Ken Olsen Passes Away
February 9th, 2011 - 9:01 pm ICT by GDBy Gina Gomez
Feb 9, (THAINDIAN NEWS) Digital Equipment Corporation’s (DEC) co-founder Ken Olsen breathed his last on Sunday, Feb 6, in Massachusetts. The news of his death has been announced by Gordon college, where Ken Olsen was a board member and trustee. However, it is quite shocking that Gordon College members did not reveal anything about the cause of death and at the same time, Ken Olsen’s family also did not reveal anything about it. The computer pioneer was 84 year old.
Former senior Vice president of DEC, Win Hindle expressed his condolence at the sad demise of the businessman. In his statement, he said that Ken Olsen built a company that actually encouraged innovation and at the same time the company has rewarded people who have given good inputs in various matters of the company. Gordon Bell, DEC’s former head of engineering expressed his condolence and said that in today’s world people only know about Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. However, he also said that it was Ken Olsen’s future vision of “interactivity” that made the computer an household name. Gordon Bell is presently the principal researcher in Microsoft’s Silicon Valley Research Group.
Ken Olsen is remembered for his prediction in 1977, “that there is no reason for any individual to have a computer in their home”. His work in the 1960s and 1970s acted as a boon in development of “minicomputers” that benefited the engineers and scientists. Though his first computer was PDP-1 but in 1965, his computer PDP-8 which became the “building block” for computers and founded “minicomputer” as a major new industry. Ken Olsen’s family has not announced anything about the funeral.
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Tags: bill gates, college members, computer pioneer, condolence, first computer, future vision, gina gomez, gordon bell, gordon college, household name, ken olsen, minicomputer, minicomputers, pdp, principal researcher, sad demise, senior vice president, silicon valley, silicon valley research, steve jobs