/0128/070.html
applecore 11y ago
Grove's High Output Management is highly recommended. It's a masterpiece of management theory and practice. http://www.amazon.com/High-Output-Management-Andrew-Grove/dp/0679762884 http://www.amazon.com/High-Output-Management-Andrew-Grove/dp...
- lmg643 11y ago
  I am in the middle of reading HPM, sad to hear. Andy Grove's writing has a lot of the same flavors of Paul Graham, but for a more corporate setting. The no-nonsense attitude towards meetings, and also understanding the challenges of decision making through meetings resonate with me.
- 50CNT 11y ago
  I just learned about it and Andy Grove a couple of days ago, which really puts the "oh, this person would be cool to talk to" and the "oh, that's not happening" awkwardly close. But some view books as a receptacle of the authors mind, a time capsule that allows them to share thoughts with you even centuries after they have passed. Guess I'll have 2 more to look forward to.
- klenwell 11y ago
  I was going through a difficult period at work last year and picked up High Output Management on the recommendation of a thread I came across somewhere here on HN. It didn't help save my job. But it did help me see what competent management looks like and helped me preserve a bit of my sanity. One thing that struck me as emblematic of Grove's generous and effective management style is that nowhere in the book does he have a section addressing the difficult task of letting people go. I kept waiting for it. Instead, he focuses on the challenge of retaining talent stating that's the toughest job management confronts. The book made me really wish I worked for an organization he was in charge of.
  - rdli 11y ago
    Ben Horowitz talks about letting people go in The Hard Things About Hard Things. Really a great book in its own right.
ChuckMcM 11y ago
I'm sorry to hear of his passing. My first job in the Bay Area was working for Intel in Santa Clara, and I worked in the same building that Andy did at the time (Santa Clara 4). It amazed me that he had a cubical (well it had slightly higher walls but was still just a cube.) I have two very influential memories of my time at Intel, the first was when I went to a design update meeting on the 80386 and Andy locked the door to the room at the time the meeting started, a couple of people who should have attended in person were stuck waiting in the hall. The second was that when we had one of our "business update meetings" (which really was a layoff was happening to the people who weren't in the meeting so we called them "BUMmer" meetings sometimes). Andy said that because Intel was losing money the slowest of all semiconductor companies we were by definition the best semiconductor company in the world. Both of those experiences left me deeply impressed with how focused he was on the path forward. What ever was happening around you didn't matter, it was "Put one foot in front of the other and make progress against the goal now." kind of focus.
- yuhong 11y ago
  Thinking about it and "second sourcing", it is funny how not that long afterwards they used marketing tactics like the 486SX/487SX fiasco to compete with AMD's 386DX. I wonder what would have happened if for example Intel bought Compaq instead back in 1991 (instead of Compaq having to cut R&D for example).
  - jclulow 11y ago
    I imagine we would have ended up with even more Smart Array RAID controllers; a truly terrifying dystopian vision.
    - yuhong 11y ago
      Unlikely in desktop PCs.
      - jclulow 11y ago
        Compaq also made x86 server equipment, which is one of the reasons they were assimilated by Hewlett Packard. Compaq developed the initial versions of the Smart Array RAID controllers, and were working with Intel (amongst others) on the thankfully defunct Intelligent I/O Architecture (I2O) on which the Smart Arrays appear to have been based.
TrkFhm 11y ago
This the immigrant that really made it all possible
dfischer 11y ago
RIP - reading high output management now. Truly amazing individual.
nodesocket 11y ago
PBS did a great documentary "Silicon Valley"[1] (not to be confused with the show), which I highly recommend. It tells the amazing story of how Robert Noyce, Arthur Rock, Gordon Moore, and Andrew Grove were absolute pioneers and insanely gifted. A huge loss. Here is the first 15 minutes of the documentary on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcOoQP7nhl4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcOoQP7nhl4
- deleted 11y ago
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- astrodust 11y ago
  The effect of Grove's talent was only made obvious when he retired and the company started to drift seriously sideways with their forays into VLIW and stupidly deep instruction pipelines. His ability to steer a company through what was perpetual chaos against relentless competitors is almost unparalleled. They didn't have it easy like Microsoft did where they were virtually the only game in town. They almost lost their position to AMD on more than one occasion, and were under constant pressure from Motorola, IBM, Sun, MIPS, DEC, and others all intent on capturing a dominant position in the highly lucrative desktop and server markets. Where hard drive makers would have a few years of glory before burning out or getting folded into another company, and where few CPU manufacturers had the talent to survive more than a decade, Intel not only popularized the CPU, but kept a near strangle-hold on the market for over two decades. They're still number one by a number of key metrics even with the increasing pressure from ARM. Few companies from the Intel era in the 1970s have survived intact. The only one I can think of is Seagate out of hundreds from that era. I doubt few will ever measure up to Grove in terms of impact.
  - ghaff 11y ago
    >The effect of Grove's talent was only made obvious when he retired and the company started to drift seriously sideways with their forays into VLIW and stupidly deep instruction pipelines. Not to take anything away from Grove, but a lot of the focus on deep instruction pipelines can probably be traced to certain software partners being concerned about scaling across multi-core. As for VLIW/Itanium, I expect some of the same motivations were in play--plus, a desire to reset and lock-out the various x86 clone makers.
