If you have any involvement in the IT industry and names like Douglas Englebart and Xerox Parc mean nothing to you, you really *must* read this article.

Despite all my prior knowledge, I learnt some new tidbits from the arstechnica article. For instance: "The author of Bravo [the original Xerox Alto word processor program -- Mark], Charles Simonyi, would eventually join Microsoft and recreate his work as the original Word for DOS.

Addendum:

If you, like me, are fascinated by Bush's amazing foresight and innovation, From Memex to Hypertext: Vanevar Bush and the Mind's Machine is an amazing (albeit dry) read. It includes Douglas Englebart's letter to Vannevar Bush "On Human Effectiveness". No-one titles letters like that any more!

Addendum 2:

I have spotted a number of minor incorrect facts and anecdotes in the arstechnica article, so don't believe everything you read. It is notoriously hard to get some of those historical facts especially as sometimes the well known involved parties often have conflicting memories themselves.

On the US trade defecit:

It seems to me that a $618 billion trade deficit, rich as we are, strong as this country is, well, something will have to happen that will change that. Most economists will still say some kind of soft landing is possible. I don't know what a soft landing is exactly, in how the numbers come down softly from levels like these....

On the American auto industry:

Some people seem to think there's no trouble just because it hasn't happened yet. If you jump out the window at the 42nd floor and you're still doing fine as you pass the 27th floor, that doesn't mean you don't have a serious problem. I would want to address the problem right now.

On the real estate bubble:

Buffett to Munger: "What do you think the end will be?"
Munger: "Bad."

On the NYSE's merger with (electronic exchange) Archipelago:

I think we have lost our way when people like the [board of] governors and the CEO of the NYSE fail to realize they have a duty to the rest of us to act as exemplars. You do not want your first-grade school teacher to be fornicating on the floor or drinking alcohol in the closet and, similarly, you do not want your stock exchange to be setting the wrong moral example.

With investment guru's talking like this, it might be time to buy gold bullion!