DEC field service (was Re: HP's not cool? (was Re: pdp-11/60 Semi-Rescue))

Bill Pechter <pechter(a)pechter.dyndns.org> wrote: No, the OLD field service guys were great. (At least, many of them were.) It was the NEW field service guys that we referred to as "field circus". Sometime in the early eighties DEC decided that instead of having module swapping as ONE of the fault available diagnosis and repair techniques, it would be the ONLY technique. By amazing coincidence, about that same time many of the OLD field service people quit. But since module swapping is so easy, DEC management was able to "replace" them with (barely) trained monkeys. Of course, repair by module swapping is most effective if you have some idea of which modules it makes sense to swap, but that would require expen$ive training.