Computer pioneer Ken Olsen dies at age 84 !!

Kenneth Olsen, a computer industry pioneer and co-founder of Digital Equipment Corp., has died. He was 84.

His death Sunday was announced by Gordon College in Wenham, Mass., where he was a trustee and benefactor. The college did not release a cause of death.

DEC, which Olsen launched in 1957, is considered an icon in technology circles today. The company attracted top engineers and helped usher in a technology revolution that changed the way people interact with computers.

In the 1960s and 1970s, Digital played a central role in creating the market for "minicomputers," powerful, refrigerator-sized machines that appealed to scientists, engineers and other number crunchers who did not need the bigger, multimillion-dollar mainframes used by big corporations. At its peak in the 1980s, DEC was the second-largest computer maker behind International Business Machines Corp.