Conference 7.286::digital

     
    Is that good or bad?
    
    -Ed
    

    i wish people tell us who these people are (who resigned) and not assume
    that every one knows them too!
    
    i dont have my digital organization chart here at home, and you got 
    me worried like this, it is not fair..
    
    /nasser

    
    Grant Saviers, Dom LaCava, and Bill Strecker were the three VPs left
    out of the last reorg. Bill Strecker got a new job as technology
    advisor to engineering. Grant is now gone. The remaining question is
    "What about Dom?" 
    
    

    re: .2
    
    The header of the mail message says "PC & System Peripherals".
    
    I know the name because he was involved in the big, high-level shake-up
    that was followed by all the trade rags.
    
    Whether the news is bad or good, you can expect to see it explode
    across the covers of the Digi-rags, along with statements of how we're
    losing all our prominent VPs, etc.
    
    -- Russ

    Question is, when will he be back, consulting.
    
    q
    

Ahhh Gi'day...�

			 You mean like Bill Keating?

    re: .2
    
    Nasser, what do you mean you don't have an organization chart?  DEC
    doesn't have a DEC org chart.
    
    Dave

         Grant was a pretty regular guy. He was our ,ESD in Shrewsbury, VP
    about 1 1/2 ago. One of his greatest attributes was coming to SHR and
    having luncheons ,BYO, with people in our dept. He was deeply concerned
    with what he perceived as low moral. So once a month about 15 people
    were picked to have lunch with Grant. Pretty novel idea and something
    we could use a lot more of. Unfortunately these informal get togethers
    stopped during the last 2 shakeups. If you look at it from another
    perspective the flow of ideas to that upper echelon also stopped....
    
               Bob 

    re previous reply - Is Bill Keating back consulting?
    

>    re previous reply - Is Bill Keating back consulting?

	Yes, according to the announcement I saw he has a one year contract.

			Alfred

    
    	As i recall, Grant Saviers headed storage systems for quite a
    while. I remember him being in charge when the RA80 series disks
    made their first, belated appearance.  He has headed up PCSG business
    for the last year or so.
    
    	I have no idea what kind of manager/person he is.  What is clear
    is that there are plenty of changes occuring at the top. This means
    there are winners and losers, but it does not necessarily define
    good guys/bad guys.
    
    bob

    
    
    
    
    This is a copy of the internal memo sent by Grant Saviers regarding
    his resignation.  Hope it help clear up who he is.
    
    
                  I N T E R O F F I C E   M E M O R A N D U M

                                        Date:     23-Jun-1992 02:28pm EDT
                                        From:     Grant Saviers
                                                  SAVIERS.GRANT AT A1 at CORA @ CORE
                                        Dept:     PC & System Peripherals
                                        Tel No:   223-9765

TO: See Below

Subject: FAREWELL                                                               

Dear Colleagues:

On July 1, 1992, I will be resigning from Digital after 24 years with 
the company.  It is now time for me to explore new opportunities for 
growing and building a business.  I expect to remain in the computer 
industry, particularly in product areas that support the desktop and 
mobile computing markets.

It has been a great pleasure to have worked with you to help build 
Digital.  When I joined Digital in 1968, the NOR was $57 million 
(0.004 times FY91).  Contributing to this success has been the source 
of much satisfaction and pride for me.

I have taken the time to reflect carefully on this decision and know 
that it is the right path for me.  The choice didn't come easily, 
considering the 24 years and the wonderful "learn and contribute and 
do the right thing" opportunity we've had together.  I owe many of you 
a sincere thank you for the patience, wisdom, and support you've 
offered me personally.  So, Thank You.

I wish you all and the company the very best in the coming years.  I 
hope our paths will cross again, soon.

Best Regards,

Grant


Distribution:
 