im_down_w_otp 11y ago
There's been a string of pioneers in the field of computing who have passed recently, but Andy Grove was truly a titan amongst giants.
karmacondon 11y ago
I'm ashamed to admit that I'd never heard of Andy Grove until today. I did find a great discussion of High Output Management by Ben Horowitz that may be useful to fellow uninitiates: http://a16z.com/2015/11/13/high-output-management/ http://a16z.com/2015/11/13/high-output-management/
yeukhon 11y ago
As a City College engineering school alumn, thank you for your donation. RIP Dr. Grove.
msie 11y ago
Now's a good time to announce the end of the black bar.
- contravariant 11y ago
  Now is possibly the worst time.
avs733 11y ago
Intel was my first job out of college not all that long ago. I met Andy very briefly at an event through the company and was incredibly impressed (and intimidated obviously). My experience of Intel had its ups and downs but I always had the utmost respect for those who came before me and laid tracks for an industry and company that changed the world. The loss of Andy, while inevitable, is profoundly sad.
oska 11y ago
Andy Grove was an immigrant to the US and a political refugee. Worth noting in today's political climate.
- jnbiche 11y ago
  Also, an immigrant from a country that was communist and behind the Iron Curtain, from a time when communism and its lands were held in fear and loathing similar to how terrorism and the Middle East are viewed today. Worth thinking about next time Syrian refugees come up, but I know I'm preaching to the choir here.
anonfunction 11y ago
One of the only books I've consistently recommended is High Output Management[1] by Andy Grove. His methods for dealing with complex interconnected problems was as brilliant as it was when he wrote it 30+ years ago. 1. http://www.amazon.com/High-Output-Management-Andrew-Grove/dp/0679762884 http://www.amazon.com/High-Output-Management-Andrew-Grove/dp...
hodgesrm 11y ago
I'm so sorry to read that Andy Grove has passed away. He was an inspiration at many levels. In addition to his technical and social accomplishments he was a living argument for free immigration into the United States. My deepest respect and condolences to his family.
ww520 11y ago
Sorry to hear his passing away. He was an icon in the valley. Intel won't be where it is today without him. He was one of those who brought on the PC revolution.
cb18 11y ago
He was also a Jew. As in the Jews that are well known for prodigious scientific, economic, musical, etc. etc. output. Hardly a Syrian, or Iraqi, or Afghani, or some other adherent to a hostile, violent, and regressive ideology[0]. Not everything is an equivalency just because you want the world to be as such. Worth noting in today's political climate. [0] Not that all Syrians, Iraqis, or Afghanis are. Edit: Ok, what is "triggering" you drive-by down voters. If you disagree with the facts, and can formulate that disagreement into coherent statements, that would probably be better for both your mental state and the world, than drive-by downvotes. Edit, Edit: Upon further reflection of the above edit, as the more studious among you may have observed, a coherent disagreement with facts is more or less a logical impossibility. So I guess what I'm asking is that if the above statements so trigger you as to garner your downvote, maybe a reappraisal of your worldview is in order. Or maybe more productive than downvoting would be if you could formulate in words what exactly about the above makes you uncomfortable.
- flashman 11y ago
  This is such a strange comment, but I'm finding it hard to put my finger on exactly why. It's something to do with how you're happy to make generalisations about Jews, but careful in how you demonise Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans.
  - cb18 11y ago
    It's probably strange because it describes a basic reality of the world, but one that so many people strain to avert their eyes from. I'm not making any generalisations about Jews. Just conveying what looking at any Sunday Times, or Forbes rich list will tell you, or what looking at the annals of scientific history or the recipients list of Nobel prizes will tell you, or what looking at a list of highly regarded concert pianists or violinists will tell you, etc. etc. But I'm not much interested in going back and forth about this, the facts are the facts. And I already found it strange that oska took a thread of this sort as an opportunity to promote an agenda that is basically against the interests of all involved, i.e. mass migrations of cultures into lands where they are wholly incompatible with the native culture.
rmorrison 11y ago
I had the privilege of meeting Andy Grove a few years ago after he expressed interest in learning what our startup was doing to advance medicine. At the time, he was already clearly suffering the physical effects of Parkinsons, but mentally he was completely with it. He listened without saying a word for ~15 minutes while I explained what our startup does. Then, he began "If I were you, I'd..." and proceeded to tell us specific ways he thought we could better focus our business. His advice was relevant and demonstrated a crisp understanding of our business and many of the challenges we'd face over the next several years. My natural inclination was to jump in and start pushing back, but I just stop and decided to listen and learn from this business legend. I left extremely impressed. Even today, several years later, we're still executing on many things he foresaw after a brief interaction.
- Create 11y ago
  Strange -- about the same timeframe, already with Parkinsons, a flagship neuroscience lab in Oxford also tried to approach him for research money. Without success.
satyajeet23 11y ago
One of the smartest thinkers and all the greatness, but he was also the person who told Steve Jobs "I don't give a fuck about apple" and Jobs respected that.
eruditely 11y ago
Sorry to hear he passed away. I'm ashamed to admit I haven't read his books. I intend to write a review under this comment once i'm done.
