[Info-vax] Dave Cutler, Prism, DEC, Microsoft, etc.

[Michael Kraemer]

JF Mezei schrieb:
> Michael Kraemer wrote:
> 
>>One can't even say that Palmer-DEC wanted to get rid
>>of it in the early years, only later, when it turned
>>out to be an economic failure. 
> 
> The Hudson FAB wasn't underused because of lack of demand. From what I
> was told, there were plenty of customers wanting DEC to build their
> chips, but Palmer wanted to reserve FAB capacity in case Alpha became
> popular.

Is there any first hand information on this one,
or do we have to rely, once again, to "heard it through the grapevine"?

> But by failing to address pricing, Alpha never became pppular

there are more reasons that Alpha did not succeed
(late market entry, ISVs not interested, development costs).

> and Hudson FAB remain underused for years until it became obsolete at
> which point DEC wanted to get rid of it without losing face. 

I think they lost quite a bit of their face in that deal.
It signalled the end of Alpha. At least for those
who were able to read the signs on the wall.

> Hence the
> Intel deal.