Conference 7.286::digital

       <<< Note 2790.0 by GLDOA::PENFROY "Just Do It or Just Say No?" >>>
                           -< Company Name Change! >-


    
    
>    If you were in charge of changing the name of this company in order to
>    promote name recognition, what would you change it to?

	I still like DEC, I don't really like "digital".

	rc
    
    

    DEC!

        i thought this quote is appropriate for this occasion:


      "a rose but by any other name will still smell oh soo sweat"


    by \Williams \Henery \Shakakspeerse


    \nasser

    ...but its probably too late now, the opportunity was missed.
    
    -Dom

                                    -< DEC >-

>>>    ...but its probably too late now, the opportunity was missed.
    
	I wonder how the surveys where conducted? Remember when they
	picked "ARA" for the name of the ALPHA systems? (Advanced
	Risc Architecture). Well at field training, they told us how
	they had paid some company (big bucks), to "pick the right name
	for Alpha",
	and ARA was it! Just about everyone in the group that attended 
	training, and I mean everyone said "what?", ARA? We associated
	ARA with ARA food services here in the states, just about 
	everyone "thought it was a bad idea"!  Don't know how (or who
	they hire to do these things), but it was obvious from that 
	experience (and this was a large group of people), that the overall
	consensus was "ARA?" "WHY?", Everyone liked "ALPHA"!

	Anyway, just wondering how they came up with picking "digital",
	I read the article about name recognition, and that the word
	"digital" was the most associated with us, but for some reason,
	I just think that it would be easier for people (in the rest of 
	the world) and our customers, to associate "DEC" with a computer
	company , than "digital". But what do we know, right? There's 
	something catchy, about "DEC", like "HP", "IBM", its bold, its
	not something people can easily mistake for something else, like
	"watches" (which is what I run into the most). 

	Oh well, I hope "digital" catches on, I truly do, (but I still 
	think "DEC" would catch on quicker - just a gut feeling).

	Rick

    Digital as it stands alone sounds generic. DEC is what I prefer.
    International Business Machines also sounds good with IBM.
    How many people actually know what IBM stands for ???? But they know
    what IBM stands for when it comes to what the company can do for
    them!!!

    Phone call to a customer eariler this week:
    
    Me: "Good afternoon sir, this is Harry Hardman with Digital, calling you
    in reference to the problem you're experiencing with your laptop
    computer."
    
    Customer: "Is that the same as DEC?"
    
    Sigh...
    
    Harry
    

I do not think we need a change of our name.  As a matter of fact, name
changes detract from rather than promote recognition.  It confuses your
customers to the point that only the most ambitious advertising campaign
can over-come that disadvantage.  Not that we could afford one anyway.
Our customers, partners, stakeholders or whatever we're calling them
today have had it with our name changes in products, trademarks, images
and strategies; our flip-flops on commitments, vision and direction.
We had better get stabilized on something real soon or the next time 
our name gets changed it might be:

	Digital--a wholly-owned subsidiary of {.......}

        .8
    
>We had better get stabilized on something real soon or the next time 
    
    but we are, we support software and hardware on the most popular
    platforms of the industry, from NT to OSF to VMS to RSX to U*X and more.
    
    you name it, DEC has it !
    
    what more do the customers want?
    
    \nasser

      By comparison to some of the readers and contributors to this 
      conference, I haven't been with the company very long.  I passed 
      my 10 year anniversary last August.  To me, the company's has 
      always been Digital Equipment Corporation.  Both Digital and DEC 
      are just abbreviations to me.  I feel most comfortable with
      Digital ... capitalized ... "digital" is part of our trademark 
      and related to our name in that way only.

      Terry

    Every place you see the company's name outside those "imagine.."
    adverts, it is "DEC" or "DEC (Digital)".  Most of our products are
    DECthis or DECthat.  Wouldn't it make sense to call ourselves DEC?

I agree with those who suggest we should use both Digital and DEC.  A new logo
of the form

	D igital
	E quipment
	C orporation

would cover it.

I think it's more important to get our products into retail stores and our ads
in mass consumer media.  Until that happens, the discussion of "Digital" vs.
"DEC" is meaningless.

Paul

Focussing on issues like "changing our name" is symptomatic
of what's wrong with DEC.   The disease is one of words over
deeds, sloganeering over innovation, vapourware over software.

    DEC.
    
