Review: Accidental Empires
Editorial Review - Kirkus ReviewsA savvy observer's witty, wide-ranging audit of the personal-computer industry's ragtag roots, disorderly (albeit dramatic) growth, and competitive future. While InfoWorld columnist Cringely focuses on Silicon Valley, he covers the PC waterfront, from Armonk (home base for IBM) to the Seattle suburbs (where Microsoft is headquartered), with stops along the way in Houston (Compaq) and elsewhere. By his authoritative account, the business dates back to the early 1970's, when Intel introduced a microprocessor device and outlaw engineers used it to build a PC that could be assembled by hobbyists. Although many nerds and junk-food geniuses remained comparatively indifferent to the commercial potential of their creations, Cringely recounts, others did not. Within a few years, aggressive, visionary entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs (co-founder of Apple) and Bill Gates (Microsoft) had set up shop to cash in on a new market, which boomed in earnest with the arrival of Big Blue's initial entry, together with a host of so-called clones; at last count over 40 million PCs have been sold in the US. But, as Cringely makes clear, ""computers die young, but software lives on, nearly forever."" Thanks to ongoing advances in the state of the circuitry art, he says, new generations of higher-performance PCs, work stations, and allied systems emerge about every 18 months. By contrast, programming has a virtually limitless life span. In addition to producing a high mortality rate among fledgling hardware suppliers, market dynamics have put IBM on a slippery down slope. In the meantime, Cringely predicts, Microsoft could, despite mediocre technology, become a genuine master of the universe because of its prowess at establishing and maintaining industry standards. Nor is Cringely concerned that Japan might dominate the PC/work-station game, with its preoccupation with mass-manufacturing hardware rather than originating perdurable and proprietary software. A lively, informed overview of a consequential enterprise that, for all its volatility, has produced earth-shaking change throughout the Global Village.
Review: Accidental Empires
User Review - Neal Alexander - Goodreads"Develop for it? I'll piss on it!" Bill Gates on Steve Jobs' NeXT computers. Read full review
Review: Accidental Empires
User Review - John - GoodreadsThis is a great history of the personal computer industry. I enjoyed the insider knowledge and anecdotes about the personalities involved in bringing these technologies out. Reading this today (on my ... Read full review
Review: Accidental Empires
User Review - Eric Andresen - GoodreadsPublished in 1992 this is a great history of how the tech sector came to be. This was written in the days before we called the tech sector the tech sector, but it covers Microsoft, Bill Gates, Woz, Bob Taylor and was my first glimps at Xerox PARC. 100% recommended. Read full review
Review: Accidental Empires
User Review - Scoats - GoodreadsAlthough now dated, this is a great history of the personal computer. Cringely had an unique perceptive of this industry as history was happening. Cringely is a very interesting guy in his own right ... Read full review
Review: Accidental Empires
User Review - David - Goodreadsawesome book about the early years of the PC (late 70s through mid 90s). There's a lot that I never know, didn't realize at the time, or had forgotten. Gives some good perspective on the current state ... Read full review
Review: Accidental Empires
User Review - Jo Oehrlein - GoodreadsI've enjoyed the chapter by chapter re-read on cringely.com. The book is obviously dated in that it makes comments on history leading to a "present" that was 20 years ago. Still, Cringely's got good ... Read full review
Review: Accidental Empires
User Review - Dmitry - GoodreadsGreat retrospective on PC industry. I wish I read this book in school. Read full review
Review: Accidental Empires
User Review - Roger Merritt - GoodreadsA collection of short biographies of the people who created the personal computer from the 1970s through the 1980s. I especially liked it because I was watching what was going on at the time and the ... Read full review
Review: Accidental Empires
User Review - Murray Fife - GoodreadsI just re-purchased it to re-read after I couldn't find my original. Although Accidental Empires was written in 1996, and has to be read old-school style since it's not available on the Kindle, this ... Read full review
