fire in the valley by freiberger and swaine

The following excerpts are from the new edition of Fire In The Valley --

EXCERPT ONE * Development of the Microprocessor

EXCERPT TWO * The Transistor and the Nobel Prize

EXCERPT FOUR * The First Hobbyist Personal Computer

EXCERPT FIVE * Ed Roberts and the MITS Altair

DEC AND EMPLOYEE DESIRES
If only DEC had followed the desire of a small group of employees, it might have changed history:

David Ahl For DEC employee David Ahl, the story of DEC's failure to capitalize on an emerging industry began when he was hired as a marketing consultant in 1969. By that time, he had picked up degrees in electrical engineering and business administration and was finishing up his Ph.D. in educational psychology. Ahl came to DEC to develop its educational products line, the first product line at DEC to be defined in terms of its potential users rather than its hardware. Responding to the recession of 1973, DEC cut back on educational product development. Ahl protested the cuts and was fired.

He was rehired into a division of the company dedicated to developing new products, that is, new hardware. He soon became entirely caught up in building a computer that was smaller than any yet built. Ahl's group didn't know what to call the machine, but if it had taken off, it certainly would have qualified as a personal computer. Ahl's interests had grown somewhat incompatible with the DEC mindset. DEC viewed computers as an industrial product. "Like pig iron. DEC was interested in pushing out iron," Ahl later recalled. When he was working in DEC's educational division, Ahl wrote a newsletter that regularly published instructions for playing computer games. After he left and rejoined DEC, Ahl talked the company into publishing a book he had put together, BASIC Computer Games. He was beginning to view the computer as an individual educational tool, and games seemed a natural part of the package.

Ahl had learned something about the market for personal computers while working in DEC's educational products division. The division would occasionally receive requests from doctors or engineers or other professionals who wanted a computer to manage their practices. Some of DEC's machines were actually cheap enough to sell to professionals, but the company wasn't prepared to handle such requests. A big difference existed between selling to individuals and selling to an organization that could hire engineers and programmers to maintain a computer system and could afford to buy technical support from DEC. The company was not ready to handle customer support for individuals.

The team Ahl was working with intended that this new product bring computers into new markets such as schools. Although its price tag would keep it out of the reach of most households, Ahl saw schools as the wedge to get the machines into the hands of individuals, specifically schoolkids. The machines could be sold in large quantities to schools to be used individually by students. Ahl figured that Heath, a company specializing in electronics hobby equipment, would be willing to build a kit version of the DEC, which would lower the price even more.

The new computer was built into a DEC terminal, inside of which circuit boards thick with semiconductor devices were jammed around the base of the tube. The designers had packed every square inch of the terminal case with electronics. The computer was no larger than a television set, although heavier. Ahl had not designed the device, but he felt as protective of it as if it were his own child.

Ahl presented his plan for marketing personal computers at a meeting of DEC's Operations Committee. Kenneth Olsen, the president of the company and regarded throughout the industry as one of its wisest executives, was there along with some vice-presidents and a few outside investors. As Ahl later recalled, the board was polite but not enthusiastic about the project, although the engineers seemed interested. After some tense moments, Olsen said that he could see no reason why anyone would want a home computer.

Ahl's heart sank. Although the board had not actually rejected the plan, he knew that without Olsen's support it would fail.

Ahl was now utterly frustrated. He had been getting calls from executive search firms offering him jobs, and told himself the next time a headhunter called he would accept the offer. Ahl, like Wozniak and Albrecht and many others, had walked out the door and into a revolution.

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Fire in the Valley by Paul Freiberger and Michael Swaine


David Ahl	For DEC employee David Ahl, the story of DEC's failure to capitalize on an emerging industry began when he was hired as a marketing consultant in 1969. By that time, he had picked up degrees in electrical engineering and business administration and was finishing up his Ph.D. in educational psychology. Ahl came to DEC to develop its educational products line, the first product line at DEC to be defined in terms of its potential users rather than its hardware. Responding to the recession of 1973, DEC cut back on educational product development. Ahl protested the cuts and was fired.
He was rehired into a division of the company dedicated to developing new products, that is, new hardware. He soon became entirely caught up in building a computer that was smaller than any yet built. Ahl's group didn't know what to call the machine, but if it had taken off, it certainly would have qualified as a personal computer. Ahl's interests had grown somewhat incompatible with the DEC mindset. DEC viewed computers as an industrial product. "Like pig iron. DEC was interested in pushing out iron," Ahl later recalled. When he was working in DEC's educational division, Ahl wrote a newsletter that regularly published instructions for playing computer games. After he left and rejoined DEC, Ahl talked the company into publishing a book he had put together, BASIC Computer Games. He was beginning to view the computer as an individual educational tool, and games seemed a natural part of the package. Ahl had learned something about the market for personal computers while working in DEC's educational products division. The division would occasionally receive requests from doctors or engineers or other professionals who wanted a computer to manage their practices. Some of DEC's machines were actually cheap enough to sell to professionals, but the company wasn't prepared to handle such requests. A big difference existed between selling to individuals and selling to an organization that could hire engineers and programmers to maintain a computer system and could afford to buy technical support from DEC. The company was not ready to handle customer support for individuals. The team Ahl was working with intended that this new product bring computers into new markets such as schools. Although its price tag would keep it out of the reach of most households, Ahl saw schools as the wedge to get the machines into the hands of individuals, specifically schoolkids. The machines could be sold in large quantities to schools to be used individually by students. Ahl figured that Heath, a company specializing in electronics hobby equipment, would be willing to build a kit version of the DEC, which would lower the price even more. The new computer was built into a DEC terminal, inside of which circuit boards thick with semiconductor devices were jammed around the base of the tube. The designers had packed every square inch of the terminal case with electronics. The computer was no larger than a television set, although heavier. Ahl had not designed the device, but he felt as protective of it as if it were his own child. Ahl presented his plan for marketing personal computers at a meeting of DEC's Operations Committee. Kenneth Olsen, the president of the company and regarded throughout the industry as one of its wisest executives, was there along with some vice-presidents and a few outside investors. As Ahl later recalled, the board was polite but not enthusiastic about the project, although the engineers seemed interested. After some tense moments, Olsen said that he could see no reason why anyone would want a home computer. Ahl's heart sank. Although the board had not actually rejected the plan, he knew that without Olsen's support it would fail. Ahl was now utterly frustrated. He had been getting calls from executive search firms offering him jobs, and told himself the next time a headhunter called he would accept the offer. Ahl, like Wozniak and Albrecht and many others, had walked out the door and into a revolution.