Micropost #1
Tracy Kidde describes how Data General succeeded in the mid-twentieth century in The Soul of a New Machine . The author begins the book very broadly, focusing on how the computer came to be, from its technological specifics to its large desired market. IBM was the world leader in early computer development, but it did not dip its toes into the emerging minicomputer market. Data General had an advantage here for they focused on minicomputer development, allowing them to succeed with little seed money. The computer industry was booming and startups were forming left and right, rendering the effects of Data General's rather bad advertisements obsolete. One even directly stated, "Because if you’re going to make a small inexpensive computer you have to sell a lot of them to make a lot of money. And we intend to make a lot of money." Money was a driving factor within these computer companies, and these companies today, like Facebook, are representative of that.