Programma 101
en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org
The Programma 101 was a perfect combination of innovative technology, usability and industrial design. When it was introduced at the New York World's Fair it stole the show. However, the management decided not to pursue any more r&d on the project. Some of the reasons:
- They were afraid it would jeopardize their mainframe business (which they sold soon after that anyway)
- They thought it was useless. One of the managers even told Perotto "if nobody is building this, it means nobody needs it"
This gave HP enough time to copy the design and rule the market.
A couple of years ago a documentary was made on the history of the Programma 101, I found it very instructive. Unfortunately only the trailer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noN0zNYFs9I) has English subtitles, the documentary is only in Italian.
Some commenters think that even if Programma 101 was designed shortly after Adriano's death, it's the culture he helped build which allowed Olivetti to produce such advanced and beautiful products.
It is also worth noting that Olivetti's attitude towards workers and work-life balance could not be any more anti-Apple…
"Developed between 1962 and 1964, it was saved from the sale of the computer division to GE thanks to an employee who one night changed the internal categorization of the product from "computer" to "calculator", leaving the small team in Olivetti and creating some awkward situations in the office, since the building except that office was then owned by GE"
http://www.piergiorgioperotto.it/libriperotto/programma%2010...
He wrote that indeed the management didn't put many resources in the Programma 101 development. Was it because of mainframes or what? We don't know.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Olivetti-Valentine.jpg
... didn't know they made computers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olivetti_Lettera_32
and while I haven't used it in ten years or so, I still think it's an amazing piece of industrial design.