[Info-vax] AltaVista background information

[Michael Kraemer]

JF Mezei schrieb:

> 
> I am of the belief that once Olsen realised that vax 9000 was dead, he
> would have adopted Alpha and not wanted it to fail. However, his
> attitude towards high prices may have been what scuttled any possible
> deal with Apple.

That's not a matter of attitude, but simply a necessity
to recoup the costs.
A chip like Alpha, which causes annual costs of several hundred millions
for development and production, but only sells 100000 units per year
(HP website says/said 1M Alphas sold in 14 years) necessarily
has to be priced at several thousand dollars a piece.

> 
> Note that by 1994, the price of Alpha chips had dropped to about $500.
> 

For full blown Alphas or crippled ones like 21068?