Conference 7.286::digital

    
    Someones hoping that one or another of these stories
    catches the market on fire.
    
    Whoever is starting these obviously holds quite a bit 
    of stock.
    
    

    >Whoever is starting these obviously holds quite a bit 
    >of stock.
    
    	Ken, maybe?
    

    
    
    I received a mail in Albuquerque that someone heard on CNN that
    Ken was resigning in November, is this just another rumor?
    
    

    I heard the same rumor - that CNN reported that K.O. announced his
    pending retirement, and that Mitsibushi (sp?) was interested in buying
    most of DEC.
    
    Neither I or the person I spoke to actually saw the CNn report.
    
    Based on the very low amount of noted activity since then, I suspect
    yhis is justa rumor. (As a 16-year employee, I hope it is a rumor only)
    
    GT

    
    I just tried to look KO up on ELF and he wasn't listed anymore?
    
    

    Well, this *IS* interesting.  I've just checked ELF (via the SWAELF
    server), and sure enough, KO isn't there (either as OLSEN or OLSON). 
    Listing the entire "OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT" organization doesn't show
    him either.  I'd suspect the database was corrupt, but Win Hindle and
    Osterhoff and Ann Jenkins *do* show up.  It certainly could be
    interpreted that something is up.

    KO hasn't been in ELF for several years.  I believe they're protecting
    his privacy by limiting access.  Makes sense to me.
    
    Dick

	Re.. KO on ELF

	KO was on elf recently, can't say how recently but I believe
	it was within the last 6 months.

	If you do a lookup now by badge, and use badge 000001, you
	get Laurie Brown from Brussels Belgium..  I wonder if they
	are trying to merge all badge numbers from around the world,
	and get an overlap ??

	Charlie

Haw haw haw! ELF: the definitive word in Corporate affairs. You guys
crack me up!

    Each of us have our own gages...some rely on rumors, others go about
    determining the best metrics to gages corporate climates..I for one
    select the tools which are available to me, listen/read external
    information sources, list/read internal information sources, do a few
    calculations, and come up with what I consider to be a most realistic
    result....
    
    If you feel/believe ELF is not one of your tools of choice, please
    share with us your barometer (corporamter, whatever gadget you use).

Folks,

A few days ago I received the mail message that probably started this
latest Mitsubishi/KO Leaving rumor.  IT HAD BEEN FORWARED 22 TIMES
before it reached me.  THe message was obviously a joke.

I've hard many people claiming in various Notes files that they heard
from someone else that CNN claimed KO is leaving.  I HAVE NOT HEARD
ANYONE CLAIM THAT HE/SHE HEARD CNN SAID KO WAS LEAVING.

Yes, I talked to a friend in the networks group which supports elf and this
person said elf got corrupted.  badge 1 ended up with the young lady in
europe.  Notice, this person will not be named becuase a) I don't want the
remaining 110K employees calling this person, b) I feel sorry for this person
having to own up to elf :-)

gog

Well I'll tell you what barometer I use to determine the state of affairs
here! When it happens I believe it.... Otherwise, its just a rumor!
Who amoung us is about to go out and make career or personal decisions
based upon the "K.O. Is leaving & DEC is being boughtout by MITSUBISHI"
rumors? and why? Those are rhetorical questions folks...

re: 12

Right it's pretty ridiculous.  I went home Friday and listened to 
local (Boston) news, national news, NBR... Nothing on tv, nothing in the
papers.  Nothing.  If this rumor is true, they're doing a GREAT job of keeping 
it secret!!   PERHAPS CNN "mentioned" the rumor and all of a sudden it's FACT
on the Digital network.   

This reminds me of tea leaf readings, fortune cookies etc.  If you are fuzzy
enough, SOMETHING will happen that will be close enough to your prediction.  
I mean, one day Ken Olsen WILL retire and the rumor will be true.  

It's unfortunate that people are so nervous these days.

			Bob 

re: -.1
>  I guess we have to wait until October 6th
No, we'll have to wait until the 7th.   
Since it's all going to go down on a Sunday! 

-Paul

    AS FOR ELF...
    
    A friend of mine was given the package on July 8, she is still listed
    in ELF!
    
    Don't even get me started on this one, we should be ashamed to admit
    that we have such a "system"...
    
    (yeah, I know, it really is personnel that goofed on my friend's entry,
    but let's not go down that rathole!)                           

I received a mail message this afternoon which appeared to be an official
denial of not only the rumors but that ANYTHING had ever appeared on CNN
about them.  (I'd reproduce it here but I haven't obtained permission
to do so.)

What I find fascinating is that we seem to have started our own "corporate
urban legend".  People say "someone" (or, as folklorist Jan Harold Brunvand
would put it, a FOAF: Friend of a Friend) heard this report on CNN.  NOBODY
has come forward to say "Yes, I saw it on CNN".  It's all second and third
hand.  Who started this rumor?

