The first full-length portrait of Olsen and his company describes the hectic pace of DEC's growth; the engineers' revolt that led to the formation of Data General; the loss of the personal computer market to IBM and Apple; and Wall Street's call for the ouster of Ken Olsen in 1983.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Two editors of Computerworld magazine here profile DEC, the entrepreneurial electronic phenomenon launched 30 years ago by a trio of M.I.T. engineers in a defunct factory near Boston. The leader was Ken Olsen, whose informal hands-on management style contrasted sharply with the structured methods at IBM, a soon-to-be competitor. Digital startled the industry in the 1960s with far-seeing minicomputer development, the authors recall, and later survived expansion problems, the defection of top people and a clumsy lunge at the personal-computer field that was pre-empted in the event by IBM and Apple. Olsen and DEC won renewed top-rank success in the late 1980s with an imaginative computer-networking program that gave a new dimension to information electronics. Rifkin and Harrar, in this long and sluggish business saga, write for technological cognescenti without explaining to lay readers the computer's many-faceted functions and uses. 60,000 first printing; $50,000 ad/promo.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Slightly out of date, but still covers enough DEC's history,
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This review is from: The Ultimate Entrepreneur (Paperback)
For those who got into computing before the DEC (Digital Equipment Corp) and Compaq's merge, DEC's VAX/VMS, Alpha processor, elegant workstation and notebooks are way too familiar. This book gives an insight to the making of Digital. Ken Olsen and his people who took a $70,000 investment and turn Digital into to a Fortune 50 company worth over $25 billion. This is not today's silicon valley IPO thriller that an unprofitable company is worth $50 billion overnight. This is a book about a company in a competitive emerging market that survived and thrived. Digital has an irreplacable place in computer history. When IBM missed the minicomputer trend, Digital took it. Then both missed the PC trend (first IBM, then Digital). When Apple's order processing system run out of capacity, they was put on wait list for Digital's PDP-11. It is an interesting reading for anyone who is interested in computer business and history in general. Even if you are not going to become an entrepreneur in the computer business. The lessons in the book can be invaluable.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Story of a Giant,
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This review is from: The Ultimate Entrepreneur: The Story of Ken Olsen and Digital Equipment Corporation (Hardcover)
Kenneth Olsen revolutionized the world of computing. Prior to him, computers were huge, batch-processing devices, with all computation being done out of the control of the user.
Olsen came up with the idea of interactive computing, and made a seminal impact on the industry by He developed what became the world's second-largest computer company, from modest beginnings to a worldwide company that was in the Fortune 50 (not 500) listing.The book was written when Digital Equipment Corporation was at its prime, and Mr. Olsen was one of the most influential leaders in the computer industry. The book gives an overview ofMr. Olsen's caareer, and provides a perspective of the industry through the later 20th Century. For those interested in high-tech, the book will provide a great insight as to how things developed in a vibrant industry.
2 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
a dirge to DEC,
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This review is from: The Ultimate Entrepreneur: The Story of Ken Olsen and Digital Equipment Corporation (Hardcover)
The book was written with perfect mistiming. In 1987-8. DEC's share price hit its all time peak in 87. At that time, DEC was doing superbly. It hired the QE2 for its 87 shareholders' meeting. And Ken Olsen was lauded by many as a genius. If you read this book, keep in mind that it reflects quite accurately the time in which it was written.
For some of us who grew up using DEC's machines, the PDPs, DEC system 10, Vaxes and microVaxes, the book is a sad dirge. It accurately depicts that DEC missed out on the PC revolution. What DEC and the authors did not anticipate is how the PC market would grow and grow. So too, albeit on a smaller scale, the workstation market. DEC's workstation offerings were inferior to Sun's, and Sun ate their lunch. And DEC never had any significant PC-level machines. You can see in the book mention of workstations and PCs. But the trends continued after the book was published. Yes, Ken Olsen was a genius. He successfully noticed the gap in IBM's product line, and created the minicomputer market. But he and DEC did not transition to workstations and PCs. These would eventually led to DEC's demise. Now in 2006, to call Olsen the Ultimate Entrepreneur would be seen as risible.
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