[geeks] fwd: Kenneth H. Olsen, Digital Computing Pioneer, Entrepreneur and Gordon Board Member, Remembered

[Jonathan Patschke]

On Thu, 10 Feb 2011, Sandwich Maker wrote:

> " Truly a sad day, I worked for DEC many years ago and every time I met
> " Ken he made a point to know my name and what I did. A great man who
> " never forgot the little guy, upon whose work his company was built.
>
> a hero of a bygone era...  that attitude is virtually impossible in a
> publically-held corporation, where short-term share performance is king.

This speaks more for the evils of the way shareholders treat stocks (as a
temporary speculative store of wealth, rather than a long-term investment
with dividends) than of the industry.  You can see this sort of nonsense
in any industry with publicly-traded shares, and you can see really great
companies in the computer industry (The SAS Institute comes to mine)
who've remained privately-held.

An IPO (along with all the nasty US legislation[0] that comes with it) is
the beginning of the end for visionary companies, unless they have strong
measures in their charter to prevent hostile takeover and to make short-
term shareholder profitability take a back set to long-term viability.

> it might be significant that dec lasted less than 6 years after he was
> pushed out...

He was pushed out by PC weenies who wanted to carve up the company to
maximize their immediate returns on shares by selling off divisions.  Not
unlike watching grandchildren fight over which developer gets to buy the
family farm.


[0] I'm glaring at you Mr. Sarbanes and Mr. Oxley.
-- 
Jonathan Patschke  |
Elgin, TX          |  Sent from your rooted trendy mobile device.
USA                |