Brunvand in his books on urban legends documents the very stubborn one
that had the president of Procter and Gamble supposedly appearing on the
"Donahue" talk show and stating that the company gave 10% of its profits
to Satanists.  Everyone who spreads this is so sure that it's true, because
it was on TV, but nobody can be found who actually saw the show.  Of course,
it never happened.

Why are people so gullible?  Or is it perhaps that so many idiotic things
ARE happening here that what's one (or two) more?

					Steve

	K.O.'s back on ELF

	Fact/fiction/rumor/coincidence/oops...??

K.O. is probably back on ELF because the people who tried to find him couldn't
spell "Olsen" on the first try.

I'm sure we can all breath a lot easier. Ken is on ELF, and all is well in the
world. %-}

Bruce

	From LIVEWIRE

  A rumor circulated throughout the company last week that CNN and CNBC had 
  carried a story speculating that Digital is about to be, or has been, 
  purchased by Mitsubishi or General Electric.  There was also speculation that 
  Ken Olsen has retired or resigned.  As far as we can ascertain, no such 
  stories were broadcast on CNN or CNBC.

Fascinating...They take the time to post into LiveWire, but do not actually
deny the rumors.

The only thing I see being denied is that they were broadcast on CNN or CNBC...

Barb

    
    I can't help but think that Eichhorn, Grainger etc.  might have known 
    something.  The timing for this rumor is impeccable.
    
    -Ed
    

At some point, Isn't Sunday October 6th in Boston, Monday October 7th in
Tokyo ...

re: .18

Steve, in troubled (if not exactly apocalyptic) times, everyone starts
looking for the appearance of a savior.  Maybe a Japanese megacorporation
fits the bill in many people's eyes.  What's interesting is the Six Sigma
guys say that it's a cultural characteristic of ours but not of Japanese
culture: we look for the guru/savior/white knight (whether it's a young
Olsen or Wozniak or Tom West or Gates or whoever) to ride up and deliver
a miracle to get us going when we falter, whereas the Japanese believe in
everyone just pitching in and slowly but steadily improving things in a
thousand small ways.
								paul

    Just thought I'd come in and say "hello" since I'm famous...
    
    Laurie in Brussels.

	Hi Laurie, you may not be as famous as you think......

	.13 has you confused with "A young lady in Europe"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

	Heather

    RE: .20  by CUPMK::SLOANE "Communication is the key" 
    
    I think you missed something, Bruce.  The person who tried this said
    they used both "olsen" and "olson".  I even entered "office of the
    president" in the organization field and got everybody, BUT Ken. As for
    the "young lady in Europe", when I went into ELF this morning and
    entered "1" in the badge number field, this is what I got:
    
    
    
Common Name:   KEN OLSEN
Search Surname:  OLSEN  Search Given Name:  KEN,  KENNETH,  KENNETH H
DTN:  223-2301  Intrnl Mail Addr:  MLO12-1/A50  Location:  MLO
Org Unit:  OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT

    MAN-O-MAN I can't believe the tenacity of this rumor!
    
    It keeps belching up like heartburn.
    
    Despite a Corporate (something of a) denial on VTX, I just got 
    another saying "It's true! It's real!" and that it will be
    in the papers and on the news tonight.  If it ain't, I guess
    that will squash it for me.
    
    As for the denial,  these are the same people that said all
    the VP's leaving at the same time was just a *coincidence*.
    
    Gimme-a-break!  Don't insult people's intelligence.
    
    Mark
    

    re .20, .28 and the rest re elf
    
    The record was over-written, when reported to the proper channels,
    it got fixed.

	If there's anything to all these rumors, it probably
	won't be widely discussed until some certain date.

	I recall the recent DVN broadcast with KO and the 2
	VPs.  VP Hughes said something to the effect of:

	"We won't be able to answer any questions about the 
	state of the corporation, as we're at the end of a quarter,
	a time when corporate officers have a "quiet period."

	So, even if there's fire behind this smoke, the news'll
	be held close until this magic date passes.

	Steve H

    
    I'm hearing the same thing from three different people out here. One in
    Landover, another at Dec Direct and locally.
    
    Time will tell I guess.
    
    Dave
    
    
    

    One of the things that networks have changed.
    
    It used to be that you could validate a rumor by the number of folks
    who mentioned it, presumably independently.  Today, you have to assume
    that everyone in the company is linked either electronically or
    indirectly to HUMANE::DIGITAL.  There is but one grapevine in this
    company and we are it.  When I first read this rumor, I repeated it
    (labeling it as a "humorous" rumor) to about a dozen people within
    twenty minutes.  At that rate, it could be all over the world by now.
    
    Dick

re .27  .13 (me) was just quoting the source...I didn't do any gender checking.

