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Q & A WITH BOB CRINGELY: CONTINUED
First , geart show Bob.I was wondering what is your
greatest accomplishment while working at Apple and
are you currently working on some sort of program at
the present time.
P.S. I thought Tom Snider was a dick to you letting
callers rumble on about stupid stuff while Tom babbled as
like he knew what he was talking about.
I'm glad you liked the show. My contributions at Apple were minimal to match my pay. Tom Snyder is a nice guy and an AOL user, though you're right he does babble on a bit.
Very well done. I had fun watching! BUT: What might your personal preference of OS be? Mac? Windows? Other? I was quite dismayed by the closing observations: "Apple, ... is in trouble. It is now a fading force in the PC marketplace." I say (as many do), it's hardly a fading force. It's true that Apple is bleeding red ink by the bucket, but it's not going away. (If you haven't read David Pogue in MacWorld, July '96 pg 33-36, you should.) It bothers me that after such praise of Apple's innovation and creativity you would level such a negative comment, especially at the very end of the last segment. I'd like to hear if you would consider yourself biased against Apple / MacOS. (For the record I admit to being a Mac devotee, but I don't look down on Windows users. Pick the best tool for the job, I say.)
Thanks for your comments.
I call 'em like I see 'em, Stefan. I also have lots of computers, as I'm sure you could see in the show. Right now I am writing on a Mac, though.
X, I have been a near pioneer in this business. I ran a Xerox network for seven years and have loved everything about the Mac, but the price. I currently have four, ranging from Mac+'s to a Power Mac. I also have two dumb PCs with windows networked on Microsoft net. I read your book Accidental Empires and I don't think that in the book or in the PBS series that you did justice to Xerox. Xerox gave us more than an incomplete GUI. The GUI was more complete than the MAC's but it was for an automated office environment with e-mail, TCP/IP, other emulations, laser prints, etc. I started with their 860 word processors then to 8010's and finally with the 6085's. It was an unblievable system, far more complete than windows or Mac, but windows is just for a dumb PC. The early Mac was simple and worked well. The Xerox desktop was well integrated. We had desktop publishing before it had name. We had Warnock's original interpress printing. Color came very late, but in the office 90% or better is black and white.
You should do a book on the creations of PARC
and how Xerox spawned computer companies,
including your 3 Com, your sponsor.
You should also go into how Xerox "raped"
many of the companies of Silcon Valley.
A computer company with a split personality--
there is your title.
It sounds to me like you are the man to write that book, Wayne.
Why did the special make it seem as though OS/2 was a remnant of the 80's??? The show seemed *very* misleading in that it had no mention of where OS/2 was at today with its 13 million users. When you were on an old 286-AT, working on what appeared to be OS/2 1.0, you made no reference to where OS/2 is at today with its object oriented Workplace Shell. Walking through the ruins of the old IBM Boca site, describing the decay as one would with the old NASA Apollo sites is another example of where misconceptions could have been avoided by mentioning the relocations to Austin and Raleigh...
In short, why did you make it appear to the view that not only is "OS/2 dead",
that OS/2 has been dead since the mid-80's??? If it hadn't been for this and
those shots with that creepy Steve Ballmer, then it would have been a four-star
show in my book...
OS/2 is not dead, but OS/2 also doesn't have 13 million users. I think any product that's been on the market for nine years and still hasn't shown a net profit is a failure. IBM would have dumped OS/2 last year if they could have afforded to post the associated loss.
Bob, I loved "TRIUMP OF THE NERDS", however I was interested in the wherabouts of such companies as Franklin and Commodore who I feel had alot to do with my generation ( children born in 60's) growing up with these computers and making such a strong impression. Although, Apple was great, they we're far unreachable for middle-class families at the time and these computers helped us children expand our knowledge to what it is today? (+ being too expensive (i.e. Apple)) James Stine Bethlehem, PA Franklin did an Apple II clone and was taken to court by Apple and forced to stop production. They didn't play a big enough part for us to cover in our limited three hours. Commodore, on the other hand, is a company that we probably SHOULD have covered. Sorry.
I was looking forward to meeting Pammy on your show. I thoughht maybe she would be on the beach (in a bikini) or driving your car (chauffeur like).
How about sending a jpg of her.
