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patrick.mannion
The whole SOX fiasco hogtied our industry and gagged the leaders, but there are ...
peter.clarke
And then we have outspoken executives such as Foxconn's Terry Gou roaming around ...
Silicon Valley Nation: Lost voices
Brian Fuller
10/1/2012 3:13 PM EDT
SAN FRANCISCO--Time was, once, when our industry had voice and
passion.
There was sound and fury and energy and opera. Sanders and Grove and Noyce and second-sourcing and copyright and patent battles fought in packed courtrooms colored with yellow legal pads and purple passions.
[Get a 10% discount on ARM TechCon 2012 conference passes by using promo code EDIT. Click here to learn about the show and register.]
There was quiet confidence and certainty, as Packard and Hewlett walked around their empire and offered dissertations on productivity and how to run a business and compete and treat people. There were Giffords, and Corrigans and Vonderschmitts and Sporcks--outsized personalities with super-size-me ambitions. In EDA, there was Joe Costello, who seemed to be the only executive who could articulate the sector's value, but he did it like he'd written for Johnny Carson (remember the dog food line?).
They fought and competed, invented and failed and succeeded;
abandoned companies and started new ones and found new voices. And
they got together occasionally as a group, as the industry sprouted
into awkward adolescence, and spoke with one loud voice when they
needed to and then went back to scuffling amongst themselves.
What happened? It all seemed to vanish, like steam whisping away from a great locomotive's stack.
Today, it's as quiet as a proctologist's waiting room. There's the occasional T.J. Rodgers jewel, some wild, funny and usually laser-beam outrage, but he seems tired, as if the battles have winded him. The only voice left in the industry is from an EDA guy who used to be in the semiconductor business, Wally Rhines of Mentor Graphics. When he retires, it'll be all quiet again, with the ominous ticking of some grandfather clock down the hall to punctuate the silence.
Next: Leadership wanted
There was sound and fury and energy and opera. Sanders and Grove and Noyce and second-sourcing and copyright and patent battles fought in packed courtrooms colored with yellow legal pads and purple passions.
[Get a 10% discount on ARM TechCon 2012 conference passes by using promo code EDIT. Click here to learn about the show and register.]
There was quiet confidence and certainty, as Packard and Hewlett walked around their empire and offered dissertations on productivity and how to run a business and compete and treat people. There were Giffords, and Corrigans and Vonderschmitts and Sporcks--outsized personalities with super-size-me ambitions. In EDA, there was Joe Costello, who seemed to be the only executive who could articulate the sector's value, but he did it like he'd written for Johnny Carson (remember the dog food line?).
They fought and competed, invented and failed and succeeded;
abandoned companies and started new ones and found new voices. And
they got together occasionally as a group, as the industry sprouted
into awkward adolescence, and spoke with one loud voice when they
needed to and then went back to scuffling amongst themselves.
What happened? It all seemed to vanish, like steam whisping away from a great locomotive's stack.
Today, it's as quiet as a proctologist's waiting room. There's the occasional T.J. Rodgers jewel, some wild, funny and usually laser-beam outrage, but he seems tired, as if the battles have winded him. The only voice left in the industry is from an EDA guy who used to be in the semiconductor business, Wally Rhines of Mentor Graphics. When he retires, it'll be all quiet again, with the ominous ticking of some grandfather clock down the hall to punctuate the silence.
Next: Leadership wanted
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Harold.Nelson
10/1/2012 4:29 PM EDT
Most of the money is flowing through Asia, these days. Nobody cares about grandiose personalities unless they can drive revenue. Steve Jobs and the new Apple CEO opinions matter, most others do not.
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dylan.mcgrath
10/1/2012 5:23 PM EDT
I think you hit the nail on the head. The mavericks of yesteryear inspired people, and they occasionally spoke first and thought it through later, sometimes with negative results. I would argue that these kinds of people are still running Silicon Valley companies, but everyone has gotten way more careful. Statements are more carefully vetted in the era of Sarbanes-Oxley and heightened concern over day to day stock price fluctuation. Being careful has its merits, but we do lose something.
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gronk
10/1/2012 8:12 PM EDT
Successful businessmen do not always make for good theater or good EE Times interviews.
Sergey Brin and Larry Page may not come off as mad scientists or swashbuckling pirates, but they've done their fair share of meaningful work.
Flashiness is over-rated.
Furthermore, this is a time where even inhabitants of third-world villages know what comes out of Silicon Valley. Its success stories are treated like rock stars.
I wouldn't worry about the allure of engineering being diminished in recent years.
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peter.clarke
10/2/2012 8:45 AM EDT
And then we have outspoken executives such as Foxconn's Terry Gou roaming around Asia.
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patrick.mannion
10/4/2012 9:07 AM EDT
The whole SOX fiasco hogtied our industry and gagged the leaders, but there are still some great voices out here. Take Dr. T from National Instruments: Passion personified. And then startup CEOs like Brett Fox of Touchstone (nice interview, by the way, Brian)who are making good headway and making no bones about it. But, alas, your point is still valid, echoes in the silicon corridor, "Is there anybody out there?"
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