9 May
2007
9 May
'07
8:26 p.m.
On 9 May 2007 at 13:33, Richard wrote:
Sadly, the terminals could have been rejuvenated and
put back into
service had they survived, but Control Data apparently had a very
harsh "return for destruction" policy with *all* its equipment,
including the peripherals, so very little of it survives.
At one time CDC simply sold intact equipment for its scrap value to
the usual dealers. What caused that to stop was the supposedly
"scrapped" gear showing up at customer's sites. It dawned on CDC
management that their scrap policy was having a negative effect on
their bottom line.
The word came down that ANY piece of gear leaving CDC was to be
rendered to a condition that was unequivocally *scrap*. That meant
that CE's spent their time taking sledgehammers to disk drives and
reducing whole computer systems to dumpsterloads of mangled junk.
Watching this happen was sickening, but I could understand the
rationale.
My best recollection was that this policy went into effect sometime
around 1973-74, but Billy Petit could probably refresh my warped
sense of the exact timeline.
I wouldn't mind having one of the old plasma display Plato terminals,
myself. It'd make a great night light.
Cheers,
Chuck