From BookJive
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| Edition: | Back Bay Books (Paperback) |
| Author: | Tracy Kidder |
| Published: | June 2000 |
| Pages: | 320 |
| ISBN 10: | 0316491977 |
| New: | $7.00 (38) |
| Used: | $0.84 (68) |
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The Soul of a New Machine is a non-fiction book, written by Tracy Kidder. It was published in 1981 and won a Pulitzer Prize and an American Book Award. It chronicles the true story of a computer design team racing to complete a next generation computer design under a blistering schedule and tremendous pressure.
Plot
The book opens with a turf war between two computer design groups within Data General Corporation, a minicomputer vendor in the 1970s. Most of the senior designers are assigned the "sexy" job of designing the next generation machine, which will be done in North Carolina. Their project (code-named "Fountainhead") is to give Data General a machine to compete with the new VAX computer from Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), which is starting to take over the new 32-bit minicomputer market. The few senior designers who are left in corporate headquarters at Westborough, MA are given the much more humble job of designing enhancements for the existing product lines. Tom West, the leader of Westborough designers, starts a skunkworks project which becomes a backup plan in case Fountainhead fails. Eventually, the skunk works project (code-named "Eagle") becomes the company's only hope in catching up with DEC. In order to complete the project on-time, West takes risks in not only new technology but also relying on new college graduates (who have never designed anything so complex) to make up the bulk of his design team. The book follows many of the designers as they give up every waking moment of their lives in order to design and debug the new machine on schedule.
Edson deCastro, one of the founders of Data General (and sometimes known as 8-bit Teddy) had a favorite theme for project Eagle that he would frequently demand of his engineers. He wanted the MV/8000 (Eagle) backwardly compatible with the Data General Eclipse series of computers, but having come from DEC, he didn't want a "compatibility mode bit" as Digital Equipment Corporation had done with their VAX systems to make their product backwardly compatible with the PDP-11 series of computers. To this end he would often say: "I don't want an Eclipse with a BAG on the side of it!" meaning he didn't want a kludged-up Eclipse to become Data General's next generation product, the MV/8000. Although Edson deCastro does mandate the absence of a mode-bit in the Eagle, "That's what I want, a thirty-two bit Eclipse and no mode bit." (p. 75 of June 2000 paperback edition) it is Steve Wallach that coined the phrase, "I'm not puttin' a bag on the side of the Eclipse." (p. 68)
Plot
The book opens with a turf war between two computer design groups within Data General Corporation, a minicomputer vendor in the 1970s. Most of the senior designers are assigned the "sexy" job of designing the next generation machine, which will be done in North Carolina. Their project (code-named "Fountainhead") is to give Data General a machine to compete with the new VAX computer from Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), which is starting to take over the new 32-bit minicomputer market. The few senior designers who are left in corporate headquarters at Westborough, MA are given the much more humble job of designing enhancements for the existing product lines. Tom West, the leader of Westborough designers, starts a skunkworks project which becomes a backup plan in case Fountainhead fails. Eventually, the skunk works project (code-named "Eagle") becomes the company's only hope in catching up with DEC. In order to complete the project on-time, West takes risks in not only new technology but also relying on new college graduates (who have never designed anything so complex) to make up the bulk of his design team. The book follows many of the designers as they give up every waking moment of their lives in order to design and debug the new machine on schedule.
Edson deCastro, one of the founders of Data General (and sometimes known as 8-bit Teddy) had a favorite theme for project Eagle that he would frequently demand of his engineers. He wanted the MV/8000 (Eagle) backwardly compatible with the Data General Eclipse series of computers, but having come from DEC, he didn't want a "compatibility mode bit" as Digital Equipment Corporation had done with their VAX systems to make their product backwardly compatible with the PDP-11 series of computers. To this end he would often say: "I don't want an Eclipse with a BAG on the side of it!" meaning he didn't want a kludged-up Eclipse to become Data General's next generation product, the MV/8000. Although Edson deCastro does mandate the absence of a mode-bit in the Eagle, "That's what I want, a thirty-two bit Eclipse and no mode bit." (p. 75 of June 2000 paperback edition) it is Steve Wallach that coined the phrase, "I'm not puttin' a bag on the side of the Eclipse." (p. 68)
