Back Bay Books</br></br>Product Description</br></br>Computers have changed since 1981?? when Tracy Kidder memorably  recorded the drama?? comedy?? and excitement of one companys efforts to  bring a new microcomputer to market. Wha"s not changed is the  feverish pace of the high-tech industry?? the go-for-broke approach to  business that has caused so many computer companies to win big (or go  belly up)?? and the cult of pursuing mind-bending technological  innovations. The Soul of a New Machine is an essential chapter in the  history of the machine that revolutionized the world in the twentieth  century.</br></br>Amazon.com Review</br></br>The computer revolution brought with it new methods of getting work done--just look at today's news for reports of hard-driven?? highly-motivated young software and online commerce developers who sacrifice evenings and weekends to meet impossible deadlines. Tracy Kidder got a preview of this world in the late 1970s when he observed the engineers of Data General design and build a new 32-bit minicomputer in just one year. His thoughtful?? prescient book?? <I>The Soul of a New Machine</I>?? tells stories of 35-year-old "n" engineers hir