This could be any number of dot bombs from the late 90s, however its still incredible...<p>- Insisted that each office be painted a different and specific color.<p>- Huge open spaces were created to stimulate idea sharing and creativity.<p>- A plush cafeteria was put in, complete with a gourmet chef.<p>- Couches were scattered throughout the offices so that researchers could take naps or even sleep there overnight, which many of them did.<p>- The soft-drink machine was wired to a terminal. Researchers who wanted a drink simply typed in their choice.<p>- Commuting in an antique fire engine.<p>- Handler had every surface on the new floor repainted a slightly different shade of mauve. When it was done, she wasn't satisfied. So she had her researchers and scientists paint it again.<p>- An enormous marble archway installed in the atrium<p>- She commissioned a $40,000 logo design for a CM-5 sweatshirt and then rejected it.<p>- While the company was sinking, she focused her attention on putting out a cookbook with recipes from the company's now-infamous cafeteria.
Tangentially related: <a href="http://longnow.org/essays/richard-feynman-connection-machine/" rel="nofollow">http://longnow.org/essays/richard-feynman-connection-machine...</a><p>An account of Richard Feynman's time at the company.
The ostentatious stuff was par for the course for the 90s. Thinking Machines, like SGI, had a profitable market but was horribly run and found it impossible to transition from a research project to a company. OTOH, Sun Microsystems executed brilliantly but was killed a decade later by the commoditization of HPC.
Unfortunately, no pictures: <a href="http://images.google.com/search?q=thinking+machines&hl=en&tbo=u&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X" rel="nofollow">http://images.google.com/search?q=thinking+machines&hl=e...</a><p>(I have nothing to add other than they looked amazing, in that 1980s way.)