    Having several names simply dilutes the message / marketing effort.
    And the fact that "Digital" is an adjective, and gets used all over the
    place, just dilutes it even more.
    
    Another true recent conversation with a former colleague from the 1970s;
    "You work for 'Digital' now?  No, never heard of it. 'DEC'?  No, sorry. 
    My company has just bought a superb new computer, from a company called
    VAX."
    
    I'd vote for "DEC" for the company name and all the products too.
    - Like IBM, IBM 3270, IBM PC, IBM 9370.
    - Like HP, HP 9000, HP/UX, HP LaserJet.
    
    When with customers I often say "Digital Equipment Co. - DEC", to make
    the link.  Most existing customers call us DEC.
    
    WHY DO WE HAVE SUCH A PROBLEM WITH NAMES?
    -Nig.

    
    I was at a function (non computer related) this past weekend and a IS
    manager of a large customer of ours where there.  We were speaking and
    I told him I worked for Digital.  His response was, "So you work for
    DEC, eh?  What's going on over there anyway?">
    
    
    Mike

    
    re .5 ARA.
    
    You missed the best part.  The name ARA was circulated for review
    before it was chosen.  It was discussed during a group meeting in my
    group - International Systems Engineering.  We decided that it bent our
    own corporate rules about product names:  Avoid acronyms, where there
    is a risk that they could be meaningful words in other languages.
    
    Our review comments went off about 2 weeks before the official
    announcement that ARA had been selected.  We got a memo back saying
    that some external company had tested the name internationally
    and found no problems with it. 
    
    A few days later, someone from Israel pointed out that `ARA' pronounced
    a certain way sounded like "sh*t" in Arabic (Hara or chara).  it was
    dumped a day later. I have no idea if these two events were related.
       
    But what do DEC, er Digital,  employees know about naming anything?
    
    Colin
    
    
    

    DEC is the name most recognize. 'Digital' is mostly an adjective;
    
    A long time ago a company named TRW started a name recognition
    campaign. Nobody knew what exactly they sold, but many knew the
    name. Later, TRW started adding value to their commercials and ads by
    describing their products;
    
    We should stick with the name (already known) and concentrate on 
    associating *products* with that name - not *confusion*.
    
    /Bob

    
    
    ALPHA should have bee ART (Advanced Risc Technology).  Thing of the
    advertising potential with ART. 
    
    
    Mike

    Is it true that DEC did not succeed in getting a patent for "Digital"? 
    In other words, it was also the government's opinion that "Digital" was
    more a descriptive term than a trademark?
    
    People I have spoken with regarding the corporate identity issue have
    all said they prefer (and relate our company more to) "DEC".
    
    But we seem to prefer convoluted names for many things, including many
    of our product names.  I wonder if 3M is going to hire a consultant to
    see if they should change their name to "Minnesota Mining and
    Manufacturing".  Does that conjure up images of 'Post-Its'?

    
    
    customers ALWAYS (in my experience in phone support) refer to us as
    DEC.
    
    Maybe they get it off of all that equipment they pay for...
    like
    DECservers, DECstations, DECnis, DECathena, DEChub, DECnet,...........
    
    I agree with .15.  The name change game is just another misguided
    effort, right up there with REstructuring. Reminds me alot of the 
    constant office moving that goes on.  
    Lets put our money and our efforts into the REAL issues.
    
    VISIBILITY in the marketplace under ANY name would be nice.
    The $$ spent on paying someone to figure out what name we should call
    ourselves, would make for a couple of really nice commercials during
    prime time tv!
    (I can picture this Cheetah running across the plains, then an antelope
    at full pace, an olympic athlete running the mile, then an ALPHA, just
    sitting there....the caption would read something like "The Alpha (and
    some of the other fastest things on the planet)" (or something like
    that!!!!!)

Unfortunately we've been using this 'digital' logo for thirty years and we stuck
it on everything we made. Where I sit, I can see 'digital' on the bottom left
corner of my terminal, it's on the anti glare screen, on my badge, on the spines 
of the books on my shelf, it's even on the glass doors as I walk in to work (in
burgandy I may add). We then thought we'd be IBM and abbreviated our name to DEC.
In hindsight, this was a bad move. Yes I agree it's snappy, but now it's just 
confusing this companies image.
We can all argue until we're blue in the face about what we are called, but when 
I think of a company I see the logo. IBM made up from lines, Coca Cola with the
joined up writing, sun (who have got the best logo in the indusry imho) made up 
from u's. Every company has a logo/font/colour etc. We've been using one for the
last thirty years so we might as well stick with it. 

