On: The Rise and Fall of Silicon Graphics

[causi]

"Revolutionaries rarely get to live in the societies they created"

I think it's a combination of a skillset/culture needed to create a paradigm shift isn't the same one needed to compete with others on a playing field you built, and of complacency. It happens over an over. We saw it happen with RIM, and we're watching it happen right now with Prusa Research.

[itronitron → causi]

Both Prusa and SGI are (and were) probably largely unknown to 90% of their potential market. The globally recognized companies tend to spend far more on marketing than anyone in a STEM field would consider remotely reasonable.

[fuzztester → itronitron]

True. In the early to middle days of Java, I read that Sun spent millions of dollars on marketing it, and related stuff around it.