20 Mar
2002
20 Mar
'02
12:23 p.m.
Quothe Joseph.Pollizzi(a)encompassus.org, from writings of Wed, Mar 20, 2002 at 03:45:49PM
-0600:
Hewlett-Packard and Compaq Computer Corporation have
announced that they
both believe that they have enough shareholder votes to approve the merger.
DEC's destruction began when DEC was palmerized into a ghost of it's
former self and sold into slavery to Microsoft. Then much damage to
this once great computer company, DEC, was done by Compaq (a wannabe
computer company that never made real computers, and destroyed an
acquisition, DEC, that did), and, now, this appears to be little more
than the nails being hammered into the coffin of what was once Digital
Equipment Corporation.
R.D.D.
--
Copyright (C) 2001 R. D. Davis The difference between humans & other animals:
All Rights Reserved an unnatural belief that we're above Nature &
rdd(a)rddavis.org 410-744-4900 her other creatures, using dogma to justify such
http://www.rddavis.org beliefs and to justify much human cruelty.
20 Mar
20 Mar
12:38 p.m.
on 3/20/02 5:23 PM, R. D. Davis at rdd(a)rddavis.org wrote:
Quothe Joseph.Pollizzi(a)encompassus.org, from writings
of Wed, Mar 20, 2002 at
03:45:49PM -0600:
I thought the $9.6 billion DEC acquisition in 1998 was supposed to be a
merger, the product of which would be the second-largest computer company in
the world. Four years later, it doesn't look like it worked out that way. HP
is going to acquire Compaq, even though a lot of the shareholders are
against it. Will HP do to Compaq what Compaq did to DEC? If they do, somehow
I doubt people will miss Compaq like they do DEC.
--
Owen Robertson
Hewlett-Packard and Compaq Computer Corporation
have announced that they
both believe that they have enough shareholder votes to approve the merger.
DEC's destruction began when DEC was palmerized into a ghost of it's
former self and sold into slavery to Microsoft. Then much damage to
this once great computer company, DEC, was done by Compaq (a wannabe
computer company that never made real computers, and destroyed an
acquisition, DEC, that did), and, now, this appears to be little more
than the nails being hammered into the coffin of what was once Digital
Equipment Corporation. 
1 p.m.
It's more a question of whether Compaq will do to HP what DEC did to Compaq.
In either case, I'm glad I don' t hold any HP stock.
Dick
----- Original Message -----
From: "Owen Robertson" <univac2(a)earthlink.net>
To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Wednesday, March 20, 2002 4:38 PM
Subject: Re: Destruction of DEC
on 3/20/02 5:23 PM, R. D. Davis at rdd(a)rddavis.org
wrote:
> Quothe Joseph.Pollizzi(a)encompassus.org, from writings of Wed, Mar 20, 2002
at
> 03:45:49PM -0600:
>> Hewlett-Packard and Compaq Computer Corporation have announced that they
>> both believe that they have enough shareholder votes to approve the
merger.
DEC's destruction began when DEC was palmerized into a ghost of it's
former self and sold into slavery to Microsoft. Then much damage to
this once great computer company, DEC, was done by Compaq (a wannabe
computer company that never made real computers, and destroyed an
acquisition, DEC, that did), and, now, this appears to be little more
than the nails being hammered into the coffin of what was once Digital
Equipment Corporation.
I thought the $9.6 billion DEC acquisition in 1998 was supposed to be a
merger, the product of which would be the second-largest computer company in
the world. Four years later, it doesn't look like it worked out that way. HP
is going to acquire Compaq, even though a lot of the shareholders are
against it. Will HP do to Compaq what Compaq did to DEC? If they do, somehow
I doubt people will miss Compaq like they do DEC.
--
Owen Robertson
21 Mar
21 Mar
2:44 a.m.
The liklihood is that Compaq will be dismantled as a result, and that, in
itself seems a decent enough reason for the merger.
On 20 Mar 2002, R. D. Davis wrote:
Quothe Joseph.Pollizzi(a)encompassus.org, from writings
of Wed, Mar 20, 2002 at 03:45:49PM -0600:
M. K. Peirce
Rhode Island Computer Museum, Inc.
Shady Lea, Rhode Island
"Casta est quam nemo rogavit."
- Ovid
Hewlett-Packard and Compaq Computer Corporation
have announced that they
both believe that they have enough shareholder votes to approve the merger.
DEC's destruction began when DEC was palmerized into a ghost of it's
former self and sold into slavery to Microsoft. Then much damage to
this once great computer company, DEC, was done by Compaq (a wannabe
computer company that never made real computers, and destroyed an
acquisition, DEC, that did), and, now, this appears to be little more
than the nails being hammered into the coffin of what was once Digital
Equipment Corporation.
R.D.D.
--
Copyright (C) 2001 R. D. Davis The difference between humans & other animals:
All Rights Reserved an unnatural belief that we're above Nature &
rdd(a)rddavis.org 410-744-4900 her other creatures, using dogma to justify such
http://www.rddavis.org beliefs and to justify much human cruelty.
5:20 a.m.
As for the title of this thread...
Has anyone documented the fall of DEC?
I mean, most of us know it, but it's just in our memories.
It could be culled from searching 3++GByte of comp.sys.dec,
but who has the time?
If I recall correctly, it played out like so:
Field service group transitioned from chip level responsibility
to board level. (resulting in poorer svc performance)
Ken Olsen replaced by Robert Palmer.(strained)
Strategic shift to the Alpha processor. (mostly succesful)
Corporate main bought by Compaq.
(This for the sales & service groups, already in trouble)
Merger layoffs. (inevitable, unfortunately)
Microprocessor operations sold to Microsoft.
(a wintel coup for Intel, carried out by MS)
VAX HW architecture phased out (to Alpha) while under
Compaq. (not politically motivated)
VMS operating system future development cut.
Alpha chip development cut. (in pure resignation to Intel)
Management control gained by main DEC competitor HP.
Corrections and Additions welcomed.
John A.
8:17 a.m.
John Allain wrote:
If I recall correctly, it played out like so:
...
VMS operating system future development cut.
...
Corrections and Additions welcomed.
Huh? - How does cutting development match what is at this very moment
available at
http://www.openvms.compaq.com/openvms/roadmap/openvms_roadmaps.htm
where they detail the migration to Itanium and assure us about what in
detail will be ported (and what will not be, see slide #6).
They also give details about what is in current and soon-to-be released
versions of OpenVMS (slide #8).
So, I really hope there's a good bunch of time left until end-of-life
for VMS! :-)
--
Andreas Freiherr
Vishay Semiconductor GmbH, Heilbronn, Germany
http://www.vishay.com
8160
days inactive
8161
days old
5 comments
6 participants
participants (6)
-
allain＠panix.com -
Andreas.Freiherr＠Vishay.com -
at258＠osfn.org -
edick＠idcomm.com -
rdd＠rddavis.org -
univac2＠earthlink.net