On 23 Sep 2009 at 21:47, Zane H. Healy wrote: Before there were tower cases for PC, people still wanted the blessed great hulking AT cases off their desktops. Check an Inmac catalog of the time and you'll see various arrangements for converting an AT case to a floor-mounted "tower". Some were very cheap; little more than a plastic stand; others were more substantial. --Chuck P.S. You do remember Inmac, don't you? Lots of interesting stuff for the office/commercial PC user, all overpriced. But they'd build cables for you and some of the most curious gizmos.

On 24 Sep 2009 at 22:14, Tony Duell wrote: You could tell their cables from a mile away--they were blue, when everyone else was beige, grey or black. I think Xerox also briefly ran a "business supply" operation around the same time. CDC also had retail stores, but none close to my location (that I can remember). Both offered some great deals at their "going out of business" sales. Did Tab also run a similar operation? And then there was Moore for just about any kind of paper you needed--I used to buy lots of tractor feed green-bar paper from them. --Chuck

*nmac* (International Microcomputer Accessories Corporation), which became a publicly-traded company, was founded in 1975 in Silicon Valley. The company was first listed on the NASDAQ <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASDAQ> in 1987 and later merged with MicroWarehouse<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MicroWarehouse>in 1996. Inmac was founded by Ken Eldred <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Eldred>and Jim Willenborg<http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jim_Willenborg&…;redlink=1>, who met while in the MBA program at Stanford Business School<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_Business_School>ol>. With $5,000 and a grocery bag full of connector parts, Eldred and Willenborg set out to serve minicomputer owners by mail order. After being turned down by venture capitalists <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venture_capitalists>, they raised $50,000 from friends and family. This bootstrapping<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bootstrapping>meant the company remained closely held by the founders. The company was quickly profitable, and no additional funding was required until Inmac went public.[1] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inmac#cite_note-0> Inmac was the first company to sell computer-related products and accessories via direct-mail catalogs. From its initial Palo Alto, California location, Inmac expanded internationally to England<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/England>(1980)(1980), Germany <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germany> (1981), Sweden<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweden>(1982)(1982), France <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/France> (1982)the Netherlands<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Netherlands>(1984)(1984), Canada <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada> (1985) Italy<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italy>(1988)(1988), and Japan <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan> (1990). By 1989, Inmac was publishing 35 million catalogs in eight different languages, as international sales accounted for more than half the company's revenue.[2]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inmac#cite_note-1>When the company was sold to MicroWarehouse <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MicroWarehouse> in 1996, it had 1,500 employees and annual revenue over $400 million. Inmac instituted a number of trend-setting practices including customer calls being answered on the first ring. All items carried a one-year no-hassle return policy and a two-year minimum product performance guarantee. At all locations around the world, typically 95% of orders received by 5pm were shipped that same day most often for next day receipt. Within certain areas, deliveries would be made within six hours. On 9/25/09, Tony Duell <ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk> wrote: