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Thanks! I found it and just listened the podcast. It's pretty interesting albeit a bit short. I'll read the second link too tonight. Thanks again for sharing.

ghaff 2y ago
They kept the podcasts fairly punchy. Actually both myself and Tom West's daughter were interviewed for it and we were both trimmed in the interests of length in favor of people they they were able to get who had first-hand involvement.
- markus_zhang 2y ago
  Ah that's unfortunate. I wish they kept everything in record at least.
  - ghaff 2y ago
    Productions of things in any format, whether text, audio, or video, don't tend to preserve the cutting floor stuff--especially for public consumption. It's unedited. It's unvetted. It's not the material you're putting out for the public.
    - ghaff 2y ago
      One of the things I'd add is that, while Edson de Castro was clearly remarkable in a lot of ways, he really wasn't that open to a lot a new things. Reluctance to cede control to retailers was one of the the nails in the DG/One's coffin although it was probably also before it's time. But there was a general secretiveness as well. I was once in an executive briefing center presentation to a customer maybe a day or two before a relevant product announcement. My skip manager I think basically said, what the hell I'll tell the customer about what's coming. Ed walked walked in to say hi to the customer and she quietly erased what she had written from the white board.
      - markus_zhang 2y ago
        My understanding from reading the Soul of new machines and Showstoppers is that earlier innovative firms in the 70s and 80s have "characters" that were defined by their leaders (unlike nowadays it's mostly an army of professional managers assigned by the board). But it's probably still true nowadays, but we don't see many of these low level system companies popping up anymore.
        ghaff 2y ago
        I'm not sure it was all that different. De Castro also got ejected by Data General's board in the early 90s or so. And there were certainly plenty of professional managers at the minicomputer companies.

ghaff 2y ago

They kept the podcasts fairly punchy. Actually both myself and Tom West's daughter were interviewed for it and we were both trimmed in the interests of length in favor of people they they were able to get who had first-hand involvement.

markus_zhang 2y ago
Ah that's unfortunate. I wish they kept everything in record at least.
- ghaff 2y ago
  Productions of things in any format, whether text, audio, or video, don't tend to preserve the cutting floor stuff--especially for public consumption. It's unedited. It's unvetted. It's not the material you're putting out for the public.
  - ghaff 2y ago
    One of the things I'd add is that, while Edson de Castro was clearly remarkable in a lot of ways, he really wasn't that open to a lot a new things. Reluctance to cede control to retailers was one of the the nails in the DG/One's coffin although it was probably also before it's time. But there was a general secretiveness as well. I was once in an executive briefing center presentation to a customer maybe a day or two before a relevant product announcement. My skip manager I think basically said, what the hell I'll tell the customer about what's coming. Ed walked walked in to say hi to the customer and she quietly erased what she had written from the white board.
    - markus_zhang 2y ago
      My understanding from reading the Soul of new machines and Showstoppers is that earlier innovative firms in the 70s and 80s have "characters" that were defined by their leaders (unlike nowadays it's mostly an army of professional managers assigned by the board). But it's probably still true nowadays, but we don't see many of these low level system companies popping up anymore.
      - ghaff 2y ago
        I'm not sure it was all that different. De Castro also got ejected by Data General's board in the early 90s or so. And there were certainly plenty of professional managers at the minicomputer companies.