Conference 7.286::digital

620.0. "from Ken Olsen" by EAGLE1::EGGERS (Tom,293-5358,VAX&MIPS Architecture) Wed Sep 28 1988 13:32

    From the Digital Equipment Corporation Annual Report 1988 
    
    To our Shareholders,
    Employees, and Customers
    
    Each year we survey our customers to see how we are doing. I am pleased
    to tell you that customer satisfaction has reached record levels,
    leading to revenue increases and profitability for Digital that
    exceeded those of the computer industry as a whole. 
    
    In today's global competition, we see successful organizations, large
    or small, as more distributed and less hierarchical. Information needs
    to be placed in the hands of the individual, and be available
    simultaneously across the enterprise. A growing number of organizations
    worldwide are adopting Digital's enterprise-wide, network computing
    strategy. By providing solutions at the user level and interconnecting
    systems in a multivendor environment--from workstations through
    departmental systms to globally distributed transaction processing
    networks--we help our customers become more competitive than ever
    before.
    
    Probably the most significant factor in our success over the years has
    been our disciplined approach to the VAX/VMS hardware and software
    environment. From the beginning, our design discipline for each
    hardware and software component has enabled us to modernize them
    continually without redesigning the system. VAX/VMS is the only
    hardware/software system that has such clear architectural definition
    for development and growth. Software written today will work on VAX
    computers many years from now. The resulting computing environment
    provides unmatched flexibility and protects the customer's investment. 
    
    Lately there has been considerable interest in an "open operating
    system." As one of the founders of the Open Software Foundation (OSF),
    Digital is participating enthusiastically in the development of the OSF
    User Interchange Standards. As computer users, as well as computer
    system providers, we understand the productivity advantage our
    customers receive by using standard interfaces, protocols,and languages
    to manage their information, whether in document, picture, or voice
    form. Digital, therefore, is committed to having its products, VMS and
    ULTRIX, meet all information interchange standards. 
    
    Our goal is to provide customers with the most productive computing
    environment possible so they can realize the rewards of an enterprise
    that works together.
    
    (signed) Kenneth H. Olsen
    
    Kenneth H. Olsen, President
    September 1, 1988