lolidaisuki 11y ago
Someone who was so high on a company with so much negative influence to the world doesn't deserve a black bar.
tuyguntn 11y ago
We are living in a such period of time that we see lots of great inventions from great people, how they push technology forward, how they change our daily lives and see how they are leaving us :(
joantune 11y ago
His article on taking on cancer is impressive and an example for all of us: http://www.phoenix5.org/articles/Fortune96Grove.html http://www.phoenix5.org/articles/Fortune96Grove.html It is truly worth the read
liotier 11y ago
I guess he wasn't paranoid enough.
- dang 11y ago
  Please don't post like this here.
  - liotier 11y ago
    Why not ? Evocation of his masterpiece of a business book in the form of a pun that only the knowledgeable will get feels quite on-topic to me for this site's audience. Besides, I have been waiting all his life for this chance to make that joke...
    - dang 11y ago
      It's fine for sites that specialize in snarky one-liners, but being both uncivil and unsubstantive, it doesn't belong on HN. Jokes sometimes do ok on HN if they're particularly clever, but lame/obvious ones tend to get hammered. But it's really the incivility that's a problem here. Using someone's death as fodder for internet humor is not a good fit.
wtbob 11y ago
He was a refugee from Communist and Nazi oppression; he was neither a Communist nor a Nazi. That's a big difference from a typical Syrian refugee, who is fleeing Islamic violence but still believes in Islam (and thus its exhortations to violence). I'm only posting this to note that the situations aren't as parallel as you posit; this posting about the death of Andy Grove is not the right place to discuss the refugee crisis.
- pluma 11y ago
  I would normally be one of the least likely persons to point this out but: "believing in Islam" (i.e. identifying as Muslim) is not the same as believing that violence in the name of Islam is justified or justifiable. There are myriads of sects of Islam (just like Christianity) and the particular group everyone is talking about these days (i.e. ISIS) actually most closely resembles a modern revisionist unorthodox theology that has little to do with garden variety fundamentalist Islam. In a nutshell: most Islamic sects build upon centuries of theological texts and interpretations of the original scripture. This can still yield dangerous conclusions (cf. the various fatwas inciting violence against individuals or groups) but ISIS throws this body of opinion out and substitutes a radical "unfiltered" return to the original scripture itself. While there are Syrian refugees who hold dehumanizing religious opinions combing them all over the same brush is akin to saying all Christians support the bombings of abortion clinics because there are interpretations of Christian scripture which would find it justified. The situation is incredibly messy and this is indeed not the best place to discuss it in detail but overgeneralizations like "Muslim == supports Islamist violence" help no-one and only serve to incite tensions (which is exactly what attacks like those in Paris and Brussels are intended to do).
- dang 11y ago
  > believes in Islam (and thus its exhortations to violence). Religious flamewars are not welcome on Hacker News. Please don't comment like this again. We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11335414 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11335414 and marked it off-topic.
  - wtbob 11y ago
deleted 11y ago
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altotrees 11y ago
I have some very distinct memories of my Junior year of high school. One was a trip to San Francisco, which impacted me greatly. I also remember sitting in the summer sun, reading every article I had collected about Sean Fanning and Napster (I gathered all of the relevant tech/lifestyle magazines at the library). I was already well-aware of the sweeping changes technology was making in the world when I found Only The Paranoid Survive on my uncle's bookshelf. I think it was that book that really hammered home how quickly things were changing, and really astounded me, teaching me a bit about technology, a bit about business and a ton about inspiration and drive. Whenever I hear Andy's name, I nostalgically return to that summer, a time filed with learning and stretching my perception of things. This news makes me very sad, but also is making me return to that place. I feel lucky to have been around the same time he was.
mickrussom 11y ago
Steve Jobs - hipster IP thief whole stole every last idea from Xerox PARC shamelessly. Real talent was Woz. Jobs was an aggressive, rude, lucky marketing machine whose success could not be recreated even if he was reincarnated. Apple has huge amounts of money and employees, but a year of work from IP4S to IP5 produced an extra row of Icons and a $650 dollar IP5 that still caters to carrier lockins. Little brat Apple trying to sue Samsung while Android has captured over 50% market share. Without Steve Jobs we would have: No overpriced poorly supported iProducts, No hyper expensive laptops, anti-standard non-USB connectors, ruthlessly jailed operating systems. Without Andy Grove : No x86 - the ultimate revolution in tech the world has ever seen, inexpensive, effective and universal. When Jobs died it was like a third world funeral for a Dictator. Andy dies, nothing from the media.
danny8000 11y ago
Worth watching, contains and interesting an segment about Andy Grove's and Robert Noyce's relationship with each other at Intel. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/silicon/ http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/silicon/
wycx 11y ago
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2010-07-01/andy-grove-how-america-can-create-jobs http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2010-07-01/andy-grove... Interesting words from Andy Grove in 2010. Bonus refutation of Thomas Friedman.
simpx 11y ago
sorry to hear that. Read his book "Only the Paranoid Survive", When I was in high school, and it inspired me a lot R.I.P

