DEC Design

Jerome Fine replies: Actually, at the time I had rescued about 3 dozen from the dumptser and my grandson was feeling a bit snarky. So I let him at one. I still have over a dozen (minus the black plastic sled which is all I really rescued them for). One day the remaining RX50 drives will have to go unless someone wants to pick them up in Toronto. Do you mean the TU-58? I am looking for one!! I have one that does not work and I want to replace the bad part. The rollers are OK. This is the external TU-58 with two drives in a black box. Does anyone have one? Even if it is not working, perhaps I can cut and paste. Think of the RC25!! I know that is not a good example, but... I agree that the RL02 was finally a reasonable drive and not out of line with DEC standards as far as price. When the drive was basically OK and worked in the first place - the RC25 again. Yes I agree it was an isolated example. I don't think that even the TK50 was as bad. The BIbus was another example. What DEC seemed to never be able to understand was that co-operation produced more benefit than attempting to hog all of the market for just their own benefit. From a close understanding of one VAR in Toronto who was selling 80% DEC in 1985 and 20% DEC by 1988, DEC shot themselves in the foot (i.e. Ken Olsen and his VPs) probably without even realizing it. So when Olsen (was forced?) left, the shell had already collapsed. And while the PDP-11 and VMS might have rescued DEC if the marketing had changed, there seemed to be too much inertia to make the needed changes. I always had a joke about that: "What was DEC's marketing policy around 1985?" Add nothing! - Buy the product elsewhere - add a ZERO to the price (on the right hand side) and resell it. "What was DEC's hardware policy around 1985?" The same - add nothing! Buy a Micropolis 1325 and add that ZERO ohm resistor so it could be formatted by an RQDX2,3. I realize these are bad jokes, but the kernel of truth is there. Of course I have the same joke about Honeywell and their thermostat for my AC. Differences were: (a) Decal was changed from "HEAT/OFF" to "COOL/OFF/HEAT" (b) Doubled the price from one function to two (c) Removed a bolt from the actuator arm to allow the third position to be used. Also Seagate did the same with their 20/40 MByte disk drives! So DEC was no more predatory that M$ in many ways, they were just too stupid to realize that it does not pay in the long run if you don't have enough clout. Plus, those third party VARs sold a lot of software for DEC until they were cut off - also stupid! Sincerely yours, Jerome Fine