LisaList2

General Category => LisaList2 => Topic started by: rayarachelian on July 10, 2021, 08:34:21 pm

Title: RetroHour Robert Cringely Interview - early Apple days and small Lisa mention
Post by: rayarachelian on July 10, 2021, 08:34:21 pm
This podcast is an interview with Robert Cringely who mentions various anecdotes about the early days of Apple, Microsoft, Gates and Jobs.

The Lisa is mentioned only in passing in that he worked for the Lisa team under Tesler and was fired with 40% of the Lisa team in ~1981.

Very enjoyable.

Show notes: https://theretrohour.com/triumph-of-the-nerds-robert-cringley-interview-ep283/ (https://theretrohour.com/triumph-of-the-nerds-robert-cringley-interview-ep283/)
Audio: https://audioboom.com/posts/7901263-triumph-of-the-nerds-with-robert-cringley-the-retro-hour-ep283.mp3 (https://audioboom.com/posts/7901263-triumph-of-the-nerds-with-robert-cringley-the-retro-hour-ep283.mp3)
Title: Re: RetroHour Robert Cringely Interview - early Apple days and small Lisa mention
Post by: Lisa2 on July 12, 2021, 11:02:52 am
Ray,
Thanks for posting this!  I always enjoyed the Triumph of the Nerds documentary made in 1995.  I never knew that Robert Cringley was on the Lisa team for a while (  or a Homebrew member, or an Adobe employee on the Postscript and Illustrator teams ) Wow!   

In that documentary I enjoyed the Xerox Parc info ( finding an Alto in the basement ).   Also there is a scene that is very personal to me, Robert visits IBM in Boca Raton, FL to find an abandoned building in being demolished.   I was an IBM'er in the mid 80's on the IBM PC and PS/2 teams and I worked in that very building.  It's hard for me to imagine that in less than 10 years it was being torn down.

Rick
Title: Re: RetroHour Robert Cringely Interview - early Apple days and small Lisa mention
Post by: rayarachelian on July 12, 2021, 11:19:10 am
"Robert X. Cringely" is not a real name; His real name is Mark Stephens, and he's like the 3rd person who used it. IDC used it as a fake name for their reviews, so they could replace that specific reporter, but somehow he legally got ownership of it. (This speaks volumes to the evils of corporate views of humans as "replaceable cog" resources, but that's another topic for another place.)

Full disclosure in my den/mancave on the shelves to the right of my TV, I have boxed VHS sets of both Nerds and Nerds 2.01 and they're some of my favorites. :)I think I have Accidental Empires somewhere on a different shelf as well.
Title: Re: RetroHour Robert Cringely Interview - early Apple days and small Lisa mention
Post by: Lisa2 on July 12, 2021, 11:31:58 am
Quote from: rayarachelian on July 12, 2021, 11:19:10 am
Full disclosure in my den/mancave on the shelves to the right of my TV, I have boxed VHS sets of both Nerds and Nerds 2.01 and they're some of my favorites.

I too have the boxed VHS set, it was given to me by an IBM employee that worked in that same building at the time.

I knew that "Robert X Cringely" is alias, I did not remember his real name..  ;)

Thanks again,
Rick