TO:  WAIN @MPGS@VAXMAIL
TO:  Steven H. Smith @CORE                ( SMITH.STEVE AT A1 at CORA @ CORE )
TO:  DONALD ZERESKI                       ( ZERESKI.DONALD AT A1 at CORA @ CORE )
TO:  BILL STRECKER                        ( STRECKER.BILL AT A1 at CORA @ CORE )
TO:  David Stone @ CORE                   ( STONE.DAVID AT A1 at CORA @ CORE )
TO:  PETER SMITH                          ( SMITH.PETER AT A1 at CORA @ CORE )
TO:  Jack Smith                           ( SMITH.JACK AT A1 at CORA @ CORE )
TO:  John Sims                            ( SIMS.JOHN AT A1 at CORA @ CORE )
TO:  GEOFF SHINGLES @REO
TO:  Grant Saviers                        ( SAVIERS.GRANT AT A1 at CORA @ CORE )
TO:  BRUCE J RYAN @CORE                   ( RYAN.BRUCE J AT A1 at CORA @ CORE )
TO:  DICK POULSEN                         ( POULSEN.DICK AT A1 at CORA @ CORE )
TO:  BOB PALMER                           ( PALMER.BOB AT A1 at CORA @ CORE )
TO:  Ken Olsen                            ( OLSEN.KEN AT A1 at CORA @ CORE )
TO:  Ed McDonough                         ( MCDONOUGH.ED AT A1 at CORA @ CORE )
TO:  JACK MACKEEN                         ( MACKEEN.JACK AT A1 at CORA @ CORE )
TO:  Dom LaCava                           ( LACAVA.DOM AT A1 at CORA @ CORE )
TO:  Bill Johnson                         ( JOHNSON.BILL AT A1 at CORA @ CORE )
TO:  ILENE JACOBS                         ( JACOBS.ILENE AT A1 at CORA @ CORE )
TO:  Dan Infante                          ( INFANTE.DAN AT A1 at CORA @ CORE )
TO:  Martin Hoffmann @CORE                ( HOFFMANN.MARTIN AT A1 at CORA @ CORE )
TO:  Win Hindle                           ( HINDLE.WIN AT A1 at CORA @ CORE )
TO:  BILL HANSON                          ( HANSON.BILL AT A1 at CORA @ CORE )
TO:  Russ Gullotti @ CORE                 ( GULLOTTI.RUSS AT A1 at CORA @ CORE )
TO:  Bob Glorioso                         ( GLORIOSO.BOB AT A1 at CORA @ CORE )
TO:  Rose Ann Giordano                    ( GIORDANO.ROSE ANN AT A1 at CORA @ CORE )
TO:  Sam Fuller                           ( FULLER.SAM AT A1 at CORA @ CORE )
TO:  PIER CARLO FALOTTI @GEO
TO:  Bill Demmer                          ( DEMMER.BILL AT A1 at CORA @ CORE )
TO:  John Alexanderson                    ( ALEXANDERSON.JOHN AT A1 at CORA @ CORE )
TO:  KOCH @VALUES@VAXMAIL
TO:  MIKE @SSVAX@VAXMAIL
TO:  WILLIS @CGVAX2@VAXMAIL
TO:  DAVID POOLE @MRO
TO:  STUCCHI @SSVAX@VAXMAIL
TO:  KSMITH @SSVAX@VAXMAIL
TO:  Grant Saviers                        ( SAVIERS.GRANT AT A1 at CORA @ CORE )
TO:  FLANAGAN @SSVAX@VAXMAIL
TO:  Larry Cabrinety                      ( CABRINETY.LARRY AT A1 at CORA @ CORE )
TO:  SIMENSEN @JRDVOA@VAXMAIL
TO:  PERRY @SSVAX @VMSMAIL
TO:  GEORGE WRIGHT @LJO
TO:  PAT WILSON @PTO
TO:  WALKER @MEMIT@VAXMAIL
TO:  TRUESDELL @COMET@VAXMAIL
TO:  THURK @DELNI@VAXMAIL
TO:  THAKUR @LJOHUB@VAXMAIL
TO:  THACKUR @DECSRC@VAXMAIL
TO:  TAYLOR @DECSRC@VAXMAIL
TO:  SUPNIK @HUMAN@VAXMAIL
TO:  STRANG @COMET@VAXMAIL
TO:  SMELSER @APOLLO@VAXMAIL
TO:  SIMON_MI @SANFAN@VAXMAIL
TO:  SIMONS @FAVAX@VAXMAIL
TO:  TOM SIEKMAN @MSO
TO:  SERGEANT @CXCAD@VAXMAIL
TO:  Ken Senior @CORE                     ( SENIOR.KEN AT A1 at CORA @ CORE )
TO:  SCHNEIDER @CGHUB@VAXMAIL
TO:  SANDFORD @ELWOOD@VAXMAIL
TO:  RYAN @KBOMFG@VAXMAIL
TO:  REUTHER @POWDML@VAXMAIL
TO:  RENNICK @SSDEVO@VAXMAIL
TO:  ED REILLY @TKO
TO:  REILING @WITNES@VAXMAIL
TO:  REDFIELD @LJOHUB@VAXMAIL
TO:  PLANTE @COMET@VAXMAIL
TO:  RON PAYNE                            ( PAYNE.RON AT A1 at CORA @ CORE )
TO:  PATEL @ERLANG@VAXMAIL
TO:  PARIKH @LEDS@VAXMAIL
TO:  N_FIELD @ADVLSI@VAXMAIL
TO:  NIST @THEHUT@VAXMAIL
TO:  BARRY NAY @GEC
TO:  MYRICK @WITNES@VAXMAIL
TO:  MARK MILLER @VBO
TO:  MARMEN @JUPITR@VAXMAIL
TO:  L_GROSS @LJOHUB@VAXMAIL
TO:  Jesse Lipcon                         ( LIPCON.JESSE AT A1 at CORA @ CORE )
TO:  Murvin Lackey                        ( LACKEY.MURVIN AT A1 at CORA @ CORE )
TO:  Bill Koteff @CORE                    ( KOTEFF.WILLIAM AT A1 at CORA @ CORE )
TO:  DALLAS KIRK                          ( KIRK.DALLAS AT A1 at CORA @ CORE )
TO:  KAUFMAN @BLUMON@VAXMAIL
TO:  NORM KALET @MLO
TO:  PAM JOHNSON @PKO
TO:  JEFF @JEFF@VAXMAIL
TO:  HITZ @TSAR@VAXMAIL
TO:  HARTLING @CXCAD@VAXMAIL
TO:  HAM @LJOHUB@VAXMAIL
TO:  GYLLSTROM_H @CSCOAC@VAXMAIL
TO:  GUNTHER @WITNES@VAXMAIL
TO:  CAROL GAULT @MLO
TO:  FREDERICK @MPGS@VAXMAIL
TO:  CHARLOTTE FREDERICK @TFO
TO:  ART FISHER @AKO
TO:  Dick Fishburn                        ( FISHBURN.DICK AT A1 at CORA @ CORE )
TO:  Terry Fink                           ( FINK.TERRY AT A1 at CORA @ CORE )
TO:  FERESTEN @LEDS@VAXMAIL
TO:  Dick Farrahar                        ( FARRAHAR.DICK AT A1 at CORA @ CORE )
TO:  Ralph Dormitzer                      ( DORMITZER.RALPH AT A1 at CORA @ CORE )
TO:  JOHN DOHERTY @MLO
TO:  BRUCE DILLINGHAM @MKO
TO:  COBRIEN @POWDML@VAXMAIL
TO:  RALPH CHRISTENSEN @MLO
TO:  BOBBY CHOONOVALA @HGO
TO:  CEFALO @WITNES@VAXMAIL
TO:  WERNER BURCKHARDT @KBO
TO:  BHILL @POWDML@VAXMAIL
TO:  BAUER @SSVAX@VAXXMAIL
TO:  BARRON @PSDVAX@VAXMAIL
TO:  Jay Atlas                            ( ATLAS.JAY AT A1 at CORA @ CORE )
TO:  BRAD ALLEN @MLO
TO:  ADLEMAN @KBOMFG@VAXMAIL
 

