Silicon Cowboys

Oxide and Friends Twitter Space: May 31, 2021

Silicon Cowboys

We’ve been holding a Twitter Space weekly on Mondays at 5p for about an hour. In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, speakers included Steve Tuck, Tom Lyon, Dan Cross, and others. The recording is here.

(Did we miss your name and/or get it wrong? Drop a PR!)

Some of the topics we hit on, in the order that we hit them:

• Silicon Cowboys documentary
• Open by Rod Canion
• Portable before Compaq, Silent 700
• Osborne Effect
• PBS Silicon Valley documentary
• IBM’s role in Compaq history
• 80’s Ads: John Cleese, Charlie Chaplin
• Compaq and iPhone?
• Decline and Acquisition
• Something Ventured documentary
• PRs welcome!

[@1:25](https://youtu.be/faY7kWHQuNE?t=85) Bryan: Have you listened to the Reply All episode “Is the Facebook Microphone On?”

The truth is actually scarier, Facebook doesn’t need the mic to be on … to read your mind.

Silicon Cowboys

[@2:46](https://youtu.be/faY7kWHQuNE?t=166) The 2016 documentary “Silicon Cowboys” follows the rise of the Compaq computer company. (IMDb) (Watch the trailer ~3mins)

I was trying to watch “Halt and Catch Fire” with my kid … and there’s a lot of spontaneous sex breaking out…Fastest to one billion in revenue… fastest to Fortune 500… a meteoric rise

Open by Canion

[@7:05](https://youtu.be/faY7kWHQuNE?t=425) The 2013 book “Open” by Rod Canion (cofounder and CEO of Compaq): “How Compaq Ended IBM’s PC Domination and Helped Invent Modern Computing.”

[@10:02](https://youtu.be/faY7kWHQuNE?t=602) Steve: Ben Rosen was the venture capitalist who wrote the first check to Compaq, really got them off the ground. On the board for 20 years.

Their timing was right. The way they did the company was right. And they executed really really well.To go from zero to 50 thousand units, of almost anything, in the time span they did, is incredible.

[@14:40](https://youtu.be/faY7kWHQuNE?t=880) Tom: The thing that really put them on the map was having the portable when nobody else did. And being 100% compatible.

Those portables were barely luggable, they were huge!Back in a time when there was no network. Being able to pick up your computer and take it to a place, was your network.

[@16:47](https://youtu.be/faY7kWHQuNE?t=1007) Steve: A big catalyst for their success was the channel. People were able to pick it up and go, they didn’t need special training.

[@19:25](https://youtu.be/faY7kWHQuNE?t=1165) Dad used to bring home the luggable so I could play Space Invaders, and he would work on spreadsheets.

Portable before Compaq

[@20:49](https://youtu.be/faY7kWHQuNE?t=1249) There were portable solutions before Compaq, but for timesharing.

You had the T.I. Silent 700, in the 70’s, you could tote that home and plug it into the modem.

Osborne Effect

[@22:41](https://youtu.be/faY7kWHQuNE?t=1361) Tom: They killed their company with the famous Osborne Effect

Bryan and Steve (clearly excited): What was the Osborne Effect!?
Tom: Pre-announcing the next machine.Telling customers: man, if you love the Osborne 1, just wait till the Osborne 2… So they did!

[@24:40](https://youtu.be/faY7kWHQuNE?t=1480) Bryan: Something I found surprising about the history of Compaq was the different organizational approach that they had.

Early on, before even thinking about what to go do, they were talking about the kind of company they wanted to build.

PBS Silicon Valley

[@26:14](https://youtu.be/faY7kWHQuNE?t=1574) The 2013 PBS documentary “Silicon Valley” tells the story of Fairchild Semiconductor. (Watch chapter one ~17mins)

[@28:14](https://youtu.be/faY7kWHQuNE?t=1694) We ask people, when they apply to Oxide, when they’ve been most unhappy in their careers. And it all boils down to people not feeling listened to, not having agency.

IBM’s role

[@29:41](https://youtu.be/faY7kWHQuNE?t=1781) How much of Compaq’s success is just pure mis-execution from IBM? IBM inadvertently creates this pseudo open architecture, and makes exactly the wrong move in trying to reproprietarize it with the PS/2 and Micro Channel architecture; which is an absolute disaster.

In many ways the story of Compaq is as much the story of the failed PS/2.It was such a mis-execution to do this analysis on the market and say: we need to grab our existing customers and lock them in, before they slip through our fingers, and in doing so, just hasten their departure.
And Compaq was in the right spot to pick up the pieces.

MCA (Micro Channel architecture), ISA, EISA

[@33:22](https://youtu.be/faY7kWHQuNE?t=2002) We were ripping out a bunch of ISA and EISA drivers..

I am a sacrificial sheep, I can’t possibly go. You are a sacrificial lamb.The machines themselves are anemic, if you want any functionality you go to a third party..
There were magazines filled with advice on which sound-generating card you should buy.

IBM PC XT – Hercules graphics card

[@37:00](https://youtu.be/faY7kWHQuNE?t=2220) Driver for Token Ring.

PCI – SBus – VME – VLB – AGP

[@40:20](https://youtu.be/faY7kWHQuNE?t=2420) Speaking of Intel, a big part of the Compaq story is what happens with the 386.

IBM clearly thought Intel would never give some clone manufacturer the first rights to the 386.They went from fast follower to innovator.

OS/2 supported both 16 bit (for the