Quote:
Originally Posted by homebucket
It's also important to note that not all tech is equal, as mhays alluded to. Even when you look at the tech powerhouses of Austin, Seattle, and SF, they're not exactly on equal footing. There's a fairly steep drop off from one to the next (SF >>> Seattle >>>>> Austin).
Using a skyscraper analogy, it'd kinda be like comparing the skylines of NYC to Chicago to Jacksonville. Seattle has the two large companies in Amazon and Microsoft, similar to how Chicago has Willis Tower and Trump Tower, but SF has more tech "supertalls" (Alphabet, Apple, Meta, Nvidia, Tesla) and 2nd and 3rd tier "skyscrapers" (Netflix, Salesforce, Adobe, Uber, X, Intel, AMD, Cisco, EA, eBay, HP, Intuit, PayPal, Seagate, Western Digital) that give it much more overall bulk. And Austin while it does have somewhat of a tech scene, is largely derivative of SF/Seattle's. It doesn't really have any "supertall" that makes it stand out on its own.
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Although I agree with the grander premise, I do think the final two sentences are wrong and ignore that Austin has had a tech presence longer than Seattle and before Microsoft ever existed.
1957: Austin Area Economic Development Foundation (local group dedicated to luring manufacturers of electronics and scientific equipment)
1962: Tracor
1967: IBM
1969: Texas Instruments
1974: Motorola
1977: UT’s IC2 Institute
1982: Microelectronics and Computer Consortium
1984: Dell
And I’m not so sorry, but Austin has plenty of “supertalls” beyond the above. Tesla and Elon Musk, for instance, or Samsung’s single largest plant anywhere. IBM, for instance, houses most of their design work in Austin.
https://www.academia.edu/5618347/A_H...olis_in_Austin
Compare these dates to Seattle:
1962: World's Fair
1969: Boeing Computer Services
1979: Microsoft relocates
1981: MicroRim
1984: Washington State Software Industry Development Board (the Austin equivalent happened in 1957)
1985: AMI
Seattle's Boeing presence starting in the 1920s is less akin to modern computer tech or San Francisco's early tech industry and more akin to Detroit's motorized vehicle industry, and I personally do not include their flight history in Seattle's tech scene
even if it is one reason that made Seattle a natural fit for a computing technology industry (the skills in manufacturing and designing the former are transferable to the latter with some additional training and education). In fact, local leaders at the time saw it this way, too. I split the difference and included the Boeing division dealing with computing above.
Seattle’s presence in recruiting computing tech started in 1962 at the World Fair, Microsoft was founded in Albuquerque in 1975, and most contemporary accounts describe Seattle as “emerging” as a tech center when they relocated in 1979. Biographies largely describe this as being for familial reasons, and less for business and recruitment purposes (he moved away from his biggest client in Albuquerque and didn't even move to the city they were HQed in, Boston). Even after Microsoft moved there, local governmental and industry reports described the Seattle economy and workforce as unable to support the nascent industry. Seattle didn't get around to luring other major tech companies beyond Microsoft or develop local incubators and P3s until the mid 1980s after Microsoft moved there and needed the help.
https://www.historylink.org/File/9190
Fact: Austin's government and economy had long established the region as a tech hub before Seattle's tech scene ever got off the ground.