[Info-vax] Should VSI create a modern day VMS applications book ?

[Bill Gunshannon]

On 08/23/2018 01:36 PM, Dave Froble wrote:
> On 8/23/2018 7:27 AM, Bill Gunshannon wrote:
>> On 08/22/2018 10:40 PM, Dave Froble wrote:
>>> On 8/22/2018 10:20 PM, Arne Vajhøj wrote:
>>>> On 8/22/2018 12:21 AM, Dave Froble wrote:
>>>>> On 8/21/2018 10:41 PM, Arne Vajhøj wrote:
>>>>>> But the companies that can change make money and those
>>>>>> that are stuck in the old ways goes bankrupt.
>>>>>
>>>>> Ah, citation, please?  That's a rather interesting statement.  Not
>>>>> sure I'm believing it.
>>>>
>>>> Kodak believed in real film not digital images.
>>>
>>> That's not "old ways", that's displaced product.  I seem to recall
>>> some Kodak digital cameras.  Perhaps it was the ultra cheap products
>>> from China and such that did in Kodak?
>>>
>>>> DEC believed in mini-computers not Unix and PC's.
>>>
>>> DEC sold microCPU based systems.  C-VAX, N-VAX, Alpha, etc.
>>> DEC sold PCs.
>>> Unix sucks.
>>
>> And yet it is probably the second largest OS in use today.  Go figure.
> 
> "Human intelligence" is a myth ....
> 
> As for "figuring", it is perceived as "cheap".  Though it's not, once 
> support is included.

I've been doing it for over 30 years.  Not one of the customers I have
dealt with went with Unix because it was cheap.  30 years ago, it most
certainly wasn't.  3B2/3B15/3B20 were hardly cheap hardware.  SYSV was
very costly.  And yet, they sold.

> 
>>> Yes, it was the "old ways" that caused DEC's decline.  One of the
>>> biggest problems was the huge service organization and other such.
>>> When computers sold for big bucks, there was funds for the overhead.
>>> That definitely changed.
>>
>> Tell that to IBM and Unisys who still succeed using that model for
>> their mainframe business.
> 
> Different business perhaps?  Maybe cost is not a big issue with such 
> customers?  Many people using DEC gear were very cost conscious.

How is it a different business?  Still the IT world.  And, at one time,
didn't DEC see themselves as direct competitors to the mainframe world?
Wasn't the VAX supposed to be "the mainframe killer"?


> 
> DEC had offices everywhere.  That ain't cheap.  Today's IT for the most 
> part will not support such.  Computers are much better today.  It's a 
> chip.  The CPU in a 780 was I seem to recall 4 large boards.  The "CPU 
> on a chip" was a huge change in computing.  HUGE!

So did IBM and Univac and even Prime.  At the time that was the way
hardware business was done.  And later, DEC just used contractors
for local work. (I knew most of the local one's as they were also
ham radio guys!)  These same contractors did other hardware, too.

> 
>>>> Nokia believed in phones with Symbian and real keyboard not something
>>>> iPhone like.
>>>>
>>>> Etc.
>>>>
>>>> I guess you can say that is is more common for those not changing to
>>>> be bought by someone changing (for cents on the dollar) than to
>>>> literally go bankrupt.
>>>
>>> That hasn't happened, at least for that reason, to any of my past
>>> customers.
>>
>> Extremely small niches remain regardless of which way the industry
>> goes.  Not a good example for this discussion.
> 
> And you "know" that all my past customers were a "small niche" ???

No, yours is the niche business.

bill