I've read an interesting paper on the pioneers of Soviet Computing. These guys were as passionate and hard at work as anyone in the Silicon Valley, and even did

I've read an interesting paper on the pioneers of Soviet Computing. These guys were as passionate and hard at work as anyone in the Silicon Valley, and even did skunkworks on stuff they weren't allowed to work on... I'd say self-profit isn't the main motivation for creators, most of the time. Here's the book BTW: http://www.adafruit.com/blog/2011/05/08/pioneers-of-soviet-computing/ http://www.adafruit.com/blog/2011/05/08/pioneers-of-soviet-c...