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

[JF Mezei]

Neil Rieck wrote:
> was tantamount to admitting a mistake. "Driving asway Culter was one
> of the dumbest f*ck*ng things Digital ever did", on person said. "But
> we can't say we screwed up because some of the idiots responsible for
> that are still here".


My impression is that people are putting way too much importance on
Cutler, perhaps because they hear about Cutler bragging about himself.

Digital went to NT because  at first it wanted Alpha to become widely
used, and not much later, because it wanted to abandon its own operating
systems to become a Microsoft reseller.

A Cutler-less team managed to build a most excellent Alpha chip
architecture. And it made more sense to port VMS than starting yet
another operating system since VMS has an installed base and still had
an impressive software portfolio.

Considering it took over 10 years before Microsoft had an NT that was
reliable enough, Cutler shouldn't be bragging so much about it.

What Cutler learned at Digital is that corporate life is much like the
TV show "Survivor". It isn't enough to learn to get water and food, you
also need to play the social game to have alliances so that you don't
get voted out. Bragging publically about his accomplishements and his
worth  makes him look more valuable and makes it harder for Microsoft to
lose him. And it also forced Microsoft to listen to his ideas "because
he is important".