No jpgs. Pammy won't allow it. But she might be in the next TV series if we can meet her salary demands.
As exemplified by NEC's purchase of Packard Bell, will the Japanese win the PC wars? Peter Fogel Granada Hills, CA No. NEC buying Packard Bell is no different than Sony buying Columbia Pictures or Matsushita buying MCA, except that Packard Bell is more like Roger Corman.
A few questions: 1. Why were companies like SGI, Sun, Intel, and Motorola left out. They were just as responsible for the computers we have as the software companies. 2. Why did you do this as a tribute to Microsoft ie Bill Gates. 3. The story took the same attitude as the rest of the press when you talked about Apple and their problems. Apple has been in trouble before (1985, 1990ish) and survived. So why so doom and gloom? Phillip Endres Dallas Texas SGI and Sun make workstations, not PCs. This was a history of the PC industry. We DID cover Intel and used scenes and interviews shot there. Motorola is not in Silicon Valley, but we certainly covered the Mac, which uses the 680X0 and PowerPC processors.
What led Steve Jobs to select Scully as a leader for Apple? What did he think a "sugar water" exec could offer Apple, and why did Scully end up gaining so much control that he had Jobs ousted? Also, what is the current status of NeXt? Has it been a flop? Haven't heard much about it lately. w Dallas, TX Steve wanted an expert marketer for Apple and Sculley was that. NeXT is now an Internet software company and still struggling along.
who besides orcal belives a "box" will send the present computer to the trash pile, where am i to keep,or store information i want to keep with this "box" i don't want to have to download the same thing everytime i want to view it. paul castile conover,nc I generally agree with you, but if the network is fast enough, there is no difference between downloading a file and reading it from your hard disk. A Network Computer requires a very fast network like ADSL or ATM.
Who are the Xerox PARCs of today, in other words who is doing the same kind of research that forecasts where future computer solutions are headed? Dave Scheirer Redlands, CA Well Xerox PARC is still there, DEC has a lab in Palo Alto that includes lots of old PARC folks including Bob Taylor. IBM does lots of basic research and of course there are the universities.
I used to work at Microrim which was a small database company (R:base)in the 80's. We were in the same office park as Microsoft - which is now Microsoft Place. When I left Microrim in late 1987, Microsoft was just building their 5th building. Bill Gates used to come over and talk with Wayne Erickson, our founder. I enjoyed your program immensely and I have two questions. One is what is Tim Patterson (is that his name) whose program was bought for $50,000 and later became MS-DOS? Unless he went on to really big things, he's one of the big losers in the whole deal. The other question is more of a statement. You talked a lot about companies that made bad decisions, in retrospect. In passing I thing you should have mentioned that HP was using the small floppy disks way back when while everyone else was using the 5" disks. The smaller disks disks did not catch on at that time, but of course are now industry standard. I remember several Microrim programmers telling me (in the 80's) that HP was ahead of Karen Adams Mesa, AZ Tim Paterson WAS a big loser. He sued Microsoft at one point and settled for a job and pretty good stock options. Then he decided to leave the company and left the options, too (he would have been a milionaire, today). Now he's back at Microsoft four days a week, just another programmer. HP used the 3.5-inch floppies on its HP-150 computer. But the 150 didn't fail just because of its floppies. It was not 100 percent PC compatible, it used a kludgy touchscreen that was unpopular with typists, and it was too darned expensive. Oh, and it had those little floppies, too.
Interesting that you touch on the tactics used by Microsoft to eliminate competition. Why no mention of Geoworks who had a better GUI able to run great on an 8088 better than windows 95 in 1978-80. If you could bring back Geoworks Ensemble and get third party software support, Bill Gates would have to get an apartment instead of a palace. Frankly, I resent having to buy trashy ineffecient software from Microsoft, like windows, because Microsoft is so afraid of competition that they have to bury the competition. What ever happened to the market place? Marv Loopstra St. Peters, MO If, if, if. Yes, Geoworks Ensemble was an interesting product, but it failed. Geoworks, the company, is doing well in vertical markets.
Enjoyed the show very much, but not hear a reference to the Radio Shack TRS80. After all RS what a little like IBM, large established company, with an impressive distribution system. Yet the Apple beat them out. Also least for a while have to run Visicalc on a Microsoft 8080 card plugged into the Apple using CPM? Anonymous Newton, MA We probably should have covered the Tandy machines, but there was only three hours and so much else to cover. This is a very complex subject.