1333 points by sajid 11y ago

For those who are interested in knowing more about Andy Grove and the early days of Intel, I highly recommend Tedlow's biography. Of all the biographies or business histories I've read, I can't think of one which does a better job of making you feel like you're hanging out with him, hearing his war stories, and getting a real feel for what kind of guy he was and what drove him and his company to success. http://www.amazon.com/Andy-Grove-Life-Times-American/dp/1591841399 http://www.amazon.com/Andy-Grove-Life-Times-American/dp/1591...

ausjke 11y ago
Thanks. Just bought a copy.
- voltagex_ 11y ago
  Are these the same book? http://www.amazon.com/Andy-Grove-Times-American-Business/dp/1591841828 http://www.amazon.com/Andy-Grove-Times-American-Business/dp/... http://www.amazon.com/Andy-Grove-Life-Times-American/dp/1591841399 http://www.amazon.com/Andy-Grove-Life-Times-American/dp/1591... There doesn't seem to be a Kindle / ePub version, unfortunately.
  - emmasz 11y ago
    I'm sure there will be one, now that he passed. At least, I hope it will.
filereaper 11y ago
I read this book about Andy Grove and Intel in high-school, made a huge impact in my career choices. https://www.amazon.ca/Inside-Intel-Worlds-Powerful-Company/dp/0452276438/175-8456345-4596560?ie=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0 https://www.amazon.ca/Inside-Intel-Worlds-Powerful-Company/d...
hkmurakami 11y ago
Just wanted to mention that in the last several hours, the price of a used hardcover copy of the book on Amazon has gone from $0.01 to $2.93 (which probably represents about 30 copies sold). Actually kind of incredible to see this sort of inventory change happen in real time. (I bought the cheapest "very good" condition item for $0.41 + shipping)
- dom96 11y ago
  It's incredibly cheap in comparison to the UK. Guess there just aren't as many used copies here.
bestham 11y ago
Tedlow did a wonderful Google Talk about his book: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7yqwOI0-SQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7yqwOI0-SQ
- akamaka 11y ago
  Wow, cool, thanks for sharing this!
leoc 11y ago
Thanks! While we're at it, do you have an opinion on Michael S. Malone's /The Intel Trinity/ http://www.amazon.com/The-Intel-Trinity-Important-Company/dp/0062226762 http://www.amazon.com/The-Intel-Trinity-Important-Company/dp... ?

stuart78 11y ago

What a loss. High Output Management remains one of the finest books on our industry that I have read, and I'm glad we have that to help carry his torch forward.

Uhhrrr 11y ago

From Wikipedia, >Grove's office was an 8-ft by 9-ft cubicle like the other employees, as he disliked separate "mahogany-paneled corner offices." He states, "I've been living in cubicles since 1978 — and it hasn't hurt a whole lot." Preferring this egalitarian atmosphere, he thereby made his work area accessible to anyone who walked by. There were no reserved parking spaces, and Grove parked wherever there was a space.

jmspring 11y ago
It seems like early Intel and HP higher ups were more in tune with egalitarianism as well not being aloof or unapproachable. The Moore foundation has been an amazing charity. Here in Santa Cruz, Andy Grove built a house out on one of the streets near the beach between Santa Cruz and Capitola. He worked with neighbors (according to local press) to not be out of place in the design, etc. Contrast that with Zuckerberg and his recent building issues, or how many modern C-levels want their out of the way offices, etc. Maybe it was just a different time.
- gogopuppygogo 11y ago
  Gates also is known for having built a home that stood out. It's not about the era its about the person.
  - blairanderson 11y ago
    It is extravagant but hardly stands out. You can only see it by boat if you already know where to look.
    - 13of40 11y ago
      I think there used to be some gangly red steel sculpture down by the lake that you could spot. I haven't sailed past there in years, though.
  - Scuds 11y ago
    Yeah, but since he's trying to give all his money away, it's kind of a boondoggle of the mid 90's. https://goo.gl/maps/jxsqBmwVBPD2 https://goo.gl/maps/jxsqBmwVBPD2

ausjke 11y ago

R.I.P Read his book "Only the Paranoid Survive" many years ago, he fought for cancer before I think, also remember his cubicle and no-reserved parking as mentioned here. What a great man.

rdl 11y ago

RIP. I'm in the process of re-reading High Output Nanagement, which was only one of many contributions Andy Grove made to the world. Thank you for everything you did.

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aswanson 11y ago

Hard nosed, no bullshit fighter. Rest in peace.

amazingandyyy 11y ago

Only the Paranoid Survive!! RIP

omarforgotpwd 11y ago

One of the Valley's founding fathers. May he rest in peace. If you haven't read it: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0679762884?keywords=high%20output%20management&qid=1458607003&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0679762884?keywords=high%20...

lifeisstillgood 11y ago

It may just be a function of my own middle-age, but we seem to be losing more of the old Giants - in politics, arts and commerce, and looking ahead, everyone seems, well, smaller in comparison. Just as software without silicon to run on is, well, smaller, the software moguls of today can only run on hardware because people like Andy put it underneath them a generation before.

thisrod 11y ago
"I strode among giants, friends tell me now, though at the time I felt like a misfit associating with oddballs." - Steve Roper, Camp 4: Recollections of a Yosemite Rockclimber. Perhaps that is less true of Groves, who came from the lineage of Bell and Shockley. I'm sure it applies to the great technologists of our future.

