Conference 7.286::digital

    I don't know the answer to .0, but I do have a question.
    
    	Andy said that Dave Stone said he was going off to AT&T's
    Operat_ing_ Systems division, while Livewire said it was the
    Operat_ions_ Systems division.  Does anyone know which it one really
    is?
    
    	This is important, because if Andy's message is right, then Dave
    Stone is about to be in charge of the real UNIX (i.e System V).
    
    	peter

    
    I don't know for sure but my guess is that Digital has decided
    to view software differently from how David would like to view it
    so he went to a company which has plans more in keeping with what
    he would like to do.
    
    Steve
    

    re.0 > Why did David Stone resign ?
    
           Use your imagination.
    Maby???
    
    He was disgusted with the corporate corruption/deceivement?
    He didn't like Cancun?
    He wouldn't kiss a**.?
    
    Use your imagination.

    .1 Operations Systems is right, my mistyping, I'm afraid. Sorry.

    
    Hmmm.
    
    Anyone else get the feeling UNIX ain't dead yet?
    
    What's really strange is that I always got the feeling Stone 
    hated UNIX too.  
    
    Gary Eichhorn
    Kurt Friedrich
    Joe Menard
    
    Anyone else know of a veep or senior manager who went elsewhere to do 
    UNIX?  should I update my resume'?
    
    -Ed_the_ancient_unix_curmudgeon
    

  Dont' know about UNIX.  But the last I heard about Mr. Stone's
  software strategy was - OSF and AXP (maybe NT in future).  For
  the past couple of weeks, he has been canceling PC projects all
  over the company.  Talk about confusion!  Real poor implementation,
  IMO.

  -Vaughn

    Maybe he was unhappy over Bob Palmer getting the President's chair.
    

  Re: .7   BINGO!

Maybe we're seeing one of the first big instances of Bob Palmer's "No
Excuses Management" philosophy.

Maybe making rash promises of a dollar-a-share profit and then not being
able to deliver on the promise is unacceptable.

Maybe being told to downsize a highly visible organization during Q1 and
still having large segments of it untouched come Q2 (read: goal unattained)
is viewed as poor management.

Then again, maybe I don't know any more about what I'm speaking about than
the next guy.

-Jack

    wouldn't that be interesting IF he was cancelling projects that would
    impact AT&T marketshare?

    
    read DECWET::WINDOWS-NT  notefile, note 250.12 for an interesting 
    perspective on why Stone may have left. It's a somewhat sardonic
    memo from Stone on why Digital needs to treat software more like
    a software business. 
    
    

    re: .1
    
    Unix System V is "owned" by Unix Systems Laboratories (USL), a
    subsidiary of AT&T. The "Operations Systems Division" in Montvale
    is not associated with USL, as far as I know. 
    
    "Operations Systems" in telco terms are usually the large hw/sw
    systems that run the phone network, like LMOS, etc... But I've
    never heard of this division. I've also never been to AT&T in Montvale
    (and I thought I had been at EVERY AT&T facility, at least in NJ.)
    
    /ljj
    

    
    
    Maybe he wanted to go to Canobi Lake...
    
    

It seems like at least one possibility is that the vision of an
"information utility" that he talks about seemed more achievable
at a company that currently is predominantly a large-scale service
provider rather than at a company that is predominantly a computer
manufacturer.

    re: .14 
    
    Bingo.
    
    /Marc

    
    
    Has anyone given thought to "MAYBE HE WAS ASKED TO LEAVE"! 
                               -OR-
    He'd oviously been "looking" for a long time.  I personnaly don't know
    anyone on the "outside world" that could have possible found a job
    that fast!
    
    
    
    
    djm
    

    Okay, here is is straight from Dave Stone.  A friend of mine had an
    email conversation with David.  The permission from Stone for Dana 
    to distibute this, and the permission from Dana for _me_ to put this
    here is at the end of this note:
    
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------
Subj:	Note and Reply to David Stone asking "why?"

Below is my note and David Stone's replies as to why he is leaving DEC.  Also
his release to allow me to forward this out to you...

-Dana

From:	MEMIT::D_STONE "11-Nov-1992 1508" 11-NOV-1992 15:20:20.20
To:	CSSEDB::GROFF
CC:	D_STONE
Subj:	Your note on TNSG morale

<< Dana

From:	CSSEDB::GROFF "Mr. MUP  11-Nov-1992 1422" 11-NOV-1992 14:23:00.68
To:	MEMIT::D_STONE
CC:	ME
Subj:	Your resignation and TNSG morale

FR: 	Dana Groff
	Principal Software Engineer
	Data Base Systems

TO: 	David Stone
	VP Software Engineering

RE:	Your resignation and TNSG morale
DT:	11-Nov-1992

Congratulations on your new position and challenges.  I understand that you
will have a lot of work transitioning out of DEC and into your new position.

