They succeeded because they hit the market at the right time, they were marketed brilliantly, and they found both the right strategic partners and the most influential customers. The fact is that technology is product not just of engineering, but of timing. Products that miss the sweet spot by arriving too early or too late often fail miserably. The Alpha EXP was a great chip, but Intel had already sewn up the market. Alta Vista managed the near impossibility of being too early for the Web and too late for portals.
Fate comes in the oddest forms.
Ken Olsen and DEC stood for. Had they the imagination, in that taupe plastic box they could have seen the death of their entire industry. But short of that, they at least should have spotted an enormous business opportunity. Instead, while Apple sparked a consumer revolution, and IBM prepared to give chase, DEC did nothing. When DEC finally did, it was not only years late, but a dual-processor, overpriced kluge.