It’s a fantastic account, which I’ve read again with great pleasure and it gives me many wonderful flashbacks, to the time in PU (product development), when it was really exciting, all-consuming and inspiring. Many memories and images also come to mind of the people you name and tell about. Some of them I thought were really nerdy, and then you put into words and I understand that they had a mission anyway, which sometimes succeeded.
You write brilliantly, with clarity, and a good dose of humour.
Tales of the apprentices, I remember too, the engineers could create similar ones. In those days it was festive when someone in PU had an anniversary, there was always a show item related to something the person had messed up.
And then the thing about mechanical or electronic faults always being reported as SW faults, well we believed that too, us in the Secretariat.
(Else was secretary in product development for many years, including all the time I worked there.)
Next chapter: Appendix 7: Contributed by Ib Lundgaard
Microprocessors in B&O consumer products 