Conference 7.286::digital

    He was talking about the structure of world time..
    A time to live,A time to die and no time for computors..YES
    
    

    
    Does anybody really know what time it is?
    Does anybody really care?
    
    

            *******************************************
            *  "To be conscious that you are ignorant * 
            *  of the facts is a great step to        *
            *  knowledge".                            * 
            *                 -Benjamin Disraeli      * 
            *                        1804 - 1881      * 
            *******************************************

    

    This one is my login message......
    
    "For every complex problem, there is a simple solution, and it's wrong"
    
    				- Machiavelli
    
    	Lynn

I am the author of the basenote.

I'm writing to express my wonder and amazement at the responses that have ensued.
In my browsing through this conference, I've observed cynicism, bewilderment,
sincerity, responsibility, criticism, and encouragement.  Many people have
sought to understand the company's direction.  Many people have suggested what
that direction ought to be.  Some are quick to bring the glare of ridicule to
any topic.

Some contributors have expressed dismay that the Hewlett-Packards of the world
and many widely-quoted analysts have not taken seriously Digital's announcements
about its future products and plans.

While self-analysis is useful, we would do well to remember that when we who
know the company best ridicule it, we must expect others to follow our lead.

Aram

    In times like this I always think back on my college days and endless
    nights of listening to firesign theater....
    
    many quotations come to mind....
    
    "But it's really GREAT SH*t Mrs. Preske!"
    
    "Get the senator back in the bus"
    
    "How can you be in two places in once when you're not anywhere at all"
    
    and...
    
    "We're all Bozos on this bus."
    

    Hello, this is my first entry into notes but I couldn't resist:
    
    The Age of Enlightenment: Descartes:  I think therefore I am
    
    The Age of Information:  Howard: I digitilize therefore I am

    re .5, we have a direction??

    Yes. Down.		:-(

    
    The military had a saying: "A complaining troop is a happy troop."
    

    RE .0:
>...wherever you go, whatever you do, "the future is digital."
    
    As I watched that episode and heard that sentence, I too thought:
    Gee, that would be nice as a catch-phrase for Digital (with a capital
    'D').
    
    --Simon
    

    .0
    
    Unfortunately, decisions are being made today based on FY93 revenue
    only. the future is being left for another day, another year..
    
    
    
    but, I do like the .0 motto

    For me one of the more depressing parts of watching The Machnine that
    Changed the World was the fact that I do not recall a single mention of
    Digital. There were many scenes in which DEC equipment was in use but
    no reference to the compnay. (We did have a mention in the closing
    credits). It appeared that there was only IBM, UNIVAC and Apple.
    
    For me it was like watching a series on the History of Baseball and
    seeing no coverage of the Red Sox. (Meaning that in my hometown bias I
    was hoping to see some positive reference to our contribution)
    
    I have been at DEC for 16+ years and I honestly feel like we are the
    Rodney Dangerfield of the computer industry. How's this for a slogan:
    
    Digital - No respect at all!!   ;-)
    
    Jim  

That's a good idea Jim, except we turn it around:

	"Digital - earning the respect of our customers and the industry"

.13:

Not too surprising.  The show was sponsored by UNISYS, which is one of our
competitors.  It would be exceedingly difficult to make a show about the history
of computers without mentioning IBM and UNIVAC, and you can't bring the history
into the 80s without some mention of Apple.  Outside of that, there isn't much
reason to mention any of the others, including CDC, NCR, RCA, GE, Honeywell, etc.

Actually, the show also miscredited the first fully electronic digital computer,
again probably due to the UNIVAC slant.

I don't think Digital should feel singled out for neglect by that show.  It
missed a lot of things.

    The show also completely ignored the pioneering work by Konrad Zuse, 
    whose work is obscure because most of his work was lost in the war, it
    was used for an unpopular cause, calculating ballistics for V2 rockets,
    and that he was a Nazi.  He also invented a programming language called
    PLANKALUL, a non-assembler language 10 years before FORTRAN and COBOL.
    
    karl

Karl,
 I _think_ the first show (the one about Babbage et al) covered Zuse.

			Nigel

re Note 1881.16 by SALSA::MOELLER:

>     The show also completely ignored the pioneering work by Konrad Zuse, 
>     whose work is obscure because most of his work was lost in the war, it

        The show did credit him for (one of?) the first relay
        computers, and mentioned his plans for a vacuum tube computer
        which were shelved because the Third Reich had no interest in
        long-term (2 years!) engineering projects.  The implication
        from the show is that he would have been first there, too, if
        he had obtained sponsorship.

        The show also mentioned that most of his work was obscure
        until much later, as you know.

        Bob

        P.S.  Contrast the picture of Digital from "The Machine that
        Changed the World" to one of the quotes from the flier for
        the Digital Press book "Digital at Work":  "Digital Equipment
        Corporation occupies an exalted perch in computer history --
        it was Digital which made the computer truly interactive."
        (from Steven Levy, author of "Hackers").

        I suspect that part of the problem was that, as with many
        technical developments, there were several centers of
        innovation working on related problems at the same time.  The
        show dwelt much more on the Englebart-Xerox PARC-Apple
        chain of events than on east coast developments (other than
        Sutherland's "Sketchpad").

    a motto suggestion:
    
    "Communication and Commitment"
    
    The phrase can be applied to describe both the best of what we offer in
    software/hardware products, and well as to the values we bring to sales
    and service.  (speaking here of what we'd be shooting for, not
    necessarily where we're at today...)
    
    "Commitment" could be stretched to include stuff like Rdb and
    high-availability systems -- anything that stores data reliably. 
    Historically, we have had a passion for reliable products.
    "Communication" requires less stretching, but obviously includes Notes
    and other groupware as well as anything that links computers together. 
    Even our overinvestment in architectures is really just an expression
    of our passion to have every product communicates with all its
    cooperating products.
    
    The phrase appeals to me because I think that these are the essential
    purposes that people have in using computer technology: To communicate
    with one another, and to commit themselves and each other to various
    actions, definitions, and agreements.  In addition, I think these are
    things we're good at, and some of our worst moments have come when
    we've strayed from these values.
    					/dave crowley

    re .19
    
    The "commitment" has been so strong to our obsolete products that we
    burden manufacturing with the responsibility of making one something
    that somebody needs.  The "commitment" has been so weak that we won't
    spend any time to plan more economic ways of serving customers with
    these needs.
    
    You win some and you lose some, I guess.
    
    Dick

    RE: .5 and preceeding
    
    I think a company without humor is in sad state. I can recall hundreds
    of times that a tense customer situation was avoided by the effective
    use of humor. 
    
    To that I need to say that the original quote (.0) was interesting but
    some of the replies were facinating and lightened up an otherwise
    dismal day for me. Thank You. 
    
    One other quote (or misquote )kept coming to mind:
    
    	"We are not here to create disorder, but to preserve disorder"
    					The late Richard Daley Sr. 
    					Mayor of Chicago