Chapter 7. FRENCHMAN EATS FROG, CHOKES TO DEATH: Borland and Philippe Kahn

FRENCHMAN EATS FROG, CHOKES TO DEATH: Borland and Philippe Kahn

From its inception, Borland International was the Animal House of high tech, a group of self-proclaimed software barbarians who broke all the rules and had all the fun. Led by its wide-girthed founder, Philippe Kahn, a Frenchman who started the company with no green card and very little cash, Borland seemed to lead a charmed life for the first few years of its existence. But the trouble with barbarians is their appetites. They tend to like to sit down at the table, rip off a big slab of meat from a half-cooked haunch, and eat rapidly without properly chewing their food. Combine ...

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