And the companies involved are rising and falling for pretty much the reasons Cringley thought they would.
The "two standards" market is largely the same, for whatever sector you care to name. The computer is disappearing, if not all at once and for the expected reasons. Since the book was published, his long-term view of the structural nature of the computer business has by and large been vindicated. Cringley tries to answer the questions: how did the market evolve? why is it this shape? where will it go? - and does a reasonable job to answer them. When you appreciate just how weird some of these guys were/are and how arcane technology met classic American entrepreneurial spirit, you'll realize Cringley is actually being honest if not always generous.Īs a fun companion to the historical record, it excels.
Some of the reservations people have about Cringley's style are forgivable: if you haven't read around the subject of the PC revolution and researched the subjects for yourself, you'll think his attitude is to say the least disrespectful. As a fun companion to the historical record, it excels. When you appreciate just how weird some of these guys were/are and how arcane technology met classic American entrepreneurial spirit, you'll realize Cringley is actually being honest if not always generous. From the birth of the transistor to the mid-life crisis of the computer industry, he spins a sweeping, uniquely American saga of creativity and ego that is at once uproarious, shocking and inspiring.more But Cringely gives us much more than high-tech voyeurism and insider gossip. Cringely reveals the manias and foibles of these men (they are always men) with deadpan hilarity and cogently demonstrates how their neuroses have shaped the computer business. and the hacker culture they spawned as it does on the remarkable technology they created. Accidental Empires is the trenchant, vastly readable history of that industry, focusing as much on the astoundingly odd personalities at its core-Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Mitch Kapor, etc. and the Computer manufacturing is-after cars, energy production and illegal drugs-the largest industry in the world, and it's one of the last great success stories in American business. Computer manufacturing is-after cars, energy production and illegal drugs-the largest industry in the world, and it's one of the last great success stories in American business.