10 Jun
2009
10 Jun
'09
6:01 a.m.
Ars Technica just reviewed and
recommended<http://arstechnica.com/media/guides/2009/06/fathers-day-gift…
book as a Father?s Day gift:
Contributing writer Chris Foresman believes the
tale is still relevant:
> > I've been following all the
comments about Soul with considerable
> interest.
> > Am I the only one who found it a bit sad? I finally got around to
> reading
> > it a couple of years ago, and it seemed to me to describe all too
> accurately
> > what strikes me as the employee abuse that characterized way too much of
> the
> > engineering development process during that era.
> "during that era"? I saw the
same kinds of things 20 years later, and
> don't think they've stopped since then. It's something you sign up for,
> in expectation of appropriate reward.
--
Marcin Wichary
Sr. user experience designer, Google
Graphical User Interface gallery >> www.guidebookgallery.org
Tracy Kidder's *Soul of a New Machine* was first
published in 1981, so it
may not, at first glance, seem very relevant to today's technology?but it's
important to see where we've been before thinking about where we might be
going. The book chronicles the development of Data General's first 32-bit
minicomputer?and the hackers and young college grads that spent the better
part of a year making it happen in record time. The story, which Kidder
fleshes out with clever character studies of those on the hardware and
software teams (which were often at odds with each other), is oddly similar
to the "90 hours a week and loving it" story of the development of the
Macintosh chronicled in *Revolution in the Valley*.
"While computers are rarely designed in the
manner that the Data General
MV/8000 (aka "Eagle") was," he says, "the long hours, constant
stress, and
odd camaraderie are not unlike that experienced in many of today's
technology startups."
On Mon, Jun 8, 2009 at 5:20 PM, Rich Alderson <RichA at vulcan.com> wrote:
> > From: CSquared
> > Sent: Sunday, June 07, 2009 7:03 PM