In a desperate quest
for new funds, laboratories and universities turned to
the private sector. In the case of the AI Lab, winning
over private investors was an easy sell. Home to some
of the most ambitious computer-science projects of the
post-war era, the lab became a quick incubator of
technology. Indeed, by 1980, most of the lab's staff,
including many hackers, were dividing its time between
Institute and commercial projects.
What at first seemed like a win-win deal-hackers got to
work on the best projects, giving the lab first look at
many of the newest computer technologies coming down
the pike-soon revealed itself as a Faustian bargain.
The more time hackers devoted to cutting-edge
commercial projects, the less time they had to devote
to general maintenance on the lab's baroque software
infrastructure. Soon, companies began hiring away
hackers outright in an attempt to monopolize their time
and attention. With fewer hackers to mind the shop,
programs and machines took longer to fix.
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