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EspañolKEN OLSEN
'Kenneth Harry Olsen' (born on February 20, 1926) is an American engineer who cofounded Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) in 1957 with colleague Harlan Anderson and venture capital provided by Georges Doriot's American Research and Development Corporation. He was born in Stratford, Connecticut. Olsen was a Massachusetts engineer who had been working at MIT Lincoln Laboratory on the TX-2 project.
In 1977, he infamously quipped, ''"there is no reason for any individual to have a computer in his home"''[1] and in 1987 gave the first of his infamous 'snake oil speeches' and quipped, ''"UNIX is snake oil"''. Unfortunately, the context of this remark was lost. Mr. Olsen was referring to a '2001'-like computer controlling every aspect of a person's life. (This is discussed in more detail in the Snopes article listed in the External links section.)
While Olsen did believe VMS was a better solution for DEC customers and often talked of the strengths of the system, he did approve and encourage an internal (albeit rather half-hearted) effort to produce a native BSD-based UNIX product on the VAX line of computers called Ultrix. However, this line never got enthusiastic comprehensive support at DEC.
He holds S.B. and S.M. degrees in course 6, or EECS, from MIT.
1. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6981704.stm
★ 1988 Transcript of an Oral History Interview with Ken Olsen
★ National Inventor's Hall of Fame profile
★ Snopes' account of Olsen's "computer in his home" remark
In 1977, he infamously quipped, ''"there is no reason for any individual to have a computer in his home"''[1] and in 1987 gave the first of his infamous 'snake oil speeches' and quipped, ''"UNIX is snake oil"''. Unfortunately, the context of this remark was lost. Mr. Olsen was referring to a '2001'-like computer controlling every aspect of a person's life. (This is discussed in more detail in the Snopes article listed in the External links section.)
While Olsen did believe VMS was a better solution for DEC customers and often talked of the strengths of the system, he did approve and encourage an internal (albeit rather half-hearted) effort to produce a native BSD-based UNIX product on the VAX line of computers called Ultrix. However, this line never got enthusiastic comprehensive support at DEC.
He holds S.B. and S.M. degrees in course 6, or EECS, from MIT.
| Contents |
| References |
| External links |
References
1. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6981704.stm
External links
★ 1988 Transcript of an Oral History Interview with Ken Olsen
★ National Inventor's Hall of Fame profile
★ Snopes' account of Olsen's "computer in his home" remark
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