For the software engineers in your organisation, this is a loss.  A blow, in
fact, to many of our expectations and hopes.  With you we finally saw a VP who
seemed to understand our efforts, hopes, and would fairly represent TNSG to the
corporate board and represent honestly the efforts at the top to us.  Meaning,
we believed in you and what you were doing.

<< Thanks

With you leaving this shatters a lot of the foundation that we were hanging
hopes and dreams upon.  The over-riding question is "why?"  There are questions
as to "was he pushed out?"  or "does this mean he has no faith in DEC's
recovery?"  For those of us attempting to do more with less this is a great
concern.  We are investing our sweat and are not sure of the returns.  We had
faith in you and your ability to succeed.  Now that future is in question.

Could you clarify "why" you are accepting this position at ATT now?  Especially
now when DEC needs your direction most?

<< This decision was a tough on for me.  I was definitely not "pushed
<< out" nor have I lost faith in Digital's recovery.  There are three
<< reasons why I found the AT+T offer irresistible (and I did not
<< solicit it)

<<	1) They want me to be the President of a division
<<	2) They are in the midst of the implementation of the
<<	   information utility - a vision which I have been 
<<	   pursuing for some seven years now.
<<	3) They want me to help in the creation of a software
<<	   engineering core competence across AT+T.

<< This combination fits my personal dream for the future perfectly. I have 
<< great faith in Bob Palmer, Bill Strecker and Dennis Roberson.  The
<< new organization will allow a vastly improved strategy and
<< implementation with lots more focus.

I am not attempting to question your decision.  It is just a big surprise.  To
counter any morale problem there needs to be some sort of message of hope for
the future at DEC and explanation why you are not going to be part of
fulfilling that future.  Moreover, this message has to be from you.

<< This message is from me! I have enjoyed very much my association
<< with the people at Digital and wish them all well. I believe in the
<< strategy which was created by the TNSG staff and reviewed and
<< accepted by Strecker's staff. It is what Digital needs to do to
<< regain its position of pre-eminence in the information systems arena.
<< There is every expectation on my part that the AT+T/Digital
<< relationship will continue to grow. Alpha and the  layered software
<< which makes it sell will be very successful.

<< Thanks for asking for the clarification.

<< David

From:	MEMIT::D_STONE "11-Nov-1992 1530" 11-NOV-1992 15:32:23.60
To:	CSSEDB::GROFF
CC:	D_STONE
Subj:	RE: Your note on TNSG morale

Dana -

Feel free to disseminate it as you see fit.

David
    
From:	CSSEDB::GROFF "Mr. MUP  11-Nov-1992 1711" 11-NOV-1992 17:09:27.09
To:	RANGER::MCANULTY
CC:	
Subj:	RE: Note and Reply to David Stone asking "why?"
> can I put that note into the DIGITAL notes file?
yes.
    

    Dave Stone evidently wants to be *president* of something,not merely
    *vice-president* of something. And,of course,there's the matter of a
    *slight* pay raise.
    
    Ken

    re: .18
    
    I think that Dave's response was very honest. A job is simply that..a
    job. Dave Stone contributed a very many years of his career to Digital.
    I think the company and the people that worked for him (I don't/didn't)
    owe him a thanks for the contributions he's made. An earlier note
    conveyed the extent of respect by people in his organizaton. The
    response by Dave Stone reflected class in my opinion.
    
    Those that remain in the company are responsible for its success. We
    should not let our drive to do this slow because a respected member of
    our team has moved on in the quest of achieving his own goals.
    
    David is gone. There is nothing positive to be achieved in
    evaluating/criticizing why David left...it's his life to live. Lets's
    all look forward to excellent customer relationships with ex-employees
    like him and move forward.
     

re:          <<< Note 2215.19 by GUCCI::HERB "Al is the *first* name" >>>

Then again, there are those of us who were never big "Dave fans", who did
work for him, and who see his departure as a very positive thing. And we
agree that we should "get on with it".

-Jack

    
    DS's last thoughts....
    
    "If you can't beat 'em, then join 'em..."
    

    I'm not in TNSG and frankly sometimes ZKO seems like the other end
    of the world from Salem NH where I work. So I don't have much of a
    clue as to why Stone's leaving is a bad/good thing. But I've seen a
    lot of managers come and go. Some were good. Most, by far, were not.
    So I tend, because of my own experience, to assume that when a manager
    leaves it's a good thing for Digital. :-)

    I remember when Stone took over in ZKO. There was a lot of talk about
    things going to be fixed. That it was a great move. And maybe that all
    happened but I couldn't see it from NIO. Did it? Or is there downsizing
    going on? Because if there is downsizing going on in ZKO then, IMHO,
    Stone screwed up. Also I heard that Stone made some commitment to a
    given contribution to the companies profit. True? Did he make that
    goal? Did he come close? I'm sure that lots of what happened or didn't
    happen is not his fault but the bottom line in my review always seems
    to be "did Alfred meet his commitments."

