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Ken Olsen (DEC's co-founder) was quoted saying "There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in his home." He was openly skeptical of the desktop co
by khaledh 6y ago
Ken Olsen (DEC's co-founder) was quoted saying "There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in his home." He was openly skeptical of the desktop computers and thought of them as "toys" used for playing video games.
It's a shame, because DEC had the engineering discipline to be successful in this market, if only they didn't dismiss it.
- ghaff 6y agoIn fairness, that quote seems to have been in reference to having a "home computer" that controlled everything in the home which was a popular notion at the time and did not, in fact, come to pass. That said, DEC and others did not really recognize the shifting of the computing environment to horizontal layers from vertical stacks and the importance of compatibility. Even to the degree they introduced PCs, they didn't understand they played to an entirely different business model than minicomputers. (Source: I worked for Data General, a DEC offshoot, for over a decade.)
- rvense 6y ago> In fairness, that quote seems to have been in reference to having a "home computer" that controlled everything in the home which was a popular notion at the time and did not, in fact, come to pass. Like an Intranet of Things?
- ghaff 6y agoIf you controlled dumb devices, including all your appliances, from a single centralized computer. Things like Alexa, Nest, and some light bulbs notwithstanding, it's all still mostly gadget gee-gaws rather than any kind of truly useful home control.