历史与人物fastcompany.com
两个无聊的 1970 年代家庭主妇如何催生了 PC 产业
How two bored 1970s housewives helped create the PC industry (2015)
2015 — 2021，它一次次回到首页
黑点是上首页（≥ 50 分）的那次投稿，空心点是没冲上去的投稿，点越大分数越高。
导读
这篇文章讲述了 1970 年代两位家庭主妇 Lore Harp 和 Carole Ely 创办 Vector Graphic 公司的故事：她们把 Lore 的丈夫 Bob Harp 设计的 Altair 内存板商业化，公司一度发展壮大，Lore 还成为首位将公司带上纽交所的女性创始人。但公司拒绝转向 IBM PC 兼容机，最终在 1985 年破产倒闭。
为什么经久不衰：它记录了 PC 产业早期一段鲜为人知的创业史，也折射出技术判断与经营决策脱节的经典教训，历经多年仍被反复讨论。
HN 评论精选
标题夸大了两位主妇的作用，公司失败的关键是拒绝技术创始人的转型建议
我觉得标题承诺多于实际内容。Bob 是设计天才，开发了硬件配件乃至整机，但无意经营公司；他的妻子和另一位女性负责运营，公司因此发展良好。当 Bob 得知 IBM PC 即将发布时，极力恳求公司转做兼容机和配件，称否则只剩一年时间。即将离婚的妻子拒绝了这个建议，还把他解雇了。她确实在那一年内让公司上市并慷慨地给每位员工分了股票，但公司两年后就倒闭了——因为没能适应市场变化，无视了技术创始人的建议。
ThinkBeat查看英文原文
I find the headline to be promise more than it delivered. A women had a husband (Bob) who was a genius at design and developing hardware accessories and later a full computer. He had little interest in running the business. His work created a hardware company called Vector Computers. His wife and another woman ran the business aspect of the company and the company did well. It did well thanks to the husband's identification of a huge market that offered a lot of opportunity. The company grew and this is certainly a credit for the two female executives. They were pioneers both as female executives and within getting in early in the computer industry. Once Bob learned about this soon to be released IBM PC he requested and begged the company to start making IBM PC clones and accessories. He said the company had a year left unless it started embracing the PC The now soon to be ex wife rejected this idea and kept the company running the same as always. She also fired her soon to be ex-husband. She did take the company public within that year and was generous allotting stocks to every employee in the company. That was also a first. I hope everyone sold their stock as soon as they could, given that the company died 2 years later. Because they are failed to adapt to a changing market and rejected advice of the technical founder and the guy who identified the market segment they started in.
认为标题忽视了工程师丈夫的核心贡献，功劳不应只归两位主妇
这是个有趣的好故事。不过标题或许应该改成'两位无聊的 1970 年代主妇和一位工程师丈夫共同创造了 PC 产业'。主妇们有时间和意愿，丈夫有技术和想法，只是没时间和风险承受力。考虑到他是首席工程师、设计了几乎所有产品，这两者很难分开来看。
redm查看英文原文
This was a fun read and a great story. I'm sure this will get downvoted since its not PC (pun intended), but I feel like the title should read "Two Bored 1970's Housewives, and an engineer Husband, Helped Create the PC Industry." The wives had the time and desire, and the husband had the skill and idea[1], just not the time or risk tolerance. I don't see how these can be separated, considering he was the Chief Engineer and created most of the products too. [2] [1] "Bob Harp’s memory board worked well, and he recognized that it could serve as a lucrative commercial product. Lacking the time and resources to commercialize it, he put it on the back burner for almost a year. But in 1976, when his wife and Ely were trying to hatch a business, he offered his Altair memory board as a potential product". [2] "Losing the engineer who had designed almost all of its hardware products since 1976 was a huge blow for Vector."
这是管理层与工程团队脱节导致失败的典型案例
这可以读作一个'管理层与工程脱节'的故事，而且是字面意义上的。Bob 与董事会争执，坚持要做 IBM PC 兼容机，但 Lore 和董事会拒绝，1981 年 Bob 被解雇，随后创办了最早做 IBM PC 兼容机的 Corona Data Systems。Lore 成为首位带公司登陆纽交所的女性创始人，但 IBM PC 入场改变了整个行业格局。公司 1985 年申请破产。
zeteo查看英文原文
This can be read as a story of what happens when management becomes divorced from engineering... literally. >Lore Harp and Carole Ely of Westlake Village brought along the Vector 1, a PC designed by Lore's husband, Bob Harp. >In 1980, the partnership began to crack at the seams. The stresses of the company took a heavy toll on Bob and Lore's marriage, prompting them to seek a divorce. >Bob fought with Vector's board of directors, insisting the company should sell an IBM PC compatible machine, but Lore and the board resisted. [...] "I felt that I had to leave the company and start another one based on PC compatibles," says Bob. Vector's board granted his wish, firing him in 1981. The following year, Bob founded Corona Data Systems, which created one of the first IBM PC clones. >Lore became the first female founder to take her company public on the New York Stock Exchange. But the celebration was short-lived. IBM PC's jump into the personal computer market in August of that year had a clarifying effect on the industry. >In 1982, Lore married tech media magnate Patrick McGovern, the founder of research firm IDC and publisher of Computerworld and InfoWorld [...] She sought a new beginning with more time devoted to her marriage. [...] Between the grueling daily commute and a lack of love from the board of directors, Lore had had enough. She stepped down once again, this time for good. It was 1984; she was 40 years old. >The company filed for bankruptcy in 1985, ceased operations in 1986, and a holding company liquidated all its assets [...] in 1987
妻子在幕后支持早期创业公司，是硅谷历史上被忽视的普遍模式
或者更好的标题是'两位妻子如何创造了硅谷'。把时间拨回 1938 年，Bill Hewlett 在 Packard 住处的车库里与 David Packard 一起工作，整整一年没赚到钱，而 Packard 夫人和 Hewlett 夫人出去工作养家。此后几十年，硅谷很多早期创业公司都是靠这种'妻子资助'模式起步的。
lkrubner查看英文原文
Or better: "How 2 wives created Silicon Valley". Rewind the clock to that morning in 1938 when Bill Hewlett started working with David Packard in the garage at the house where Packard lived. They worked there for 1 year. They made no money for 1 year. Meanwhile, Mrs Packard went out to work, and later Mrs Hewlett went out to work. And for several decades afterwards, this was how many early stage startups in the Valley were financed: finance-via-wife.
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