Jean-Louis Gassée's 50 Years in Tech: Parts 0 to 18
I loved reading JLG's (my father) "50 Years in Tech" series in chunks, so here they are compiled:
50 Years in Tech. Part 0: The Psychosocial Moratorium
Indulge me as I devote a few Monday Notes to a look back at my life in high tech. This week, the pre-tech years that I spent looking for a way to “make it”, a period that Irv Yalom, a kind Palo Alto therapist and noted writer, calls a “psychosocial moratorium”.
50 Year in Tech. Part 1: When HP Led Desktop and Mobile Computing
One upon a time, HP rose to dominance in the world of desktop and mobile computers. I was lucky to join the company just as it started its ascent. This was the beginning of 50 happy years in the amazing tech world.
50 Year in Tech. Part 2: Why HP Fell
Board scandals, bad CEO hiring decisions, and at least one momentously bad acquisition provide a ready-made explanation for Hewlett-Packard’s decomposition. As a long-time (1968–1974) HP alumnus, I believe the trouble started much earlier .
50 Year in Tech. Part 3: The Data General Shock
Good manners don’t always provide a complete real-world education. While HP showed me the graceful side of business, Data General provided a healthy dose of no-holds-barred exposure that was to prove immensely helpful for my later adventures in tech.
50 Year in Tech. Part 4: The Exxon Delusion
Exxon’s failed foray into the world of information systems proves once more that culture devours everything, about $4B in its case. How come the supposedly wise Boston Consulting Group didn’t tell Exxon about incompatible cultures?
50 Year in Tech. Part 5: Starting Apple France
VisiCalc in a Bridal Suite in Sunnyvale and a scheme to circumvent French government meddling. Thus was Apple France born.
50 Year in Tech. Part 6: Different Apple Distribution Game
Starting Apple France was fun, especially because we got to break stale rules and play the distribution game by our own more creative strategy.
50 Year in Tech. Part 7: A Resonant Apple France Message
Clear positioning, a strong team and, above all, a PR genius on our side helped Apple France become Apple’s largest business outside the US.
50 Year in Tech. Part 8: Almost Illicit Fun
Clear positioning, a strong team and, above all, a PR genius on our side helped Apple France become Apple’s largest business outside the US.
50 Year in Tech. Part 9: Mac Hopes and Trouble
The Macintosh had a difficult birth: very late, expensive, poorly positioned. Its problems were to become my opportunity.
50 Year in Tech. Part 10: Hard Landing in Cupertino. Steve Jobs Fired.
I landed in Cupertino in 1985, and was put in charge of Apple’s engineers. This didn’t happen painlessly, especially as Steve Jobs was forced out of the company — an event that would ultimately prove a stroke of luck for him and the company he co-founded.
50 Year in Tech. Part 11: Getting The Mac Out Of The Ditch
When I landed in Cupertino in May 1985, I had a few simple ideas for short and medium improvements that would help sales, and was happily surprised by the support that most of these ideas got inside the engineering community.
50 Year in Tech. Part 12: Cupertino Culture Trouble
Moving from Paris to Cupertino, from running a distribution company to heading Apple’s engineering proved more challenging than I had naively expected.
50 Year in Tech. Part 13: Firing Frankness
My boss asks me what I really think of him. HR advises me to tell the truth. I’m fired.
50 Year in Tech. Part 14: Outside the Walled Garden
It took me a few months to know what I wanted to do after Apple. The company’s TrueType project, in unforeseen ways, paved the way to a source of financing and advice for my next venture.
50 Year in Tech. Part 15: From Concept To Near Death
Be, the company Steve Sakoman and I founded after leaving Apple, had a great product idea, or so we thought, only to discover that a bad choice of partner would almost destroy the company.
50 Year in Tech. Part 16: Be Fundraising Misadventures
Sneering at venture investors, calling them names such as Vulture Capitalists, is a long-standing Valley pub topic. But, as we’ll see today, cynical pros are less dangerous than a naive entrepreneur taking money from friends.
50 Year in Tech. Part 17: From One Ice Floe To The Next
Armed with solid funds from a prominent Valley Venture Capital syndicate, we set out to build and sell the second version of Be’s hardware, the BeBox. We soon found that we needed a bigger hardware platform.
50 Year in Tech. Part 18: Be's Last Ice Floe…
BeOS and its creators kept jumping to more ice floes until the adventure ended with a 1999 IPO and a low low price sale to Palm after the 2000 burst of the Internet Bubble.
