Post AVQbyYdkWqPI4yJRC4 by lauren@mastodon.laurenweinstein.org
(DIR) More posts by lauren@mastodon.laurenweinstein.org
(DIR) Post #AVQbJeuOJms7eCav32 by lauren@mastodon.laurenweinstein.org
2023-05-08T00:18:10Z
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Many years ago, I watched the relatively rapid disintegration of Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), an important and massive firm that I admired greatly -- that even ran a private helicopter between its Mass/NH facilities (I rode it several times, it had its own gate at Logan!). Back then, it seemed impossible, unimaginable that they'd become just a memory due to technical and business decisions that proved to be out of step with the time in various ways.I seriously and fervently hope that #Google doesn't end up the same way.
(DIR) Post #AVQbZ6SWAVnpRAvBbc by jbqueru@fosstodon.org
2023-05-08T00:20:53Z
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@lauren When I moved to the US, my housemate was working at DEC, on AltaVista. That was around the time of the Compaq purchase and the matching downhill spiral.
(DIR) Post #AVQblpNqxtsiFBo6NM by escarpment@mastodon.online
2023-05-08T00:23:15Z
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@lauren I'm sure Google at some point will be Yahoo. The only constant is change. That's why you never invest in individual stocks (except maybe with a very small "toy amount" if you find that enjoyable). Employees of Google should also watch carefully for when to jump ship, though may make sense to just ride it out as long as possible.
(DIR) Post #AVQbyYdkWqPI4yJRC4 by lauren@mastodon.laurenweinstein.org
2023-05-08T00:25:35Z
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@escarpment Frankly, I'm told that the morale there right now is mostly pretty awful. This makes me sad.
(DIR) Post #AVQdN2B6SVV0as9GyW by Doug_Bostrom@scicomm.xyz
2023-05-08T00:41:10Z
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@lauren There will be ashes and from those possibly some sprouts.About the time DEC shuffled its mortal coil I was with a startup with big ideas and less money, in the geographic footprint of DEC's physical operations. Some hours spent at various liquidation outfits yielded key equipment to take us forward.But the scene when dealing with DEC subcontractors for bits needing to be fabbed was extremely sad. Wide ripples of hard times.
(DIR) Post #AVQdP08r06BqrE2CPI by PJ_Evans@mastodon.social
2023-05-08T00:41:23Z
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@lauren If they'd pushed LSI-11 and Microvaxes as personal/home computers, with reasonable prices, they'd still be around.
(DIR) Post #AVQdQnxNH9YXe3Wc40 by lauren@mastodon.laurenweinstein.org
2023-05-08T00:41:40Z
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@PJ_Evans Perhaps.
(DIR) Post #AVQg4m8BgMfHTUlnJQ by bobwyman@mastodon.social
2023-05-08T01:11:28Z
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@lauren We had more than just a helicopter service, it was a whole airline -- complete with its own dedicated gates at Logan Airport.The DEC I joined in 1979 was very different from the Company I left in 1991. The once-powerful culture changed and was weakened drastically when the "Strecker Task Force (STF)" began to set policy internally. Prior to the STF, most product strategy grew organically. But the STF disempowered the product managers and centralized strategy making. The culture died...
(DIR) Post #AVQgKirNbzrnxlVpvE by lauren@mastodon.laurenweinstein.org
2023-05-08T01:14:25Z
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@bobwyman I can vividly recall a d i g i t a l gate at Logan. Like it was yesterday.
(DIR) Post #AVQgevMsogz0Y1sfqa by lauren@mastodon.laurenweinstein.org
2023-05-08T01:18:04Z
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@bobwyman I find it difficult now to imagine that a facility like the Mill ever actually existed. It's almost like I dreamed it.
(DIR) Post #AVQh5WFoIY8GTcFoGG by BoredomFestival@sfba.social
2023-05-08T01:22:49Z
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@lauren SGI and Sun probably felt similarly invincible, but Google's current Mountain View campus includes buildings from both of those companies. "Crafted from the bones of a dead god..."
