15 Jun
2005
15 Jun
'05
4:05 a.m.
Subject: Re: PDP-8s and -10s
From: Al Kossow <aek at bitsavers.org>
Date: Tue, 14 Jun 2005 20:50:02 -0700
To: classiccmp at classiccmp.org
It seems to me that they could have made
the -10 line real mainframes (no, IBM and the BUNCH did not consider the
-10 line real) with just a little effort and not much money.
--
DEC through the 'golden age' didn't go after that market. They tried to
target scientific rather than corporate computing.
One of the oddities is that the 36bit machines the 10s/20s were well
known for their timesharing with huge nubers of users.
One of the things that isn't talked about much is
how the PDP-6 just about
killed DEC because of all of the resources it consumed to get it out the door.
The PDP-6 was the VAX-9000 of the 60s.
They did eventually abandon their 'fan base' to go after the corporate
market, and that was the beginning of DEC's downfall.
It was successful for the 80s but the growing PC price performance
numbers were hurting the backroom mainframe style systems. The
breakpoint was when 486 powered system with basic decent graphics
(640x480x8) hit the streets with Win3.11. We had the scientific
workstation wars of the late 80s this would be the business
workstation war. Several PCs for 2500$ each or less was cheaper
than a microvax of any flavor.
Allison