:-))

    Depending on the rumor I often get 2-8 copies of a rumor between
    mail and Notes. In the past the larger the number of copies the
    less likely it is to be true. By this gauge the rumor about KO
    has to be false. As Dick points out in .33 there is one big grapevine
    in the electronic Digital. Tap in in 5 places and you're still
    getting the same information.

    I tend to ignore second hand rumors anymore. If the person I hear
    that KO is leaving from didn't talk to KO themselves I see no real
    good reason to believe it. Official announcements with a real header
    from a person whose job it is to announce things - that I'll probably
    believe. But spare me the "someone I know heard from someone they know
    that someone heard foo on CNN."

    			Alfred

Re .33:

>Today, you have to assume that everyone in the company is linked either
>electronically or indirectly to HUMANE::DIGITAL.  There is but one grapevine in
>this company and we are it.

I wouldn't exaggerate this conference's importance in the grapevine.  At least
some of the rumors seemed rampant in SHR at least as long ago as last Tuesday
(i.e., a week ago today), but this topic didn't appear here until late Friday
afternoon.
				/AHM

    I just heard that somebody saw Ken driving to Maynard in 
    a Mitsubishi pickup this morning.  hee hee  :^)
    
    ....it never ends.
    
    
    Mark
    
    

    .......was it lowered with rims, tint windows all around? :-)
    
    
    

    AND were all the letters except MIT scratched from the tailgate?
    
    
    :^)}

A FoaF (Friend of a Friend) has suggested that DEC watchers tune in to
"Inside Business" this Sunday evening on CNN.

Dunno why, but the word was 'just watch it'.

Lee

    Re: -1
    
    So, what happened?
    
    -Ed_who_doesn't_do_cable
    
    

    re: .41
    
    	read date on .40
    
    	ask question again a week from now...

    
    I was hoping someone was clairvoyant ;-)
    
    -Ed_who's_losing_track_of_time_due_to_stress
    
    

    Please read note #1624...what this person wrote is exactly how I felt
    when I read the last 40+ responses.  
    
    How are we going to be successful in this company is we spend time
    checking to see if Ken is on ELF or not???
    
    As others have said, let's just all try to get back to work, calm 
    down, and help bring back the company to profitability.
                                         

>    How are we going to be successful in this company is we spend time
>    checking to see if Ken is on ELF or not???
    
    Just how long do you think it takes to check if Ken's in ELF?
    
    It took me 9 seconds from DCL prompt to DCL prompt
    (the answer is "he is there").
    
    What next?  Timed bathroom breaks?

>>>    What next?  Timed bathroom breaks?

As I am sure many of you know, in some professions, you have to keep track
of the time you spend even there. 

My wife is an accountant and she has to charge her time in 6 minute
intervals and even keep track of the time she spends in the bathroom.
Usually, it gets charged to general overhead, but, if she is deep in
thought on a particular client at that time, then the client gets charged.

    re: .46
    Does the client get a full accounting of the time spent on his project
    by the 6 minute intervals? Even time spent deep in thought???
    Sorry, I couldn't resist      ;^)))
    Don
    

	Somewhat away from the subject, but anyway...
	This reminds me of my previous employer.

	Someone wanted to save mony (on the electricity bill and...)
	He did put automatic motion detectors with a timer on the
	light switch. The timer was set to 3 minutes!

	So, you enter the bathroom, and the light swiched on, but
	if you where thinking for over 3 minutes, you where left in the dark...

	(workaroud: We used a flashlight...)
	Regards
	Richard.

P.S.: Sorry if my spelling is not correct, English is not my native language.

    re .40
    
    So what happened on "Inside Business" on CNN on Sunday night?  I saw
    part of the show but saw nothing in reference to Digital.  What did I
    miss?  Anybody know?

    
    	Nothing happened on CNN's "Inside Business" last night, unless
    	you're overly interested in the recent AT&T power supply failure 
    	that raised havoc at the NY airports..DEC wasn't even mentioned, 
    	as far as I could see.
    
    	Maybe "FoaF" was a CNN insider trying to boost ratings by having
    	lots more people than usual watch? ;)
    

Quick, is Ken Olsen still in ELF????

		Bob 

Well, to complete this story ....

First there was CNN, then CNBC.  Then today I talk with someone who swears they
heard these rumors this past Monday (9/30) on PBS' MacNeil/Lehrer News Hour.
By my reckoning, that's 3 days AFTER the supposed CNN broadcast.

Last Thursday I was speaking with another co-worker who knows *by name* an
employee who claims to have seen the CNN broadcast.  But I guess that falls
into the FOAF catagory.  I'd contact that person directly (yeah, I have the
name), but with all the complaining of time spent in ELF looking for KO, why
bother.

It doesn't matter anyway.  If KO leaves, he leaves.  I'd like to think he'd
stick around until the company recovers, but someone's already pointed out that
at 65 he's put in more than his share with DEC.

Steve