Adams472 11y ago

After reading Only the Paranoid Survive and High Output Management, I have a deep respect for Andy Grove and the work he did to make Intel an enduring company. He'll be missed.

dudusmaximus 11y ago

Working my way through High Output Management. Great Teacher

sanchitbareja 11y ago

RIP - having read his memoir, and his management books, I've deep respect for his work and principles that he advocated. He'll be missed

andrewstuart 11y ago

Gordon Moore created Moore's law and Andy Grove made it happen. Loved this book http://www.amazon.com/Only-Paranoid-Survive-Exploit-Challenge/dp/0385483821/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1458608327&sr=8-1&keywords=only+the+paranoid+survive http://www.amazon.com/Only-Paranoid-Survive-Exploit-Challeng...

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p4wnc6 11y ago

What an unfortunate attitude for him to take, promoting a poor quality working environment merely because it anecdotally didn't create problems for him, thereby damaging others who may have physiological conditions (such as misophonia) or who may be more strongly introverted and need privacy for productivity. And how bad for us now that we laud such poor anecdotes and allow words like "egalitarian" to be associated with such dysfunctional, unhealthy, and productivity-damaging workspace. It's similar to hearing a 1950s endorsement for cigarettes and finding it endearing, instead of realizing that while it may have been a product of its time, the full light of data and progressive analysis has shown how horrible it really is.

jmspring 11y ago
Cubes dysfunctional? Interesting. Your opinions are strong. I prefer working at home, but individual offices were a nice touch if I had to be in the office, the worst of all worlds was "open offices". A senior executive not using his role to be away from the other employees is incredibly rare these days.
- p4wnc6 11y ago
  Paul Graham expressed this much more strongly than I have, and he wrote about it over 10 years ago: "After software, the most important tool to a hacker is probably his office. Big companies think the function of office space is to express rank. But hackers use their offices for more than that: they use their office as a place to think in. And if you're a technology company, their thoughts are your product. So making hackers work in a noisy, distracting environment is like having a paint factory where the air is full of soot. The cartoon strip Dilbert has a lot to say about cubicles, and with good reason. All the hackers I know despise them. The mere prospect of being interrupted is enough to prevent hackers from working on hard problems. If you want to get real work done in an office with cubicles, you have two options: work at home, or come in early or late or on a weekend, when no one else is there. Don't companies realize this is a sign that something is broken? An office environment is supposed to be something that helps you work, not something you work despite. Companies like Cisco are proud that everyone there has a cubicle, even the CEO. But they're not so advanced as they think; obviously they still view office space as a badge of rank. Note too that Cisco is famous for doing very little product development in house. They get new technology by buying the startups that created it-- where presumably the hackers did have somewhere quiet to work. One big company that understands what hackers need is Microsoft. I once saw a recruiting ad for Microsoft with a big picture of a door. Work for us, the premise was, and we'll give you a place to work where you can actually get work done. And you know, Microsoft is remarkable among big companies in that they are able to develop software in house. Not well, perhaps, but well enough." from Great Hackers section called "The Final Frontier" http://paulgraham.com/gh.html http://paulgraham.com/gh.html I agree that open plan is the worst, but cubes are a close second, and both types of space are not as cost effective as private offices (even in dense urban areas). If the executives want to be "egalitarian" about it, then raise the conditions of everyone up. Don't act like a proud martyr and lower your own conditions. It's patronizing and solves none of the problems. Plus, executives who do this will always find other status games to play if they want to feel superior, so it's never really egalitarian anyway.

johnnyg 11y ago

High Output Management has dramatically improved the culture, communication and output of our company. I live a better life because of what this man learned and passed on. Thanks Mr. Grove, you are a giant.

PakG1 11y ago
Your comment just made me go purchase the book. Thanks.

mehrdada 11y ago

Can we get a black bar on top of HN? RIP

pfarnsworth 11y ago
Yes, we definitely need a black bar here. Grove set the tone of a lot of what we take for granted in Silicon Valley, like a meritocracy, no offices for execs, the best idea wins regardless of who suggested it, etc.

whbk 11y ago

Highly recommend Swimming Across - Andy's autobiography of his childhood. The biography Life and Times of an American picks up from there with the first ~50-75 pages recounting the story Andy told in his own words in Swimming Across. Remarkable story - a life well-lived in the face of incredible early challenges to be sure.

nanoojaboo 11y ago

another immigrant who dragged on the economy

andrewtbham 11y ago

Tribute to Andy Grove with Ben Horowitz. Worth watching. http://a16z.com/2015/09/28/the-man-who-built-silicon-valley-a-tribute-to-andy-grove/ http://a16z.com/2015/09/28/the-man-who-built-silicon-valley-...

