# The Rise and Fall of DEC

- Show: [Oxide and Friends](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends)
- Published: 2022-06-14
- Length: 1h 51m
- Episode: 16
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2022-06-14-the-rise-and-fall-of-dec
- Listen: https://share.transistor.fm/s/0b5553f5

## Summary

Bryan Cantrill, co-founder of Oxide Computer Company, leads a discussion on the rise and fall of Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), analyzing its history through books like 'The Ultimate Entrepreneur' and 'DEC Is Dead, Long Live DEC'. Speakers including Tom Lyon, Dan Cross, and Tim Bray discuss DEC's engineering culture, the PDP series, and the company's failure to adapt to open systems and the PC market. The conversation highlights DEC's internal competition, Ken Olsen's autocratic leadership, and the eventual acquisition by Compaq, drawing parallels to Sun Microsystems and modern tech giants like Amazon and Google.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2022-06-14-the-rise-and-fall-of-dec#t=0) Introduction: Pronunciation debates and Bryan Cantrill's DEC reading list
- [8:33](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2022-06-14-the-rise-and-fall-of-dec#t=513) Reviewing DEC history books: The Ultimate Entrepreneur and Harlan Anderson
- [22:22](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2022-06-14-the-rise-and-fall-of-dec#t=1342) DEC's internal culture: Autocracy, competition, and Ken Olsen's leadership
- [29:46](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2022-06-14-the-rise-and-fall-of-dec#t=1786) Technical deep dive: PDP-10, PDP-11, VAX, and operating systems like TOPS-20
- [44:41](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2022-06-14-the-rise-and-fall-of-dec#t=2681) Strategic failures: Ignoring open systems, the PC market, and UNIX
- [55:58](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2022-06-14-the-rise-and-fall-of-dec#t=3358) Comparing DEC and Sun: Engineering culture, hot tubs, and product chaos
- [1:03:37](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2022-06-14-the-rise-and-fall-of-dec#t=3817) DEC peripherals and legacy: DECtalk, VT terminals, and serial port quirks
- [1:19:08](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2022-06-14-the-rise-and-fall-of-dec#t=4748) The Alpha processor failure and the rise of x86
- [1:33:21](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2022-06-14-the-rise-and-fall-of-dec#t=5601) Did DEC have to fail? Abandoning the installed base vs. IBM's mainframe strategy
- [1:44:21](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2022-06-14-the-rise-and-fall-of-dec#t=6261) Modern parallels: AWS, Google, and managing internal rivalry and customer focus

## Topics

- [Careers & education](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/engineering-careers-and-education)
- [Growth, exits & acquisitions](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/growth-exits-and-acquisitions)
- [Leadership, teams & culture](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/leadership-and-culture)
- [Chips, FPGAs & semiconductors](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/chips-and-fpgas)
- [Direct-to-consumer & e-commerce](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/direct-to-consumer)

## Most relevant to

established companies

## Mentioned

- Digital Equipment Corporation (company)
- PDP-10 (product)
- PDP-11 (product)
- VAX (product)
- Alpha (product)
- DECtalk (product)
- VT100 (product)
- Sun Microsystems (company)
- Compaq (company)
- Oxide Computer Company (company)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [Dell Computers: Michael Dell (2018)](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2020-01-06-dell-computers-michael-dell-2018) (How I Built This)
- [Cisco Systems & Urban Decay: Sandy Lerner (2018)](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2021-05-10-cisco-systems-urban-decay-sandy-lerner-2018) (How I Built This)
- [Alienware: Frank Azor and Nelson Gonzalez](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2022-12-12-alienware-frank-azor-and-nelson-gonzalez) (How I Built This)
- [Tune in for Season 3 of Moore's Lobby](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/moores-lobby/2021-08-19-tune-in-for-season-3-of-moores-lobby) (Moore's Lobby)
- [An Interview with Clint Cole of Digilent](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2016-06-10-an-interview-with-clint-cole-of-digilent) (The Amp Hour)

## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2022-06-14-the-rise-and-fall-of-dec. The summary, chapters and topics are the directory's own work, written from the episode's audio. The episode itself, its title and its audio belong to Oxide and Friends.