That's my tuppence worth on this subject.

:-)

Callum 

    Anyone for 4C
    Confused and Callous Computer Corporation

             
    
    .24 hit the nail on the head.  Our logo has been "digital" for 30
    years and our "nickname" has been "DEC".  My suspicion is that some
    lawyer and his marketing/advertising buddy saw this and convinced our
    management there was something wrong.  Consequently, we dropped a
    bundle studying what was simply a small anomaly.
    
    What makes me sick is that huge sums of money get paid to slime that 
    does "consulting" on topics like this.  Had we spend the money
    elsewhere...
    
    
    grrr!!
    
    -Ed
    
    

    
    DEC would work great IF...

    We drop the old block digital logo and design a new DEC logo.

    Paul

    
    
    
    	It will ALWAYS be ***DEC*** to me!!!!!!!!

    
    ok, i can't hold myself any more, i must say the obvious.

    the name "DEC" for me is very similar in sound to a part
    of anatomy of the male body, and because of this, many time
    when i say "DEC" instead of "digital", people look funny at
    me because the way i pronounce it they think iam pervert or something
    which offcourse I AM NOT !!, and iam sure many others whose mother 
    tongue is not English might have faced the same problem, may be with
    practice i'll get it right, but one mistake will ruin the whole thing.
                                                         
    this is why i never say "DEC" any more, if some one asks me where
    i work, i tell them "digital", i dont want to get in a fight with
    someone because they think i swear at them or something.

    this is very sensitive issue i know, but i can't believe know
    one see the similarity between the name "DEC" and the part iam talking
    about. this is serious stuff, i am not kidding, when i was in the UK
    a friend of mine whose mother language was not English went to a
    shop and suddenly he was in a fight with the owner, and only because
    of my friend said "cook" to the shop owner, but the way he said it, the
    owner though my friend was swearing at him. my friend always asked
    for "pepsi" from then on.

    so, we must be careful in choosing a name, such that it is clear not
    to be mixed up when pronounced with something else.

    \nasser 

    
    re: .29
    
    any chance you dress like Michael Jackson?

    
    Nasser, 
    
    I have a few friends who are named Dick, they are fine human beings.  
    When I here this word, I think of a man's name and not some silly slang 
    term for a part of a male's anatomy.
    
    
    
    Mike

        .31

    \mikey, may be because you grew up here, but i find it hard to call
    people whose name is "dick" also, because i might , with my accent, 
    make a mistake and make their name sound like, you know, the other
    thing, so i call them "bob" or "boby" or "dude" or something.

    >I have a few friends who are named Dick, they are fine human beings.

    iam sure they ARE !!

    i never said anything about that !, iam sure you dick friends are an
    outstanding and up right (pardon the puns) citizens !

     i just said that many of us whose mothers tongues are not English 
    might make mistake saying name that are so close in sound to names in 
    the human anatomy, which could lead to embarrassing situations, especially 
    in international trade and meetings and conferences and international 
    marketing and communications related system and the like.

    why make it hard on others to call the name of our company?

    make the name such that it is not close in sound to the name of the
    thing we are talking about.

    there are doodles of names out there that are not close to this thing
    in sound, can't we just pick one of them and make life easy on us
    who are not blessed with mother tongues of English language?

    this is the say of internationalism, we must open up to international
    affairs and look beyond our borders for mutual trust, trade,
    communications and global understanding.

    \nasser

    Although english is my first and basically only language, I'd be hard
    pressed to make "DEC" sound like "penis".
    
    :-)
    
    Marv
    

Intersting that Wang did not change their name, even after bankruptcy.

Paul

    It's swimming against the tide in this note but I don't like DEC at all
    and I think the name Digital (and DEC) has a negative image associated
    with a declining style of computing.  I think we need a completely new
    name - like the "Doriot" terminals.  I don't have a name in mind but
    would like one that implies flexibility, openness and state of the art.
    
    If I think of anything I'll post it. 

    During the FY94 Sales & Marketing Kickoff meeting in July, this whole
    area was discussed quite intelligently by a lady (this is all from
    memory) I think named Carol Shippen.  She discussed the study that was
    made and how for example when people were asked about DEC and Digital,
    an astounding number thought them to be two different organizations. 
    She discussed the branding campaign and how important it is to have a
    lasting brand image.
    
