Silicon Valley Nation
Silicon Valley Nation: The silicon generation
Brian Fuller
1/31/2013 4:16 PM EST
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--Traffic should have clotted back up onto 101,
a honking prelude to the screaming fans and lightning paparazzi
flashes, red velvet ropes and helicopters thumping overhead.
But instead there was a quiet orderliness, white-jacketed valets helping seniors from their cars before deliberate, unmolested strolls into the Computer History Museum.
These were legends of Silicon Valley, the pistons of a great engine that propelled us to where we are today, and yet if they'd been in the movies or on reality TV, it would have been breathlessness and buzz, pure bedlam.
Instead, there was, all by himself, Bernie Marren, who cut his teeth at Fairchild before a long and distinguished career that included serving as the first president of the Semiconductor Industry Association. I said to him, "Bernie you don't know me from Adam, but your son, John, was a great source of mine 20 years ago. How are your grandkids?" And we chatted amiably for a time.
There was Ben Anixter (AMD) and his wife. Ann Bowers, Bob Noyce's widow, attended, as did Ted Hoff, Andy Grove, Gordon Moore, Federico Faggin, from Intel and Fairchild. There was Ned Barnholt from HP, heir to Bill and Dave. Arthur Rock. That whippersnapper Trip Hawkins was there, too.
There were first wives (Betty Moore) and not a few second and third wives. There was the silicon soldier I was introduced to, sitting contentedly in a motorized wheel chair, absently explaining his affliction and then shrugging as if to say "that's life."
"We had a blast didn't we?" he said he a big grin. "Those were amazing times."
There was Gary Morgenthaler squiring his dad, David, a giant in stature and in the venture capital industry and its history. We stood in front of an exhibit of the DEC PDP-10 and Gary talked about the smell and slippery, ancient wood floors back there in Maynard, Mass., back in the mists of memory. We chuckled when I pointed out the exponentially more powerful computers that rest on hips and hide in our pockets, but there's a childlike and wondrous look too, a look that says "tell me again how did we did that?"
There they gathered, all smiles, soap bubbles of laughter and recognition; some of the legends were in declining health; others the picture of it. They gathered to watch a sneak-preview of a PBS American Experience documentary called "Silicon Valley," which premiers Feb. 5.
In the crowd was a smattering of the progeny of those times; Skype was there. Google. LinkedIn. Young software looked odd next to old hardware, like an iPhone photographing a PDP-10. The night was dominated by the generation that transplanted innovation into orchards; a generation in which the extraordinary was perfectly--and appropriately--ordinary... humans who awoke every day to confront and conquer the impossible without fanfare.
Later, I watched as the silicon soldier folded up his motorized walking aid and, with some help, deposited it neatly in the back of his vehicle. He cautiously moved himself behind his steering wheel, and drove slowly off, alone, unmolested by photographers and screaming fans and surging crowds, into the night in the heart of the valley.
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But instead there was a quiet orderliness, white-jacketed valets helping seniors from their cars before deliberate, unmolested strolls into the Computer History Museum.
These were legends of Silicon Valley, the pistons of a great engine that propelled us to where we are today, and yet if they'd been in the movies or on reality TV, it would have been breathlessness and buzz, pure bedlam.
Instead, there was, all by himself, Bernie Marren, who cut his teeth at Fairchild before a long and distinguished career that included serving as the first president of the Semiconductor Industry Association. I said to him, "Bernie you don't know me from Adam, but your son, John, was a great source of mine 20 years ago. How are your grandkids?" And we chatted amiably for a time.
There was Ben Anixter (AMD) and his wife. Ann Bowers, Bob Noyce's widow, attended, as did Ted Hoff, Andy Grove, Gordon Moore, Federico Faggin, from Intel and Fairchild. There was Ned Barnholt from HP, heir to Bill and Dave. Arthur Rock. That whippersnapper Trip Hawkins was there, too.