	RE: .12 Thanks for leaving in the 5 screens of CC addresses. It's
	very useful information and has the added advantage of making DWnotes
	much slower.

			Alfred

Actually, the distribution list was useful.  It showed that Dom LaCava is
still with us (or at least Grant Saviers thinks he is).

    I may have some of the facts wrong (if so please correct), but the way
    I see it.
    
    Grant Saviers was responsible for Disks for the period of time in
    which:
    
    1)  Our prices were RIDICULOUS
    2)  Our quality was sub-par
    3)  Our performance was sub-par
    4)  We only sold disks to loyal customers and as part of a system 
    	sale in which the whole system was allowanced to make up for the
    	disk price.
    
    About 2 years ago (or so) he left this organization and Charlie Christ
    took over.  Now:
    
    1)  Our disks are leadership in quality and performance
    2)  Our prices are coming down and are close to competitive (this is
    	getting better all the time)
    3)  We are able to sell our disks on the OEM market (the true test
    	of a device).         
    
    Draw your own conclusions.
    
    Ken Slattery

re: .13

Don't shoot the users.  Shoot the product.  DWnotes should _fix_ this.
However, like so many other products at DEC, we keep saying the problem
is poor customers.

- g

    >Nasser, what do you mean you don't have an organization chart?  DEC
    >doesn't have a DEC org chart.
    >
    >Dave

    i meant it in a sort of heuristic symbolic uncoordinated fussy gesture 
    to mean i dont know where the person in question fit in the overall
    scheme of DEC organization.

    by the way, iam concerned that DEC do not have an organization chart?
    i did not know that, this is strange.

    thank you,
    /nasser

.17>    i dont know where the person in question fit in the overall
.17>    scheme of DEC organization.

    prime operating assumption: if you don't know who they are then it
    doesn't really matter to you.  (unless of course they are either your
    immediate supervisor or your direct report :-)
    
    fwiw, I have never worked anywhere close enough to any of Grant's
    organizations to have any basis for forming a firsthand opinion.  In
    general I always wonder about points like those made a couple of
    replies back, about pricing and bundling policies and such, and how
    much they reflect an individual's influence, even a top-level
    manager's, or how much they reflect the situation and the direction 
    given by higher management.
    