    Find a videotape of that meeting and you will be educated on why the
    change.

re: .24 PAKORA::CMACDONALD

> from u's. Every company has a logo/font/colour etc. We've been using one 
> for the last thirty years so we might as well stick with it. 

Great thinking!

No matter what happens, never ever change.  Because the name has been that
way for thirty years, stick with it, no matter what!

Never change.  Just keep doing everything the same way, over and over.

Right to the end.

regs

    Re: .38
    I think the spirit of the reply .24 regarding not changing the name
    or logo was not to ever change at all, but to understand the trade-offs 
    involved in any change.  Digital doesn't seem to do a very good job of
    understanding these trade-offs or consequences before a "command
    decision" is made.  This is the new Digital "decision on demand" style.
    Prescience is either omitted from the list of goals, or factors very
    low into the decision equation.
    
     

    I don't much care for either DEC or digital, but the only way we could
    change it to something else would be to something modern sounding and
    space age-y.
    
    The example I am thinking of is when Standard Oil of New Jersey decided
    they wanted to differentiate themselves from all the other "Standard
    Oil of ________" companies and instituted a highly-publicized
    name-hunt.  After months of FREE publicity, they chose a
    computer-generated name: Exxon.
    
    Now I am not suggesting we change to something like Kevlar or Velcro,
    but that is the type of "invented" name we would need.
    
    The alternative is to re-brand DEC.  It appears that not much can come
    of trying to copyright the word "Digital", but nobody uses DEC.  I've
    heard the reasons not to use DEC, and actually I pretty much agree with
    them:
    
    -- It sounds too much like "dreck", which means excrement
    -- It sounds too much like "shack", as in Radio Shack(tm), a term which
    is felt to imply cheap or home-made from kits.
    -- It sounds stolid, stodgy, and un-imaginative
    -- Naming all our products "DECthis" and "DECthat" has made the term
    DEC sound pretty myopic, self-absorbed, egotistic, and arrogant
    -- It sounds too much like "deck", as in something to walk on,
    something that's underfoot, something that's low or down, something
    that's very basic and can be taken for granted
    -- It sounds harsh, clipped, and abrupt -- almost impolite
    
    On the other hand, here are its strengths:
    -- Strong...all caps, not like the wimpy "digital"
    -- Honest.  It is what it is.
    -- Simple.  Not "The DEC company", just "DEC".
    -- Focused.  "Digital Equipment Corporation" is not only mis-leading in
    today's world of software, services, and solutions, but the phrase just
    takes too long to say -- it makes you sort of self-conscious.
    -- Meaningless.  This is its strongest point!  "Exxon" was meaningless,
    too.  It was an empty vessel, and you could pour into it any message
    you wanted.  
    
    This last point means that we could get many of the benefits of an
    invented name.  And for you penny-pinchers out there:  no, it would NOT
    be free!  It would take many millions of dollars in advertising to do
    this right.
    
    We would need a series of ad campaigns that would counter-act the
    existing negatives to the name.  "DEC" would need to be re-shaped, not
    only in television ads, but in our own hearts and minds.  WE the DEC
    would have to start thinking of the word "DEC" differently -- it means
    different things to each of us, but it is an "aw-shucks" term of
    self-reference that sub-consciously puts ourselves down.
    
    The new ads would play to the "DEC" word qualities of strengths of 
    Strength, Simplicity, and Honesty.  The ads would take advantage of the
    "meaninglessness" of the word to counter-act the negatives with these
    messages:
    -- Uplifting, visionary
    -- Smooth, elegant
    -- Helpful, friendly, cheerful
    -- Smart, bright
    -- Quality, classy, in style
    
    Can you think of images that reinforce those qualities?  Perhaps
    someone like Kevin Costner as a spokesman, Flipper as a mascot, shots
    of "Old Faithful", airplanes doing loops over the Grand Canyon,
    children running up a hill, a modern ocean liner cutting across the
    ocean, men in tuxedos escorting ladies up a wide staircase to where an
    orchestra plays, a woman reaching the top of a mountain with sunny
    vistas below her...
    
    The logo?  I like the white-on-burgandy and would like to keep it.  How
    about a white "DEC" on a burgandy background?  The background symbol
    could be interesting -- maybe the diamond-shaped flow-chart symbol for
    a decision point, with one arrow coming out the side corner?  Or
    maybe a cloud (you know, the network cloud)?  Or maybe the swirly
    symbol for a hurricane? 
             