    			Alfred

	... he'll certainly have a nice source of resumes from people with 
backgrounds he knows about to pick from, won't he?  :>)

    
    
    No manager, no matter how well thought of, or how successful by any
    metric you might care to apply, is going to avoid displeasing some of
    the troops.  IMO, David Stone made a positive contribution.  He may
    have set some goals which he did not achieve (and which of us can say
    that we've never been there?), but he put in motion the process whereby
    software engineering is going to be able to improve itself and evolve
    into having world class capability for software development.  If we had
    continued uninterrupted on the path of the old ways then, IMO,
    eventually many more of us would have ended up TFSOd and Digital
    software  would have continued into decline.  I think that on balance
    David established the infrastructure and momentum for slowing that
    decline and providing for our eventual full recovery.  Someday I
    believe we'll look back and see that clearly, but while still in the
    middle of it, without the results flowing in yet, it's hard to see it.
    
    fwiw,
    Steve
    

    My morning routine is to scan the front page and the first business
    section page of the Boston Globe.
    
    This morning, Nov 12, I found NO article on Alpha, but a big one on
    DS's resignation (attributed, accurately, I suspect) to a power
    struggle.
    
    It hits me very hard and most negatively that Stone announced his
    resignation on the very day of the Alpha rollout.
    
    That can hardly be inadvertent or unavoidable.
    
    Then we read his politically correct explanation.
    
    It makes me very angry.  Not that it matters what I feel.
    
    Gordie_who_has_tamed_his_massive_ego

       You must have missed yesterdays Glob business section. It had an
    article on Alpha. 
       Today's article noted that Stone "did not return phone calls." His
    reply to mail entered in this conference gives no indication of a
    'power struggle' and seemed reasonable to me.
                                Denny

    ...oh, and I forgot. Stone announced his resignation on the 11th. Alpha
    was at the World Trade Center on the 10th.
                               Denny

    FWIW, as someone who worked for David, I know he held off his
    announcement until after the Alpha announcement specifically to avoid
    upstaging it.  He had informed the company earlier, and was doing his
    very best to contain and control the rumors for long enough for Alpha
    to get announced.  He was successful in that... and having watched him,
    I wouldn't want to have to play poker against him!!  :-)
    
    /Marc

	re .28:

>    FWIW, as someone who worked for David, I know he held off his
>    announcement until after the Alpha announcement specifically to avoid
>    upstaging it.

	How was he to know that, on the 10th, nothing whatever about the
	Alpha AXP launch would appear in the press or on TV? (at least not
	in the UK)

	/Tom

    Tom,
    
    Slight nit-pick here - Alpha AXP got quite a large article in the Nov.
    10th UK edition of the FT - Europe's premier business publication.
    
    So far, no DEC VP resignation articles in same publication (and they
    missed their Friday the 13th chance :-)
    
    /Chris.

	re .30"

>    Slight nit-pick here - Alpha AXP got quite a large article in the Nov.
>    10th UK edition of the FT - Europe's premier business publication.

	Well done! I must admit I don't read the FT, so missed that. Rats!

	Despite excellent individual efforts, I still maintain that there
	has been a lack of top-down corporate PR for the Alpha AXP launch.

	Whenever we criticize corporate efforts, there are always a lot
	of isolated episodes of heroism to hold up as contrary examples.

	It's as if I were to criticize the British generals who brought
	about the Charge of the Light Brigade, only to be accused of
	belittling the brave men who gave their lives in the charge. But
	the point is that the charge was quite unnecessary!

	/Tom

    
    ...& mater tells me there was a long piece on Scottish TV news about Alpha,
    & its significance to Queensferry. 
    
    She was rather excited, & was waiting in vain for pix of her long-lost
    son :-) Don't think her interest adds to the bottom line tho'
    
    Colin

    For those that were speculating around the Unix aspect of David Stone's
    new job at AT&T:
    
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............................................................................
22-DEC-1992 - FOR DIGITAL INTERNAL USE ONLY
(c) Dow Jones News Retrieval (Wall Street Journal)
    .
    .
    .
COMPUTERS: NOVELL AGREES TO BUY AT&T'S UNIX SYSTEM 

             Novell Inc. gained a weapon in its battle with Microsoft Corp.,
          agreeing to purchase American Telephone & Telegraph Co.'s Unix
          System Laboratories for about $360 million in stock.
             The deal gives Novell control of Unix, a computer operating
          system that is widely used with high-performance desktop computers
          called workstations. In return, AT&T, which long has wanted to make
          a graceful exit from the operating-system business, gains a 3% stake
          in Novell, the second-largest supplier of PC software after
          Microsoft. Other shareholders of Unix System will get a 1% interest
          in Novell.
    .
    .
    .
    
    Harry