Comments on: The Soul of A New Machine http://tleaves.com/2006/06/19/the-soul-of-a-new-machine/ Creativity x Technology Sat, 17 Mar 2012 05:09:58 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Chris Ryland http://tleaves.com/2006/06/19/the-soul-of-a-new-machine/comment-page-1/#comment-2989 Chris Ryland Sat, 24 Jun 2006 22:00:47 +0000 http://tleaves.com/?p=639#comment-2989 As a software developer since the early 70's, I read this book when soon after it came out, and was fairly impressed. I was even more impressed when I finally met some of the DG engineers from that era who had fled to a startup in the mid-80's in Branford, CT, a Yale spin-off called Multiflow (we built mini-supercomputers based on the VLIW research done at Yale in the early 80's). One of them, Dave Papworth, was a hardware/software design/debugging genuis so far off the scale (I've known a lot of them, including Bill Gates) that the scales broke. He and Bob Colwell ended up at Intel when Multiflow imploded in the very early 90's (everyone wanted personal machines, so Sun and SGI won that battle, even if our machines were faster--never bet against the desktop), and they were 2 of the 3-4 key people who designed the Pentium 5 and 6 up in Oregon. See Bob's new book "The Pentium Chronicles: The People, Passion, and Politics Behind Intel's Landmark Chips" for details. As a software developer since the early 70′s, I read this book when soon after it came out, and was fairly impressed.

I was even more impressed when I finally met some of the DG engineers from that era who had fled to a startup in the mid-80′s in Branford, CT, a Yale spin-off called Multiflow (we built mini-supercomputers based on the VLIW research done at Yale in the early 80′s). One of them, Dave Papworth, was a hardware/software design/debugging genuis so far off the scale (I’ve known a lot of them, including Bill Gates) that the scales broke.

He and Bob Colwell ended up at Intel when Multiflow imploded in the very early 90′s (everyone wanted personal machines, so Sun and SGI won that battle, even if our machines were faster–never bet against the desktop), and they were 2 of the 3-4 key people who designed the Pentium 5 and 6 up in Oregon. See Bob’s new book “The Pentium Chronicles: The People, Passion, and Politics Behind Intel’s Landmark Chips” for details.

]]> By: Amos the Poker Cat http://tleaves.com/2006/06/19/the-soul-of-a-new-machine/comment-page-1/#comment-2988 Amos the Poker Cat Thu, 22 Jun 2006 23:28:37 +0000 http://tleaves.com/?p=639#comment-2988 Amazon lists that 173 books cite "Soul". Pretty impressive. I wonder what the top cited book is? Amazon lists that 173 books cite “Soul”. Pretty impressive. I wonder what the top cited book is?

]]> By: Amos the Poker Cat http://tleaves.com/2006/06/19/the-soul-of-a-new-machine/comment-page-1/#comment-2987 Amos the Poker Cat Thu, 22 Jun 2006 23:03:12 +0000 http://tleaves.com/?p=639#comment-2987 I was already out of college when "Soul" was printed. Still it was amusing. I was doing some work with people at DEC at the time. Everybody thought DG was done, after maybe a dead cat bounce. The funny thing was, I thought DEC was done too, but for different reasons. It just toke another decade or so before that played out. Wired had a 20th anniversary article that is pretty amusing. http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/8.12/soul.html There was even a movie option taken out on the book. Ha! That would have made rivetting cinema. I was already out of college when “Soul” was printed. Still it was amusing. I was doing some work with people at DEC at the time. Everybody thought DG was done, after maybe a dead cat bounce. The funny thing was, I thought DEC was done too, but for different reasons. It just toke another decade or so before that played out.

Wired had a 20th anniversary article that is pretty amusing.
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/8.12/soul.html

There was even a movie option taken out on the book. Ha! That would have made rivetting cinema.

]]> By: Will C http://tleaves.com/2006/06/19/the-soul-of-a-new-machine/comment-page-1/#comment-2986 Will C Tue, 20 Jun 2006 03:16:54 +0000 http://tleaves.com/?p=639#comment-2986 I, too, read Soul of A New Machine around the time it came out. I didn't go on to become a programmer, but I've dealt extensively with technology evaluation in my career. It was Kidder's book, more than any other, that helped foster the insight and confidence that, with the right approach, I could understand a complex process or technology at a level that allowed for (mostly) intelligent decision making. It also encouraged a distate for the oversimplification and spoon-feeding that is common where technology and investment meet. That may sound a bit soppy on my part, but honestly, I've never read anything else that so clearly caputures what is at stake in a technological venture, how the thing itself works at a basic level, and how it is brought into being. I'm off to find another copy and read it again and hopefully confirm that my memory is correct. I, too, read Soul of A New Machine around the time it came out. I didn’t go on to become a programmer, but I’ve dealt extensively with technology evaluation in my career.

It was Kidder’s book, more than any other, that helped foster the insight and confidence that, with the right approach, I could understand a complex process or technology at a level that allowed for (mostly) intelligent decision making. It also encouraged a distate for the oversimplification and spoon-feeding that is common where technology and investment meet.

That may sound a bit soppy on my part, but honestly, I’ve never read anything else that so clearly caputures what is at stake in a technological venture, how the thing itself works at a basic level, and how it is brought into being.

I’m off to find another copy and read it again and hopefully confirm that my memory is correct.

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