There were first wives (Betty Moore) and not a few second and third wives. There was the silicon soldier I was introduced to, sitting contentedly in a motorized wheel chair, absently explaining his affliction and then shrugging as if to say "that's life."
"We had a blast didn't we?" he said he a big grin. "Those were amazing times."
There was Gary Morgenthaler squiring his dad, David, a giant in stature and in the venture capital industry and its history. We stood in front of an exhibit of the DEC PDP-10 and Gary talked about the smell and slippery, ancient wood floors back there in Maynard, Mass., back in the mists of memory. We chuckled when I pointed out the exponentially more powerful computers that rest on hips and hide in our pockets, but there's a childlike and wondrous look too, a look that says "tell me again how did we did that?"
There they gathered, all smiles, soap bubbles of laughter and recognition; some of the legends were in declining health; others the picture of it. They gathered to watch a sneak-preview of a PBS American Experience documentary called "Silicon Valley," which premiers Feb. 5.
In the crowd was a smattering of the progeny of those times; Skype was there. Google. LinkedIn. Young software looked odd next to old hardware, like an iPhone photographing a PDP-10. The night was dominated by the generation that transplanted innovation into orchards; a generation in which the extraordinary was perfectly--and appropriately--ordinary... humans who awoke every day to confront and conquer the impossible without fanfare.
Later, I watched as the silicon soldier folded up his motorized walking aid and, with some help, deposited it neatly in the back of his vehicle. He cautiously moved himself behind his steering wheel, and drove slowly off, alone, unmolested by photographers and screaming fans and surging crowds, into the night in the heart of the valley.
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any1
2/1/2013 9:37 AM EST
I'll be anxious to see the PBS documentary. There were still a few orchards left (but not many) when I arrived in silicon valley to start my career in semiconductors in 1980. It was a fun and exciting time, but I wish I had been there to experience it 10 years earlier. I worked at National Semiconductor during the Charlie Sporck era. He was an inspirational figure to me at the time.
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kaydee512
2/2/2013 10:45 AM EST
I lived in Santa Clara (by the Lawrence Expressway) in 1980-81, and I also remember there were still orchards left. Those were exciting times, but the industry has really matured. Not the same as it was back then.
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rick.merritt
2/1/2013 11:30 AM EST
Thanks for making me feel like I was there at the premier!
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iniewski
2/1/2013 11:56 AM EST
So where is the next post-silicon valley going to be? Kris
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MClayton
2/1/2013 3:59 PM EST
New York State is next Silicon Valley. The East has taken back the real manufacturing (with Texas still doing fairly well).
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Ground Station
2/1/2013 1:19 PM EST
Not all of us were developers. Some of us built systems using the new devices, ones that helped American defense. EDL was just up the street from Fairchild. good times, long hours,doing things noboy thought could be done but asked us to try - and we usuallly succeeded.
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Michael.FlieslerQA
2/1/2013 4:18 PM EST
It was my great privilege to meet Gordon Moore at Intel, and later, Julius Blank at Xicor. Both of these industry giants were true gentlemen, modest and unassuming. Julius built the industry's first diffusion furnace by hand. I also remember the "slippery wood floors" at DEC in Maynard: slippery because it was a 150-year-old woolen mill on the banks of the Assabet River, and lanolin from the wool had soaked into the floors. "Building something from nothing" has been a hallmark of our industry, and this creativity (and creative destruction) will continue to lead us into the future.
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N9BDF
2/8/2013 1:45 PM EST
I enjoyed watching the PBS documentary and thought it was well done! Very much worth the time!
I work in Illinois' Research and Development Cooridor just west of Chicago. While I'd hardly claim we are the "Silicon Prairie", I sure wish they'd stop pulling the Embedded Systems Conference out of Chicago! :'(
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Hughston
2/25/2013 12:22 PM EST
The documentary on Venture Capitalists was good also but I liked it better when it focused more on the tech companies and entrepreneurs they worked with. I always wondered what the story was with the Cisco Systems founders.
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