[arscan]

My father was an unnamed DG marketing executive in the book, who joked that his greatest career regret was asking Kidder to be unnamed in case the book wasn’t any good (it won Kidder the Pulitzer). I’ve been meaning to go through his old notebooks, as he took detailed notes on everything, to see if there is anything left from that era.

[acomjean]

DG = data general a “large” computer company in Westboro mass. My mom worked there doing internationaliztion.

Soul of a new machine is a fantastic book. About DG going up against DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation) and their Vax machines.

[myself248]

> I’ve been meaning to go through his old notebooks, as he took detailed notes on everything, to see if there is anything left from that era.

Please do! Ephemera like that can tell more sides of the story that didn't make it into the book, for whatever reason.

[arscan]

I got the sense that Kidders side was approximately equal to my father’s side, as my father said he provided a lot of information to the author through interviews and was happy with the account that ended up in the book. I’ll see what I can find though.

I ended up working for the lead of the competing team within DG (whose product lost to the book’s protagonist) for many years right after college at a different company he founded. I suspect he has a slightly different perspective on the whole thing, but I never asked.

Sadly my father and many of his contemporaries are no longer with us. But I’m really happy that this book exists as a durable & accurate snapshot of the period. The computer history museum also has a wonderful collection of interviews worth checking out, which includes several of the staff from DG [1]

1. https://computerhistory.org/oral-histories/

[randrus]

I joined DG in their last days, largely due to kidders book.

Also, I really liked DG/UX, for reasons I no longer recall.

[IBCNU]

amazing lore!