Silicon Valley Before the Startup 57
kenekaplan writes "An upcoming PBS documentary reveals how technology pioneers transformed Silicon Valley into the epicenter of technology innovation. From the article: 'Gordon Moore remembers a time before the idea of a Silicon Valley startup existed. That was half a century ago, before the place became an epicenter for wildly successful technology, and companies such as Apple, Google and Intel generated billions of dollars in annual profits. “It just exploded,” said Moore in the PBS documentary, “American Experience: Silicon Valley,” premiering Feb. 5. “Every time we came up with a new idea we spawned two or three companies that would try to exploit it,” he said, referring to his days at Fairchild Semiconductor, a company he helped found in 1957, a decade before he co-founded Intel with Robert Noyce.'"
We used to mine the silicon by hand (Score:5, Funny)
Back in them days, the siliconers would work 28-hour days, with nothing but a slide rule. And we kids would leave school and go to work at age 2, hand-punching punchcards until our fingers bled. And even the best Porsches were all slow and hand-cranked.
But we was happier for it, I think.
Re:We used to mine the silicon by hand (Score:3, Funny)
I was employee number six in an early startup. I'll never forget the IPO, when we went public for $50 as a reward for eleven years of hard work.
Not $50 per share, that was fifty bucks for the entire company. There was a lot less inflation in those days.