melling 11y ago

Andy was brilliant and driven. After he retired from Intel, he worked to help find a cure for Parkinson's, from which he suffered. I wish that story had a happier ending but it does demonstrate the fight in him. http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2008/0128/070.html http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2008/0128/070.html

applecore 11y ago

Grove's High Output Management is highly recommended. It's a masterpiece of management theory and practice. http://www.amazon.com/High-Output-Management-Andrew-Grove/dp/0679762884 http://www.amazon.com/High-Output-Management-Andrew-Grove/dp...

lmg643 11y ago
I am in the middle of reading HPM, sad to hear. Andy Grove's writing has a lot of the same flavors of Paul Graham, but for a more corporate setting. The no-nonsense attitude towards meetings, and also understanding the challenges of decision making through meetings resonate with me.
50CNT 11y ago
I just learned about it and Andy Grove a couple of days ago, which really puts the "oh, this person would be cool to talk to" and the "oh, that's not happening" awkwardly close. But some view books as a receptacle of the authors mind, a time capsule that allows them to share thoughts with you even centuries after they have passed. Guess I'll have 2 more to look forward to.
klenwell 11y ago
I was going through a difficult period at work last year and picked up High Output Management on the recommendation of a thread I came across somewhere here on HN. It didn't help save my job. But it did help me see what competent management looks like and helped me preserve a bit of my sanity. One thing that struck me as emblematic of Grove's generous and effective management style is that nowhere in the book does he have a section addressing the difficult task of letting people go. I kept waiting for it. Instead, he focuses on the challenge of retaining talent stating that's the toughest job management confronts. The book made me really wish I worked for an organization he was in charge of.
- rdli 11y ago
  Ben Horowitz talks about letting people go in The Hard Things About Hard Things. Really a great book in its own right.

ChuckMcM 11y ago

I'm sorry to hear of his passing. My first job in the Bay Area was working for Intel in Santa Clara, and I worked in the same building that Andy did at the time (Santa Clara 4). It amazed me that he had a cubical (well it had slightly higher walls but was still just a cube.) I have two very influential memories of my time at Intel, the first was when I went to a design update meeting on the 80386 and Andy locked the door to the room at the time the meeting started, a couple of people who should have attended in person were stuck waiting in the hall. The second was that when we had one of our "business update meetings" (which really was a layoff was happening to the people who weren't in the meeting so we called them "BUMmer" meetings sometimes). Andy said that because Intel was losing money the slowest of all semiconductor companies we were by definition the best semiconductor company in the world. Both of those experiences left me deeply impressed with how focused he was on the path forward. What ever was happening around you didn't matter, it was "Put one foot in front of the other and make progress against the goal now." kind of focus.

yuhong 11y ago
Thinking about it and "second sourcing", it is funny how not that long afterwards they used marketing tactics like the 486SX/487SX fiasco to compete with AMD's 386DX. I wonder what would have happened if for example Intel bought Compaq instead back in 1991 (instead of Compaq having to cut R&D for example).
- jclulow 11y ago
  I imagine we would have ended up with even more Smart Array RAID controllers; a truly terrifying dystopian vision.
  - yuhong 11y ago
    Unlikely in desktop PCs.
    - jclulow 11y ago
      Compaq also made x86 server equipment, which is one of the reasons they were assimilated by Hewlett Packard. Compaq developed the initial versions of the Smart Array RAID controllers, and were working with Intel (amongst others) on the thankfully defunct Intelligent I/O Architecture (I2O) on which the Smart Arrays appear to have been based.

TrkFhm 11y ago

This the immigrant that really made it all possible

dfischer 11y ago

RIP - reading high output management now. Truly amazing individual.

nodesocket 11y ago

PBS did a great documentary "Silicon Valley"[1] (not to be confused with the show), which I highly recommend. It tells the amazing story of how Robert Noyce, Arthur Rock, Gordon Moore, and Andrew Grove were absolute pioneers and insanely gifted. A huge loss. Here is the first 15 minutes of the documentary on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcOoQP7nhl4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcOoQP7nhl4

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astrodust 11y ago
The effect of Grove's talent was only made obvious when he retired and the company started to drift seriously sideways with their forays into VLIW and stupidly deep instruction pipelines. His ability to steer a company through what was perpetual chaos against relentless competitors is almost unparalleled. They didn't have it easy like Microsoft did where they were virtually the only game in town. They almost lost their position to AMD on more than one occasion, and were under constant pressure from Motorola, IBM, Sun, MIPS, DEC, and others all intent on capturing a dominant position in the highly lucrative desktop and server markets. Where hard drive makers would have a few years of glory before burning out or getting folded into another company, and where few CPU manufacturers had the talent to survive more than a decade, Intel not only popularized the CPU, but kept a near strangle-hold on the market for over two decades. They're still number one by a number of key metrics even with the increasing pressure from ARM. Few companies from the Intel era in the 1970s have survived intact. The only one I can think of is Seagate out of hundreds from that era. I doubt few will ever measure up to Grove in terms of impact.
- ghaff 11y ago
  >The effect of Grove's talent was only made obvious when he retired and the company started to drift seriously sideways with their forays into VLIW and stupidly deep instruction pipelines. Not to take anything away from Grove, but a lot of the focus on deep instruction pipelines can probably be traced to certain software partners being concerned about scaling across multi-core. As for VLIW/Itanium, I expect some of the same motivations were in play--plus, a desire to reset and lock-out the various x86 clone makers.