(DIR) Post #AVQhNdlB87UUy6ZDZA by lauren@mastodon.laurenweinstein.org
2023-05-08T01:26:08Z
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@BoredomFestival It's amusing how many times I've been asked why Google's "HQ" building at MTV was numbered 43, rather than 1. So I'd explain a bit of history ...
(DIR) Post #AVQhYxqQnOoCRgQKDQ by bobwyman@mastodon.social
2023-05-08T01:21:45Z
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@lauren Too much attention is focused on DEC's hardware products. I was the Product Manager for DEC's ALL-IN-1, created by a small team in Software Services and based on what we'd learned consulting for customers. ALL-IN-1 became the leading office automation product of the 1980's. It was used by most of the Fortune 500 and killed Wang. We were responsible for about 25% of DEC's business. But, there were many very bloody battles with those who resisted the idea that software could be the future.
(DIR) Post #AVQhYyT4TjiWNWVBRY by lauren@mastodon.laurenweinstein.org
2023-05-08T01:28:11Z
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@bobwyman I don't even want to get started on the UNIX wars. But I do remember the day APS got up at a Usenix and announced a "DEC UNIX license" and held up one of those "Live free or die" UNIX license plates.
(DIR) Post #AVQiiBcH3vOViZlNFA by bobwyman@mastodon.social
2023-05-08T01:40:58Z
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@lauren Ultrix (our "Unix") sapped vast amounts of energy and capability from the company. At one point, a very large number of our software engineers were working on porting their code from VMS to Ultrix. The result was a virtual halt in all new products or enhancements since everyone was porting, rather than trying to figure out how to better serve customer needs. After a year or two of mindless porting, many once creative engineers lost the spark that had previously driven their work.
(DIR) Post #AVQjCb7enNX1VlwYMa by bobwyman@mastodon.social
2023-05-08T01:46:30Z
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@lauren See the Computer Museum: https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102746918I believe that Jean Wood had the real plate on her car at one point. (I may be wrong.)
(DIR) Post #AVQjltK37XW25oZLRw by lauren@mastodon.laurenweinstein.org
2023-05-08T01:52:55Z
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@bobwyman That one came later though, when the name was coined. The original ones (and I have one somewhere) just said UNIX. And if memory serves, because I'm pretty sure I saw it, Jean had a HACKER plate at one time. Hope I'm not confused about this.
(DIR) Post #AVcL6H58oLT7BN1jbE by HoffmanLabs@infosec.exchange
2023-05-13T16:12:46Z
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@lauren Worked for DEC in the Maynard Mill for a while, and then in Nashua, and then through the acquisitions.DEC was a fun ride, into the early 1990s. Lots of cool tech. Alpha, networking, clustering, DECtalk and DECvoice, etc.But the markets DEC was selling into either shifted or entirely faded away, and DEC didn’t adapt.Lower-cost product fabrication was difficult or unobtainable with the longstanding production approaches DEC used, too. Commoditization and consolidation hit hard, both hardware and software.(The fully-amortized cost of production for various DEC chips was prodigious. Competitive semiconductor chip production is not cheap.)That the core of Microsoft Windows NT was DEC MICA undoubtedly stung some in DEC management.http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/prism/mica/DEC sales channels had their own messes. Direct sales versus channel partners versus sales reps is not an easy balance to create and maintain.There were other issues.Pushing OSI when IP had won, for instance.DEC had great people creating innovative products. But markets can and will shift.Should Google implode, IT will continue on.#DigitalEquipmentCorporation #Alpha #history #it
(DIR) Post #AVcTqBmPehQRgzfhcO by lauren@mastodon.laurenweinstein.org
2023-05-13T17:50:50Z
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@HoffmanLabs @jfmezei As I recall, there was an 11/70 backplane jumper that bumped up the speed.