I liked Justin’s bifurcated comparison of the age when “Soul of the Machine” was written to the current struggle between Intel and AMD, and also an insight that a machine without a CPU is like a machine without a soul.  This is insightful on two levels, first it makes me think of the famous quote by Plato:

Justice in the life and conduct of the State is possible only as first it resides in the hearts and souls of the citizens.  (http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/p/plato169513.html)

The creators of the machine in the book very clearly put something of themselves into the new machine.  On a second level, I am reminded that there are parts that play more important roles than others in a computer, with the CPU being one of the most critical ones.

I agree with Justin that Tracy Kidder had incredible insight as to what consumers expected out of computers - namely simplicity.  I believe that we are on a long road to get back to the point where the next focus in technology is making it useful and simple.  The comparison to the current struggle between AMD and Intel is shows that the world of business and computers is not so different than earlier computer development.

I agreed with Justin that Steve Wallach is probably my favorite character in the book because I also see something of myself in his life.  He knows he likes computers, but he likes more than that and wants to be successful in business also.  This desire for the knowledge in several areas is quite appealing, but often one must make difficult decisions between the highest interests and expediency, which is a frequently difficult trade-off to evaluate.