4 ms·

> For a period in 1987, Norsk Data was the second largest company by stock value in Norway, second only to Norsk Hydro, and employed over 4,500 people. Interes

> For a period in 1987, Norsk Data was the second largest company by stock value in Norway, second only to Norsk Hydro, and employed over 4,500 people. Interesting that a computer manufacturer was the second biggest company in Norway in 1987

Gravityloss 6y ago
Norway was not very rich back then yet, oil hadn't kicked in with full force.
- hkeide 6y ago
  Norway produced only slightly less oil in 1987 than they do now. The Aleksander Kielland accident happened in 1980, and by that time, oil was huge business.
- smnrchrds 6y ago
  Norway's GDP per capita was higher than US and UK in 1987. They have been rich for a long time. https://data.worldbank.org/share/widget?end=2018&indicators=NY.GDP.PCAP.CD&locations=NO-US-EU-GB&name_desc=false&start=1987&view=chart https://data.worldbank.org/share/widget?end=2018&indicators=...
  - Gravityloss 6y ago
    Great chart! I guess my assumed reference was the current mental image where there's the oil fund worth over a million crowns for every citizen.
    - heavenlyhash 6y ago
      That fund affects day to day life a lot less than you might expect, FWIW. It's not like we get to just... spend that; it's somewhat comparable to saying "the New York Stock Exchange contains over $foobar dollars per citizen" (although of course the fund isn't managed at all like a stock exchange, either). The most direct influence I've seen of the oil fund is that it provides capital behind some investments systems that are aimed to drive business creation in _non_-oil sectors (including technology).
      - akiselev 6y ago
        Most other resource rich nations are victims of the resource curse. That you don't just spend that money and that the most direct influence you've seen is economic diversification is extraordinary as far as recent history is concerned.
chvid 6y ago
In Denmark in the 80es we had similar companies such as Regnecentralen and Dansk Data Elektronik creating business focused "micro" or "mini" computers. Big and innovative companies at their time but suffering about the same fate as Norsk Data.
- gnufx 6y ago
  Right. The Copenhagen University lab at Ris ø in the '80s used a Nord-something and a Regnecentralen RC4000 for data collection and reduction. [As far as I remember, they only exchanged data on tapes, but it was amusing to think of them having to use English otherwise, after experiencing attempts to communicate in generalized Scandinavian.] RC4000 seemed steam-driven even then. However, I didn't know its significance at the time, and that our British GEC4000 systems were a better implementation of that pioneering approach, though I've never confirmed the influence, and OS4000 didn't use Algol. Probably the UK could go in that mix with Norway and Denmark. "Zjuh compuuder ish all shcrewwed uupp" — excuse my Danish — was a common phrase around the RC4000 which went back to Liverpool, but there was less occasion for it with the GEC systems. Respect to former colleagues.

Gravityloss 6y ago

Norway was not very rich back then yet, oil hadn't kicked in with full force.

hkeide 6y ago
Norway produced only slightly less oil in 1987 than they do now. The Aleksander Kielland accident happened in 1980, and by that time, oil was huge business.
smnrchrds 6y ago
Norway's GDP per capita was higher than US and UK in 1987. They have been rich for a long time. https://data.worldbank.org/share/widget?end=2018&indicators=NY.GDP.PCAP.CD&locations=NO-US-EU-GB&name_desc=false&start=1987&view=chart https://data.worldbank.org/share/widget?end=2018&indicators=...
- Gravityloss 6y ago
  Great chart! I guess my assumed reference was the current mental image where there's the oil fund worth over a million crowns for every citizen.
  - heavenlyhash 6y ago
    That fund affects day to day life a lot less than you might expect, FWIW. It's not like we get to just... spend that; it's somewhat comparable to saying "the New York Stock Exchange contains over $foobar dollars per citizen" (although of course the fund isn't managed at all like a stock exchange, either). The most direct influence I've seen of the oil fund is that it provides capital behind some investments systems that are aimed to drive business creation in _non_-oil sectors (including technology).
    - akiselev 6y ago
      Most other resource rich nations are victims of the resource curse. That you don't just spend that money and that the most direct influence you've seen is economic diversification is extraordinary as far as recent history is concerned.

chvid 6y ago

In Denmark in the 80es we had similar companies such as Regnecentralen and Dansk Data Elektronik creating business focused "micro" or "mini" computers. Big and innovative companies at their time but suffering about the same fate as Norsk Data.

gnufx 6y ago
Right. The Copenhagen University lab at Ris ø in the '80s used a Nord-something and a Regnecentralen RC4000 for data collection and reduction. [As far as I remember, they only exchanged data on tapes, but it was amusing to think of them having to use English otherwise, after experiencing attempts to communicate in generalized Scandinavian.] RC4000 seemed steam-driven even then. However, I didn't know its significance at the time, and that our British GEC4000 systems were a better implementation of that pioneering approach, though I've never confirmed the influence, and OS4000 didn't use Algol. Probably the UK could go in that mix with Norway and Denmark. "Zjuh compuuder ish all shcrewwed uupp" — excuse my Danish — was a common phrase around the RC4000 which went back to Liverpool, but there was less occasion for it with the GEC systems. Respect to former colleagues.