A Few Good Men from Univac

Rating:
Summary: Wow
Review: I've read a lot of the "history of computers" books, and this one is a standout. It's great fun to read and avoids that POV that the first computer ever was the Apple I.

Rating:
Summary: Wow
Review: I've read a lot of the "history of computers" books, and this one is a standout. It's great fun to read and avoids that POV that the first computer ever was the Apple I.

Rating:
Summary: The early days of Univac, Control Data, and Cray.
Review: Lots of first person inside information about the early days of commercial mainframe computers. The story covers Univac, Control Data Corporation (CDC) and Cray. The author tells how disenchanted Univac employees founded CDC and then later how Cray was founded when CDC managed to offend their lead designer Seymore Cray, whom they had lured away from Univac. The strange and incestuous relationships of the three companies is covered from an insider's point of view. The author reveals what a hotbed of computer development the Twin Cities (St. Paul and Minneapolis Minnesota) was in the '60s and '70s. It also has some absolutely fascinating information about Seymore Cray. Any serious student of computer history should have this book.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting but flawed
Review: This is a quick and fascinating read, filled with great anecdotes from the author's 30 years as a project manager for Univac and Control Data. In technical matters the book is very accessible (true bit twiddlers will be hungry for more detail), but it's real strength is its character sketches. After I finished, Seymour Cray and the other key figures discussed in the book seemed a little more real. The author's admiration for "white socks" engineers is understandable, but he pushes the point too far. By the end, the refrain of "self-serving managers spoil while the noble engineers toil" seemed a little naive.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting but flawed
Review: This is a quick and fascinating read, filled with great anecdotes from the author's 30 years as a project manager for Univac and Control Data. In technical matters the book is very accessible (true bit twiddlers will be hungry for more detail), but it's real strength is its character sketches. After I finished, Seymour Cray and the other key figures discussed in the book seemed a little more real. The author's admiration for "white socks" engineers is understandable, but he pushes the point too far. By the end, the refrain of "self-serving managers spoil while the noble engineers toil" seemed a little naive.