[Info-vax] Happy new Year !

[Bill Gunshannon]

In article <4b493bcf$0$273$14726298 at news.sunsite.dk>,
	Arne Vajhøj <arne at vajhoej.dk> writes:
> On 09-01-2010 18:59, Bill Gunshannon wrote:
>> In article<00c3e815$0$23466$c3e8da3 at news.astraweb.com>,
>> 	JF Mezei<jfmezei.spamnot at vaxination.ca>  writes:
>>> Arne Vajhøj wrote:
>>>> The "VMS on the desktop" dream is not that a few hundred run VMS
>>>> on desktop but that VMS would actually compete in the desktop
>>>> market.
>>>
>>> Digital has the largest number of desktop office automation "seats" back
>>> in the 1980s. The largest corporate email system. Digital had it back
>>> then. It squandered it.
>>
>> Not sure I would buy that.  IBM had PROFS and a lot of places used
>> it.  For example, when I got here while the academics used VMS Mail
>> they also had PROFS and the admin folks were all PROFS.  Then, there
>> was Martin Marietta which was all PROFS.  I'm pretty sure Boeing
>> was a PROFS shop too a that point in time.  I can think of a lot
>> more PROFS shops I had contact with than VMS shops.  And they tended
>> to be larger and have may times as many users.
> 
> Even if DEC was only #2, then they sure had a position back in
> VT220/VT320 and VMS 4.x/5.x days.

No argument there.  They were going toe-to-toe with IBM in those days.
And then both companies went through strong declines, in many ways for
the same reasons, but IBM is doing a good job of coming back.  Where
is DEC?  (No, I am not gloating, as a lover of PDP and VAX systems I
probably miss DEC, as opposed to Compaq or HP, more than most people
here.)

bill

-- 
Bill Gunshannon          |  de-moc-ra-cy (di mok' ra see) n.  Three wolves
billg999 at cs.scranton.edu |  and a sheep voting on what's for dinner.
University of Scranton   |
Scranton, Pennsylvania   |         #include <std.disclaimer.h>