    Re .-1
    
    Not to forget (or is that "imagine") we'd have to undo all the "impact"
    that the current attempts to brand "digital" have none. That shouldn't
    be difficult though given that I think the current branding campaign is
    totally ineffective.
    
    Dave

Re: .-1,
Well, for starters, there would be some bushes to re-plant...

    What I want to know is, is it all right to call Nasser a dec-head?
    

    
    I am _NOT_ a DEC-HEAD !!!

    \nasser
    

    re .44
    
    That should've been DEChead ;)
    
    No wonder we did away the DECwand.

    DEC is only one letter different from NEC. More confusion or no?

    	I'd say that most of you aren't playing with a full DEC. Hey, a new
    slogan is born:
    
    Digital: We're not playing with a full DEC anymore!

    
    > Digital: We're not playing with a full DEC anymore!
    
    Love it!!!!

	"If your computer doesn't have 36 bits, you're not playing with a
full DEC"

	<DECSYSTEM-20 continued...>

    re DEChead
    
    actually, in the EINF about the Grateful Dead, noters there have been
    referring to themselves as DECheads for years!  complete with t-shirts
    and everything...  a deadhead who works at DEC?  there are worse things
    to be...  :^)
    
    					da ve_the_DEChead

    re:  .46
    
    I think NEC calls themselves "N - E - C", not "neck", so I don't think
    there would be any confusion.

    
    Count me with .36 - a completely new name would be best.
    When you are losing, change tactics.  DO NOT become conservative.
    Conservatism is for the winners, and for several years, that hasn't
    been us.  Besides which, DEC and Digital are lousy names, period.
    Particularly bad is the 'Equipment' noun, which is even worse
    than the preceding generic adjective.  The 'computerish' names
    are good, unlike any word.  How about, AXP Corporation, for example ?
    
    bb
    

    Our name is not important.  If we have what customers want, then
    they will buy it.  
    
    As an example:  when Cabbage Patch Dolls were all the rage, nobody
    cared what the company that sold them (Coleco) was officially called.
    Coleco, by the way, is short for the Connecticut Leather Company.
    

    re .37: I have heard that "two company" thing before.  It could be that
    the result was CAUSED by this decision to force the use of the name
    "Digital" rather than "DEC".  
    
    Of course when you ask a body of consumers about two names that aren't
    exactly household words, I would certainly expect to get some
    confusion.  Particularly since neither of our names has ever been
    _effectively_ marketed to the Great Unwashed Consumer as a reliable,
    efficient, dependable provider of computing solutions.  
    
    What is really dumb about this is that the momentum was on the side of
    the "DEC" name, and not the "Digital" name.  Note that very few of our
    products have the name "Digital" as part of their trademarks.  Note
    that many of our products have the name "DEC" in them.  Note that the
    vast majority of our customers know us as DEC.  Note that one name is
    an adjective, one name is a TLA.
    
    It sounds like the videotape and discussion by the person you mentioned
    was more of an justification for the decision, rather than a convincing
    argument that the decision was the correct one.                       
    
    It was a bad decision to use Digital.  

    re .49: I've still got my "Reed Powell Special" orange T-shirt... and I
    still have an account on GIDNEY, one of the last 2060s in the company.

Last night on WEEI during the Celtic's disaster there was a commercial for
'DIGITAL PRINTERS" at Lechmere. I was driving and was not able to record it
but there were several references to the DIGITAL line of printers and at least
one reference to a specific model a 'DEC' something. 

It is not going to be easy to "change the way the world thinks"!

    The names of the printers we sell at Lechmere (which is a large
    appliance store chain in the Northeast) include the already established
    trademarks of DEClaser, DECwriter, and DECmultiJET. Those are indeed
    part of the Digital line of printers. No one has told us to change from
    using those yet.

    or how about DECsystems, DECstations, DECconcentrator,
    DECbridges,etc...
    
    Moe

   re:
     <<< Note 2790.3 by STAR::ABBASI "only 21 days to go and counting..." >>>
                            -< i agree with last 2 >-
>  "a rose but by any other name will still smell oh soo sweat"
    							 ^^^^^
    
    
    maybe is *does* smell a bit?
    
    

    
    From Newsweek, 29-Nov-1993, page 56, "The Hyperactive Highway", end of
    article:
    
      "...Such worries stayed hidden at Comdex, of course. The Digital
    Generation partied..."
    