im_down_w_otp 11y ago

There's been a string of pioneers in the field of computing who have passed recently, but Andy Grove was truly a titan amongst giants.

karmacondon 11y ago

I'm ashamed to admit that I'd never heard of Andy Grove until today. I did find a great discussion of High Output Management by Ben Horowitz that may be useful to fellow uninitiates: http://a16z.com/2015/11/13/high-output-management/ http://a16z.com/2015/11/13/high-output-management/

yeukhon 11y ago

As a City College engineering school alumn, thank you for your donation. RIP Dr. Grove.

msie 11y ago

Now's a good time to announce the end of the black bar.

contravariant 11y ago
Now is possibly the worst time.

avs733 11y ago

Intel was my first job out of college not all that long ago. I met Andy very briefly at an event through the company and was incredibly impressed (and intimidated obviously). My experience of Intel had its ups and downs but I always had the utmost respect for those who came before me and laid tracks for an industry and company that changed the world. The loss of Andy, while inevitable, is profoundly sad.

oska 11y ago

Andy Grove was an immigrant to the US and a political refugee. Worth noting in today's political climate.

jnbiche 11y ago
Also, an immigrant from a country that was communist and behind the Iron Curtain, from a time when communism and its lands were held in fear and loathing similar to how terrorism and the Middle East are viewed today. Worth thinking about next time Syrian refugees come up, but I know I'm preaching to the choir here.

anonfunction 11y ago

One of the only books I've consistently recommended is High Output Management[1] by Andy Grove. His methods for dealing with complex interconnected problems was as brilliant as it was when he wrote it 30+ years ago. 1. http://www.amazon.com/High-Output-Management-Andrew-Grove/dp/0679762884 http://www.amazon.com/High-Output-Management-Andrew-Grove/dp...

hodgesrm 11y ago

I'm so sorry to read that Andy Grove has passed away. He was an inspiration at many levels. In addition to his technical and social accomplishments he was a living argument for free immigration into the United States. My deepest respect and condolences to his family.

ww520 11y ago

Sorry to hear his passing away. He was an icon in the valley. Intel won't be where it is today without him. He was one of those who brought on the PC revolution.

cb18 11y ago

He was also a Jew. As in the Jews that are well known for prodigious scientific, economic, musical, etc. etc. output. Hardly a Syrian, or Iraqi, or Afghani, or some other adherent to a hostile, violent, and regressive ideology[0]. Not everything is an equivalency just because you want the world to be as such. Worth noting in today's political climate. [0] Not that all Syrians, Iraqis, or Afghanis are. Edit: Ok, what is "triggering" you drive-by down voters. If you disagree with the facts, and can formulate that disagreement into coherent statements, that would probably be better for both your mental state and the world, than drive-by downvotes. Edit, Edit: Upon further reflection of the above edit, as the more studious among you may have observed, a coherent disagreement with facts is more or less a logical impossibility. So I guess what I'm asking is that if the above statements so trigger you as to garner your downvote, maybe a reappraisal of your worldview is in order. Or maybe more productive than downvoting would be if you could formulate in words what exactly about the above makes you uncomfortable.

flashman 11y ago
This is such a strange comment, but I'm finding it hard to put my finger on exactly why. It's something to do with how you're happy to make generalisations about Jews, but careful in how you demonise Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans.
- cb18 11y ago
  It's probably strange because it describes a basic reality of the world, but one that so many people strain to avert their eyes from. I'm not making any generalisations about Jews. Just conveying what looking at any Sunday Times, or Forbes rich list will tell you, or what looking at the annals of scientific history or the recipients list of Nobel prizes will tell you, or what looking at a list of highly regarded concert pianists or violinists will tell you, etc. etc. But I'm not much interested in going back and forth about this, the facts are the facts. And I already found it strange that oska took a thread of this sort as an opportunity to promote an agenda that is basically against the interests of all involved, i.e. mass migrations of cultures into lands where they are wholly incompatible with the native culture.

rmorrison 11y ago

I had the privilege of meeting Andy Grove a few years ago after he expressed interest in learning what our startup was doing to advance medicine. At the time, he was already clearly suffering the physical effects of Parkinsons, but mentally he was completely with it. He listened without saying a word for ~15 minutes while I explained what our startup does. Then, he began "If I were you, I'd..." and proceeded to tell us specific ways he thought we could better focus our business. His advice was relevant and demonstrated a crisp understanding of our business and many of the challenges we'd face over the next several years. My natural inclination was to jump in and start pushing back, but I just stop and decided to listen and learn from this business legend. I left extremely impressed. Even today, several years later, we're still executing on many things he foresaw after a brief interaction.

