1/ Helping Bill Gates write his first two books was great fun for me. The process was an opportunity to ask him questions (eg, his experiences with DEC). He's usually reluctant to talk about the past but the book writing process was an exception. Here's a picture of a DEC PDP-10: 
2/ “Under Ken Olsen, Digital pioneered the minicomputer and later scalable hardware architecture (VAX). When PCs became popular, Ken followed his engineering inclinations and built a better one — only better, in this case meant incompatible with the Intel standard." Bill Gates
3/ “Olsen accomplished an amazing amount. He persevered through ups and downs, driving things forward and had a commitment. DEC faced the challenges of a changing industry, but when you look back on what he did, it was very impressive. I actually grew up on a DEC computer.” BG
4/ Steve Jobs: “It’s the late sixties. DEC and others invent the minicomputer. IBM dismisses minicomputers as ‘too small to do serious computing’ and unimportant to their business. DEC grows to become a multi-$100M corporation before IBM finally enters the minicomputer market.”
5/ "In 1977 the convention of the World Future Society was held in Boston. A presentation by DEC president Ken Olsen included this remark: 'There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in their home.'" quoteinvestigator.com/2017/09/14/hom…
6/ As late as 1979 when Microsoft moved from New Mexico to Bellevue Washington, DEC machines were still used in use at the business. Paul Allen recalled being in Microsoft’s new downtown office in Bellevue that year “and firing up our spanking new DEC 2020.”
7/ "Ken Olsen was “one of the true pioneers of computing. He was also a major influence on my life.”
"Digital, despite a reputation for high-quality products and services, struggled throughout the PC era until Compaq, a PC vendor, bought it in 1998.” Bill Gates
"Digital, despite a reputation for high-quality products and services, struggled throughout the PC era until Compaq, a PC vendor, bought it in 1998.” Bill Gates
9/ "If [in 1977] you had told us that IBM would forge a new path for microcomputers and that DEC the maker of the PDP-10 would straggle in late and be unable to adapt, we would never have believed you.” Paul Allen
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