I'm the guy with the "big beard" shown about 45 minutes into Part 1. "The Apple II set a new standard for personal computers and showed there was some real money to be made. Rival companies popped-up all over, but the market was still hobbyists -- guys with big beards who thought a good use for their computer was controlling a model train set. But for microcomputers to be taken seriously, they had to start doing things that needed doing -- functions that were useful, not just for fun."
I am very curious where you found this video clip
of me, my som and our model railroad.
We got a lot of material (something like 90 hours) from a guy in Texas who produced a local computer show. I'll see if I can get his name and address for you.
With the explosion and development of TV set-top boxes will interactive TV replace the personal PC at Home? More importantly, will it replace teachers and professors? I don't think that PC's will be replaced in the near future in corporate America. I just ordered the video and the book for my personal interests but I see the video as a valuable tool for the classroom. I work at a College I graduated from with a BS in Computer Information Systems and none of this was covered in the 8 classes I took in my major. I hope that the video will be reviewed by the professors and ordered.
P.S.-Do you do speaking tours. Here in PA we don't have Silicon Valley.
I think students at this College would benefit from learning about
who makes this industry run.
I don't think interactive TV is going to replace PCs anytime soon, especially since the TeleTV set top box standard includes a data port to attach your PC to the net. Yes, I speak. Sometimes it's impossible to shut me up.
Just thought that pbs program was great. Much better than the similar Tom Brokaw special on Bill Gates. Kenji Takeuchi Chicago, IL Brokaw, who's he?
Dear Bob, I was intrigued by the section of your program dealing with the rise and fall of Xerox PARC. I had often wondered about how such a group could have made such strides and then (at least in name) disappear. As I watched, I developped another explanation of the cause for the rejection of PARC ideas by the higher-ups and I would like to know what you think.
I think that the blame should rest at least
partly on the PARC people not bringing the execs
from the East up gradually, not leading them
gently down the path ALONG WITH the PARC research.
Your program said that the Xerox executives were
not thinking about the question "What will the
future of computing look like" [or something like
that, forgive the inaccuracies]. But I say that
someone at PARC should have served as a liaison
with the eastern leadership so that a process of
tutorial education could bring the easterners into
the problems being thought about at PARC so that
they could be better prepared to receive the
solutions when they were generated. Whatever the
attitude of the higher-ups, external relations (or
"politics" or "public relations" if you prefer)
must be considered when a technology team is
putting together new ideas and paradigm-shifting
technologies. I write this now because we--the
technical developers of the 90's and beyond--need
to go beyond wagging fingers at management and
grasp the intricate and diplomatic measures which
will take our better mouse trap ideas and turn
them into better mouse traps.
You are probably correct. The PARC folks were arrogant and generally intolerant of the folks back east, whom they saw as stupid. Bad strategy.
Bob, After having just watched "Triumph of the Nerds" I have one question for you: Are you single?
Great show!! (Isn't our industry amazing!)
Yes, I am single, but I am in a relationship for which I ought to be committed.
Hey Bob! Why did your program not mention Java or HP? I know that you cannot cover everything but it does seem to be an area of WWW technology which is making a splash for HP. There, you didn't discuss much about HP either although their technology (esp. their SPARC stations) has been undergirding a lot of the more visible stuff (by the way, I do not now nor have I ever been employed in any way by Hewlett Packard or any subsidiary of it). P.S. Idea for a next book: G.P.S. The Global Posititioning System has already had a huge impact on the waging of war and the progress of robotics. I can see it in use in the future like those small internal cumbustion engines left over after WW II were later turned into lawn mowers and a thousand other applications. I am already away of GPS applications in Ship navigation (the primary market just now), robotic navigation, and as a component to aid navigation for blind people.
A golfing friend just returned from a trip reporting
how GPS is being used by a golf course to give
golfers distance-to-flag information on their
golf balls. ...and the trend goes on.
This was a history and Java is not yet history. As for GPS, I use it in my airplane but have no desire to write a book about it.
great show!!! wonderful job, very nice looking video images, cameraman or dp should be commended! bob peterson seattle, WA Thanks. John Booth, who shot all three hours, is a god. He pays me to say that.
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