    Maybe we'd better be careful what we wish for.....DECthis, DECthat or
    DECwhatever.  The latest trend seems to be adding/re-naming software
    to the POLYcenter portfolio of products.
    
    

:-)
Being meant to be a focus for supporting POLYcenter (yik, 'merican spelling time!)
system management tools people asked me a couple of times what it is... 

I find anything we do that isn't purely hardware or an operating system 
fits the bill quite well.


Jo
Aviary_employee. 

    
    From Boston Globe, Sunday, 28-Nov-1993, add in Business sction for
    Computers Etc. of Peabody MA:
    
     	"DEC Laser Printer for MAC and/or IBM..."
    

On Saturday I sold a snowblower that I had advertised in the local Want-Ad 
Digest to some guy who just moved to the area from Long Island.  In talking 
about our employers, I said that I worked for Digital Equipment.  He said: 
"Oh, you mean DEC!"

Not the first time this has happened to me.  I once spent 8 months working on 
a project where the customer referred to us as the "DEC guys".

Al

    So correct me if I'm wrong, but since we have been using "DEC" to brand
    our equipment (DECxxxxx) for years and years, the move to "Digital"
    actually WAS a name change, at least as far as marketing our products is
    concerned, no?

    The problem with "DEC" was the lack of a "DEC" logo, and the failure to
    give that logo high visibility through aggressive advertisement.

    Paul

Yes, we've been using DECxxxx for our product names.  Computer Associates uses
CA-xxxx, Borland uses Turbo xxxx, Raxco uses Rabbit xxxx, General Motors uses
Chevrolet, Pontiac, and a few others, and there are many other examples. 
Product names do not have to match the company name, folks.

						Brian

	...and for an even more obvious example, take a look at MacDonald's.

	Roy

    I believe the undisputable fact remains that we, Digital, have not done
    a good enough marketing job so that either:
    
        1. Our corporate name/logo is instantly recognizable.
        2. Our products are not instantly recognizable.
    
    Whatever we choose tosay, the fact is that our marketing to this point
    has FAILED!!!  What we need to do from this point on is to resolve that
    1 & 2 above are accomplished if we are to survive in the competitive
    marketplace today.
    
    My brother-in-law works for a large commercial customer in Richmond, VA
    and he services their pc's in-house.  He knows his stuff, since his
    services are constantly being contracted out.  In August, while in
    Richmond for a visit, he was raving about the Pentium.  I mentioned
    that we now have an Alpha AXP PC that blows away the Pentium.  He never
    heard of Alpha, thought that Tandy was still manufacturing our pc's for
    us.
    
    If someone in the business doesn't know about Alpha AXP, how we expect
    a groundswell of consumer activity IF WE DON'T MARKET OUR PRODUCTS
    PROPERLY?!???!

We're getting more press in Byte magazine now (for the Alpha PC's), but they
consistently refer to them as "DEC Alpha"s.

Due to the magazine's lead time, they are still reviewing pre-release NT
software on Alpha AXP, but we're getting good, but not raving, reviews.
Now, if we'd just have some ads like Pentium and Power PC have, our name
recognition should go up.

Also, the experience in our group with a Jensen is that software written for
Intel does not show what the Alpha can do; you need native software for that.
(So when can we get Microsoft Word, Powerpoint, etc. for Alpha?)

    a name change won't do it. 
    a snappy logo won't do it. 
    
    it all comes down to money.  I noticed recently that the CBS evening
    news did a story on Intel and Dan Rather was holding a CPU board in his
    hands with that familiar logo stamped on the chip.  Intel spends big
    bucks advertising their product.  I'm sure that they provided the "news
    story" to the network and let nature take it's course...
    
    Mark

    
    
     How about digiDEC, or DECital or analog..;-}
    
    

    
    When I am asked who I work for, I always say "Digital Equipment".
    
    I think we should standardize on the d|i|g|i|t|a|l logo, recognize that
    our customers will always call us DEC, and emphasize that too.
    
    Who says you can only have one logo anyway?
    
    .mike.

re: .73

>    I think we should standardize on the d|i|g|i|t|a|l logo, recognize that
>    our customers will always call us DEC, and emphasize that too.

This brings up an interesting point.  We know our existing customers call us
'DEC'.  What do our potential customers call us?

Bob

    re. -1 Infrequently