Remembering Bell Labs as legendary idea factory prepares to leave N.J. home

Re:Remembering Bell Labs as legendary idea factory prepares ... by tomcam on Sunday January 21, 2024 @02:41PM (#39082161)

I’m not a nostalgic person, but for some reason I wish irrationally that that Murray Hill building could be preserved as is. I read so much about of it in the history of computing, and just like (from the pictures) the building interior itself so much I just feel like I missed out on some thing not to have been there myself.

I was lucky enough to work at Microsoft in building 2, one of 8 matching buildings from the mid-80s, and it absolutely felt special at the time. In my imagination, it had some of the same vibe as Bell Labs did in its heyday. I was on the Visual Studio team, and great things were happening. I knew it. I also knew that team was special.

No one else in Visual Studio seemed that interested – they were just too busy and I think maybe too young to get it.

Buildings 1-8 were demolished few years ago, but I had been gone from the company for decades by that time. I did grieve a bit.

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Re:Remembering Bell Labs as legendary idea factory prepares ... by ioblomov on Sunday January 21, 2024 @04:38PM (#39083337)

The whole complex (immortalized as Lumon HQ in Severance) is landmarked so presumably it can’t be messed with too much. Even apart from the historical significance, it’s a masterpiece of mid-century design. Its architect, Eero Saarinen, also did the St. Louis Arch and, my personal favorite, the TWA terminal at JFK, which reopened as a hotel in 2019. If you’re ever stuck on a layover there, do check it out!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TWA_Hotel

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Re:Remembering Bell Labs as legendary idea factory prepares ... by BaculumMeumEst on Sunday January 21, 2024 @06:46PM (#39084265)

Man, I forgot about that show. I hope season 2 is good and doesn’t get too silly.

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Re:Remembering Bell Labs as legendary idea factory prepares ... by tomcam on Sunday January 21, 2024 @05:00PM (#39083539)

Thanks for the reminder. I agree, that appears to be a massive triumph of preservation.

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Re:Remembering Bell Labs as legendary idea factory prepares ... by miniatureape on Sunday January 21, 2024 @08:23PM (#39084959)

The building in that show is the Holmdel location. Murray Hill is a different campus.

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Re:Remembering Bell Labs as legendary idea factory prepares ... by vsrinivas on Sunday January 21, 2024 @09:26PM (#39085378)

FYI, Lumon HQ / the Eeron Saarinen masterpiece is Holmdel Bell Labs; this article is about the Murray Hill building.

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Re:Remembering Bell Labs as legendary idea factory prepares ... by vdnkh on Sunday January 21, 2024 @09:27PM (#39085388)

Bell Labs in Holmdel (ala Severance HQ) is now "Bell Works", a combination of offices, restaurants, stores, and community space, including the public library. It's free to get in and you don't need to spend money to use the amenities. Walking around is pretty pleasant, the architecture is stunning and they did a good job of keeping the soul of the space. It's a bit of a rarity in suburban NJ.

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Re:Remembering Bell Labs as legendary idea factory prepares ... by hanniabu on Sunday January 21, 2024 @09:52PM (#39085586)

That's probably why their old officers are left in tact

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Re:Remembering Bell Labs as legendary idea factory prepares ... by dimator on Sunday January 21, 2024 @02:55PM (#39082344)

It's interesting how much we associate a place with the fulfillment (career) we had there. I always smile fondly when I pass by the buildings I worked in years ago, in the valley.

It's a strange thought that the building I spent so many hours, days, years in is now just a thing seen out of the passenger window as I drive by, for maybe 2 seconds.

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Re:Remembering Bell Labs as legendary idea factory prepares ... by tomcam on Sunday January 21, 2024 @05:03PM (#39083557)

In my particular case, the best jobs I had also happened to be at places where I could think hard, then go take a walk outside and enjoy the fresh air. Building two at Microsoft was nestled in a sort of mini forest, and taking a jog around that area in the winter was a pleasure almost to good to put into words.

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Re:Remembering Bell Labs as legendary idea factory prepares ... by dleink on Sunday January 21, 2024 @02:57PM (#39082357)

Any recommendations for books on the history of computing from that period?

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Re:Remembering Bell Labs as legendary idea factory prepares ... by tomcam on Sunday January 21, 2024 @03:06PM (#39082458)

Maybe “Fire in the Valley“? I learned to program in the mid-1980s and learned about the culture from dozens of magazines that were published contemporaneously. I didn’t live in Silicon Valley and thought I had pretty much missed the boat so I spent thousands a year in early 1990s dollars to keep up. Then I got to move to Redmond, Washington and actually live it. Working with people I had literally read about was every bit as good as I hoped.

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Re:Remembering Bell Labs as legendary idea factory prepares ... by NegativeLatency on Sunday January 21, 2024 @03:04PM (#39082432)

Not Microsoft but an enjoyable account from that time: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Soul_of_a_New_Machine

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Re:Remembering Bell Labs as legendary idea factory prepares ... by tomcam on Sunday January 21, 2024 @05:04PM (#39083559)

Agreed, that is a good portrait of what it was like

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Re:Remembering Bell Labs as legendary idea factory prepares ... by hnthrowaway0328 on Sunday January 21, 2024 @07:38PM (#39084651)

Read it twice and really envy these guys! Nowadays there is far less such work and they almost all requre doctors.

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Re:Remembering Bell Labs as legendary idea factory prepares ... by fuzztester on Sunday January 21, 2024 @08:47PM (#39085119)

that was a good one, although they had a really intense time.

"pinball"

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Re:Remembering Bell Labs as legendary idea factory prepares ... by fuzztester on Sunday January 21, 2024 @08:44PM (#39085091)

hackers: heroes of the computer revolution

by Steven Levy.

I think he also wrote some of the other well known books, maybe including fire in the valley. need to check.

He is a journalist, so the book is sure to be embellished to sound good, but a cool read nonetheless, IMO.

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Re:Remembering Bell Labs as legendary idea factory prepares ... by tomcam on Sunday January 21, 2024 @09:13PM (#39085279)

Dead to rights. Much of the dialogue sounds like Steven Levy.

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Re:Remembering Bell Labs as legendary idea factory prepares ... by steven on Saturday January 27, 2024 @12:37PM (#39157730)

No, I didn't write Fire in the Valley, but did write some other books. I appreciate that you felt Hackers was a cool read. But whether you believe me or not, the default for real journalists is NOT embellishing, but doing reporting to get to the nearest thing to truth. Not all writers do that (some "nonfiction" authors are frank about making up dialogue, and even moving the timeline) but to me and the vast majority of my peers, nonfiction means just that.

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Re:Remembering Bell Labs as legendary idea factory prepares ... by NegativeLatency on Sunday January 21, 2024 @09:34PM (#39085445)

Byte magazine is also a really interesting read: https://archive.org/details/BYTE-MAGAZINE-COMPLETE

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Re:Remembering Bell Labs as legendary idea factory prepares ... by jtbetz22 on Monday January 22, 2024 @06:27AM (#39088358)

Brian Kernighan's "Unix: A History and a Memoir" is an excellent read on the computer systems achievements of the labs through the eyes of someone who was at the center of it all.

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Re:Remembering Bell Labs as legendary idea factory prepares ... by hnthrowaway0328 on Sunday January 21, 2024 @07:32PM (#39084615)

Ah, is it possible to share stories from early MSFT days?

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