Computer History Museum

Ray, Bruce oral history

Bruce Ray is the president of Wild Hare Computer Systems, Inc. Boulder, Colorado. Established in 1971, Wild Hare has ridden different facets of the computer industry -- software products, custom programming, workstations, PCs, minicomputers and midrange systems -- with a master strategy that Ray simply defines as "for Wild Hare to continuing having fun." A self-confessed computerholic since high school in the 1960s, he took a gift for programming and a natural penchant for solution-oriented thinking and tied it to a new generation of companies arriving in the late 1960s -- in particular, one called Data General. Ray and his constantly shifting, ever adapting coterie of programmers danced on the fringes of Data General's own ups and downs over four decades. They often devised systems, enhancements, and networks that outperformed DG, leading to what Ray terms a love-hate relationship. Wild Hare faced the abyss more than once as the computer industry evolved, platforms came and went, and as companies and products were assimilated. The company sometimes shrank to a handful of consultants, but Ray always managed to step back and retrench and in that way personified many of the smaller entrepreneurs of the day.

Item Details

Date
2008-06-04 (Made)
Type
Document
Catalogue number
102639050
Organization
Computer History Museum
People
Denni7s Hamilton (Editor)
Ian Walsh (Interviewer)
Bruce Ray (Interviewee)
Yan Rosenshteyn (Videographer)
Category
Transcript
Extent
29 p.
Place of publication
USA/CA/Mountain View
Language
English
Acquisition number
X4700.2008
Subject
Data General Corporation, Workstations, Value Added Reseller (VAR), Unix Operating System, Data General Nova (Computer)
Archive collection
Oral history collection
Archive hierarchy
CHM Oral History Collection