Create 11y ago
Strange -- about the same timeframe, already with Parkinsons, a flagship neuroscience lab in Oxford also tried to approach him for research money. Without success.

satyajeet23 11y ago

One of the smartest thinkers and all the greatness, but he was also the person who told Steve Jobs "I don't give a fuck about apple" and Jobs respected that.

eruditely 11y ago

Sorry to hear he passed away. I'm ashamed to admit I haven't read his books. I intend to write a review under this comment once i'm done.

lolidaisuki 11y ago

Someone who was so high on a company with so much negative influence to the world doesn't deserve a black bar.

tuyguntn 11y ago

We are living in a such period of time that we see lots of great inventions from great people, how they push technology forward, how they change our daily lives and see how they are leaving us :(

joantune 11y ago

His article on taking on cancer is impressive and an example for all of us: http://www.phoenix5.org/articles/Fortune96Grove.html http://www.phoenix5.org/articles/Fortune96Grove.html It is truly worth the read

liotier 11y ago

I guess he wasn't paranoid enough.

dang 11y ago
Please don't post like this here.
- liotier 11y ago
  Why not ? Evocation of his masterpiece of a business book in the form of a pun that only the knowledgeable will get feels quite on-topic to me for this site's audience. Besides, I have been waiting all his life for this chance to make that joke...
  - dang 11y ago
    It's fine for sites that specialize in snarky one-liners, but being both uncivil and unsubstantive, it doesn't belong on HN. Jokes sometimes do ok on HN if they're particularly clever, but lame/obvious ones tend to get hammered. But it's really the incivility that's a problem here. Using someone's death as fodder for internet humor is not a good fit.

wtbob 11y ago

He was a refugee from Communist and Nazi oppression; he was neither a Communist nor a Nazi. That's a big difference from a typical Syrian refugee, who is fleeing Islamic violence but still believes in Islam (and thus its exhortations to violence). I'm only posting this to note that the situations aren't as parallel as you posit; this posting about the death of Andy Grove is not the right place to discuss the refugee crisis.

pluma 11y ago
I would normally be one of the least likely persons to point this out but: "believing in Islam" (i.e. identifying as Muslim) is not the same as believing that violence in the name of Islam is justified or justifiable. There are myriads of sects of Islam (just like Christianity) and the particular group everyone is talking about these days (i.e. ISIS) actually most closely resembles a modern revisionist unorthodox theology that has little to do with garden variety fundamentalist Islam. In a nutshell: most Islamic sects build upon centuries of theological texts and interpretations of the original scripture. This can still yield dangerous conclusions (cf. the various fatwas inciting violence against individuals or groups) but ISIS throws this body of opinion out and substitutes a radical "unfiltered" return to the original scripture itself. While there are Syrian refugees who hold dehumanizing religious opinions combing them all over the same brush is akin to saying all Christians support the bombings of abortion clinics because there are interpretations of Christian scripture which would find it justified. The situation is incredibly messy and this is indeed not the best place to discuss it in detail but overgeneralizations like "Muslim == supports Islamist violence" help no-one and only serve to incite tensions (which is exactly what attacks like those in Paris and Brussels are intended to do).
dang 11y ago
> believes in Islam (and thus its exhortations to violence). Religious flamewars are not welcome on Hacker News. Please don't comment like this again. We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11335414 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11335414 and marked it off-topic.
- wtbob 11y ago

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altotrees 11y ago

I have some very distinct memories of my Junior year of high school. One was a trip to San Francisco, which impacted me greatly. I also remember sitting in the summer sun, reading every article I had collected about Sean Fanning and Napster (I gathered all of the relevant tech/lifestyle magazines at the library). I was already well-aware of the sweeping changes technology was making in the world when I found Only The Paranoid Survive on my uncle's bookshelf. I think it was that book that really hammered home how quickly things were changing, and really astounded me, teaching me a bit about technology, a bit about business and a ton about inspiration and drive. Whenever I hear Andy's name, I nostalgically return to that summer, a time filed with learning and stretching my perception of things. This news makes me very sad, but also is making me return to that place. I feel lucky to have been around the same time he was.

mickrussom 11y ago

Steve Jobs - hipster IP thief whole stole every last idea from Xerox PARC shamelessly. Real talent was Woz. Jobs was an aggressive, rude, lucky marketing machine whose success could not be recreated even if he was reincarnated. Apple has huge amounts of money and employees, but a year of work from IP4S to IP5 produced an extra row of Icons and a $650 dollar IP5 that still caters to carrier lockins. Little brat Apple trying to sue Samsung while Android has captured over 50% market share. Without Steve Jobs we would have: No overpriced poorly supported iProducts, No hyper expensive laptops, anti-standard non-USB connectors, ruthlessly jailed operating systems. Without Andy Grove : No x86 - the ultimate revolution in tech the world has ever seen, inexpensive, effective and universal. When Jobs died it was like a third world funeral for a Dictator. Andy dies, nothing from the media.

danny8000 11y ago

Worth watching, contains and interesting an segment about Andy Grove's and Robert Noyce's relationship with each other at Intel. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/silicon/ http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/silicon/

wycx 11y ago

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2010-07-01/andy-grove-how-america-can-create-jobs http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2010-07-01/andy-grove... Interesting words from Andy Grove in 2010. Bonus refutation of Thomas Friedman.

simpx 11y ago

sorry to hear that. Read his book "Only the Paranoid Survive", When I was in high school, and it inspired me a lot R.I.P