Levy_S-Hackers-Heroes-Computer-Revolution

IBM did not plan to apply the Hacker Ethic too much, though. It still valuedsecrecy as a way of life. So IBM waited until all the nondisclosure forms weresigned before its men in the white shirts told Ken Williams what they had in mind.IBM was planning a new machine for the home, cheaper and better at playinggames than the PC. It was code-named Peanut, but would eventually be known asPCjr. Would On-Line like to do a new kind of adventure interpreter, moresophisticated than anything that came before it? And also write an easy-to-useword processing program for the PCjr? Ken thought they could, no problem, andwhile Roberta began charting yet another adventure plot. Ken set about hiring atop secret team of wizards to hack code for the project.It would cost On-Line a lot of money to participate in some of these high-rollingventures. But Ken Williams had taken care of that by the most significant deal ofall. Venture capital. "I had never even heard of venture capital," Ken Williamslater said. "I had to be convinced to take it." Still, On-Line was spending moneyvery quickly, and the $1.2 million the company received from the Boston firmcalled TA Associates (plus two hundred thousand dollars for Ken and Robertapersonally) was essential to maintain cash flow. In return, TA got 24 percent of thecompany and consultation rights on various aspects of the business.The woman at TA who made the deal was vibrant, gray-haired Jacky Morby, withprecise features, a studied intensity, and the ability to insinuate herself as a distantgodmother to the company. Jacky Morby was very experienced in situations wherebrilliant entrepreneurs begin companies that grow so fast they threaten to get outof hand, and she immediately advised Ken Williams, in such a way that he knewthis was not merely casual advice, to get some professional management. Sherecognized that Ken was not an MBA type not one who would properly nurture hiscompany to take its place in the traditional line of companies that make thiscountry great and venture capital firms like TA very rich. If On-Line Systems wereto go public and shift everybody into Croesus Mode, there would have to be a firmrudder to guide it in the waters ahead. Ken's rudder was bent. He kept veering towild schemes, crazy deals, and hacker Summer Camp blowouts. Someone wouldhave to come in and supply a new rudder.The idea was not unappealing to Ken, who had announced to So/talk as early asMarch 1981 that he was "firing himself from the On-Line staff in hopes that [he'd]be able to get some programming done." And surely it was clear that somethinghad to be done about the managerial mess that was thickening as the company soldmore software, took on more deals, tried to get hold of more programmers, andshuffled more paper, even if a lot of the paper was in the form of data handled inApple computers.The problem came from Ken's hacking On-Line as if it were a computer system,