If you enjoyed this, back in 2015 I wrote a feature about Lore Harp McGovern and her business partners for Fast Company that goes into the creation of Vector Graphic in detail: https://www.fastcompany.com/3047428/how-two-bored-1970s-hous...
Lore Harp McGovern built a microcomputer empire from her suburban home
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Re: Lore Harp McGovern built a microcomputer empire from her suburban home
#22Earlier quoted context omitted.
Wait, how did remote first work in the 60s? Did they post in punchcards? TTYs weren't really much of a thing at that stage, were they?
I don't know what methodology Shirley's company used. But yes, Teletype machines were very common in the mid-1960s. For example, Tymshare, where I worked for several years, was founded in 1964. Their customers used Teletype machines at their own locations, dialing into a Tymshare mainframe and paying by the hour. There were a number of similar timesharing companies in that era. Call Computer and Dial Data come to min…
What a great story! Hats off to your manager.
Re: Lore Harp McGovern built a microcomputer empire from her suburban home
#23Interestingly enough the empire fell when the Vector 4 suffered the same fate of Commodore (albeit later) when the Vector 4 specs were leaked. Although, there were a few blunders on the wikipedia page but this was also indicative of the era during the IBM PC / DOS dominance.
Re: Lore Harp McGovern built a microcomputer empire from her suburban home
#24Also see “Steve" Shirley, she build a company of coders, women only [0], from the '60s on with remote first :-) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Shirley [0] She hired all the female IBM coders who couldn't make a career at IBM
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Re: Lore Harp McGovern built a microcomputer empire from her suburban home
#25Also see “Steve" Shirley, she build a company of coders, women only [0], from the '60s on with remote first :-) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Shirley [0] She hired all the female IBM coders who couldn't make a career at IBM
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Re: Lore Harp McGovern built a microcomputer empire from her suburban home
#26Also see “Steve" Shirley, she build a company of coders, women only [0], from the '60s on with remote first :-) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Shirley [0] She hired all the female IBM coders who couldn't make a career at IBM
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Re: Lore Harp McGovern built a microcomputer empire from her suburban home
#27This story of Carole Ely and Lore Harp reminded me a little of the (fictional) women in Halt and Catch Fire . Fantastic show. I wonder if Vector Graphic was an inspiration for the writers.
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Re: Lore Harp McGovern built a microcomputer empire from her suburban home
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
Back when the word of your boss or manager actually meant something. Today, have to get that in writing otherwise risk getting hung out to dry in court or worse.
No, you just need a boss you can trust. You need to not be a clock puncher of an employee. You need to be present (in an office) for these conversations to happen. This sort of thing still goes on all the time. If your not part of it your either in "Giant Corp" or the wrong company, or you have the wrong boss, or you are the wrong person.
Im calling BS. Plenty of managers are in over their head. Plenty of managers are focused on their next career move. Plenty of managers will only play lip service to "culture" or worse "family" and after one slack DM from management completely fold over.
Many managers see a slightly more difficult hiring environment (for themselves) and completely fold to secure their own position.
EDIT: I've met many great managers, or at least individuals who seem great from the outside when the chips aren't on the table. But from the trenches I feel a real lack of leadership in Tech management in the current era.
Re: Lore Harp McGovern built a microcomputer empire from her suburban home
#29Also see “Steve" Shirley, she build a company of coders, women only [0], from the '60s on with remote first :-) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Shirley [0] She hired all the female IBM coders who couldn't make a career at IBM
Related:
A woman named "Steve" – IT pioneer, entrepreneur, philanthropist (2019) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39585527 - March 2024 (123 comments)
All-female distributed-team software startup goes big in 1962 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6861666 - Dec 2013 (0 comments, but worth reading the article)
A Woman's Place - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5692271 - May 2013 (1 comment)
Re: Lore Harp McGovern built a microcomputer empire from her suburban home
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
Wait, how did remote first work in the 60s? Did they post in punchcards? TTYs weren't really much of a thing at that stage, were they?
I don't know what methodology Shirley's company used. But yes, Teletype machines were very common in the mid-1960s. For example, Tymshare, where I worked for several years, was founded in 1964. Their customers used Teletype machines at their own locations, dialing into a Tymshare mainframe and paying by the hour. There were a number of similar timesharing companies in that era. Call Computer and Dial Data come to min…
I just looked up Wikipedia on teleprinters and had no idea they went back as far as 1887. My school had an ASR 33 Teletype linked to a PDP-10 in the 1970s which seemed kind of antique even then, although it worked ok.
There's a youtube interview with Shirley showing someone remote working with some sort of computer like device. A terminal maybe? https://youtu.be/d5nzJ1rQBew?t=228