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The autobiography of Watson Jnr that Tim Wu mentions, "Father, Son and Company" really is an excellent read. I enjoyed it a lot and I've never liked IBM's hard
by gumby 3y ago
The autobiography of Watson Jnr that Tim Wu mentions, "Father, Son and Company" really is an excellent read. I enjoyed it a lot and I've never liked IBM's hardware. It of course has a lot to say about the 360 (and how revolutionary it was), but also about management.
https://www.nytimes.com/1990/06/03/books/growing-up-at-big-blue.html https://www.nytimes.com/1990/06/03/books/growing-up-at-big-b...
- TMWNN 3y agoAgreed on the autobiography's excellence. Among other things, Watson Jr. sadly recounts how he and his father drove to colleges around the Northeast US looking for one that would accept the son and his mediocre academic record (Watson was likely dyslexic, or had some other learning disability); Brown is the one that reluctantly does so. Wartime service as a pilot was the first time Watson Jr. found himself good at anything, and he expected to stay flying until he was pulled back to IBM. He had built contacts in Russia during the war, and used that experience when serving as the US ambassador to the Soviet Union after IBM.
- Aloha 3y agoI concur, strongly. I read this biography and another one about Sr - and I found both of them to be compelling books
- pdoege 3y ago‘IBM and the Holocaust’ is a similarly gripping exploration of these men and their business prowess. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_and_the_Holocaust https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_and_the_Holocaust
- soperj 3y agoIs there one about IBM and Apartheid as well?
- Aloha 3y agoI read it, and it's an interesting read, but I did not find it made a compelling argument for its revisionist historical narrative. There was lots assumption about what IBM knew or did not know that have no evidentiary basis. As far as I know it's also been debunked by other historians.