    Thing is, corporate entities are, or should be, team units.  To the
    degree that they (we?) are, the effects of individuals even in upper
    management are important only in the way they interact with the rest of
    the team, and changes in the lineup need to be viewed in that same
    light.  Unfortunately, right now it is not clear whether Digital's 
    top management ranks are a well organized team or a free-for-all, what
    with all the shuffling and reshuffling and SERPing and all...

    Does he know something that we don't know?
    

Thanks for leaving the distribution list in. I found it interesting. Most, if 
not all, of the people on it are VP's or above, yes?

regards,

Jim

    re -1
    
    Yeah - he sent it to himself twice.
    
    jb.

Wasn't the MSCP developed while Grant was heading up Storage Systems?

-Jack

     
    Alfred, 
    
    You're welcome!  Not that you would be interested because you've
    already made your judgement about the utility of the distribution
    list, but I left it in on purpose.  Having very little CR at my 
    disposal, I weighted that decision carefully.  I found the knowledge
    gained by who was present on the distribution list and of equal in-
    terest, who was not, compensated for the slower run time. 
    
    Your definition of useful is apparently not universal.
    
    Janis 

>    Your definition of useful is apparently not universal.

	Apparently. I assumed that because it was not useful to me it was
	not useful to others. Live and learn.

			Alfred

    people have been griping about the "problem with DWnotes being so slow"
    for at least a couple of  years.  Why the heck don't they just fix the
    blasted DWnotes?  Sort of a symbolic gesture of the "healng of
    Digital"?

    re .26
    I'm not privy to the inside details but awhile back I remember
    reading that part of the problem was conformance to style gone
    wild.  DWnotes couldn't be XUI/Motif style guide compliant or
    a blessed little application unless it properly displayed its'
    scroll bar.  The scroll bar had to indicate accurately how much
    content was left to view and thus DWnotes must read in the entire
    note and calculate the scroll bar before it can display the initial
    screen to the user.  Thus it can take a long time to calculate this 
    on a large note.  I'll se if I can dig out the original explanation
    of this if you're really interested.

    jeff

    Yeah, but the length of a note (in lines) is stored in the header
    information. (notes$k_note_numrecords), The problem, is that they
    didn't trust their own internal counter, as an indication of the size
    of the note...
    
       q
    

    You gotta admit...
    
    The disk-drive products may not have been top-notch, but the lawyers
    sure were!
    
    GaryB
    

On the contrary, given the sort of folks that are OEMing our drives now, the
storage folks achieved all their strategic objectives. A world class act!

								- Ian W.

    It's just a pity we couldn't have done it in the DSA technology
    timeframe. I recall, an associate of mine, the storage product manager,
    in Australia, (who joined us from Systems Industries), suggesting, that
    DEC make the RAxx drives an OEM unit, and encourage SI, and Emulex and
    others, to sell them into HP, DG, etc etc...
    
    q
    

RE: .27

That was the excuse.  It is possible to do DW NOTES right.  It's just
a lot of work and the project didn't have the time to do it for V1.
Then they all got transferred to other projects.  If you want to see
a windowing interface to NOTES that is implemented properly, look at
Pathworks Conferencing, the NOTES client for PCs.

--PSW

To fix notes isn't even a lot of work...

    ...and of course, if NOTES was still unsupported, then
       you'd get support from the implementors, but since it's
       a supported product, then there is no support.

    Re .-1
    
    Now about that NMAIL problem, duplicated messages... or was that a MAIL
    problem!
    
    Also I presume by your previous reply that now that NMAIL is going in
    to Alpha VMS it'll no longer be supported, or did I mean unsupported!
    
    Dave 

According to this morning's Boston Globe, Dom LaCava will also be leaving July
1st.

    Re .-1
    
    I thought Dom LaCava was going to SERP and then decided not to. This
    seems weird. If he leaves of his volition he want get any mullah but if
    he had SERPed he's had got a lot of money.
    
    Dave

    conjugate much?

    As I read the Globe article, he'll be taking a delayed SERP.
    
    From the Globe:
    
    LaCava, 51, formerly vice president of UNIX-based software and systems,
    was also displaced by the earlier reshuffling.  Originally, he was one
    of 3,700 or so employees who accepted an early-retirement offer in
    June.
    
    According to LaCava, though, senior management "asked me to rescind my
    decision and talk over some new opportunities."  But those
    opportunities, he added, "did not materialize to our mutual
    satisfaction.  I made the decision that I would rather take early
    retirement."  The 15-year veteran will leave July 1.

    If he was given guarantees as an incentive to not SERP, then these were
    rescinded, I'd guess he would be entitled.
    
    /Andy

Re: .30

>>                    -< Another secret success for Digital >-

In addition to supplying drives, Digital is one of the biggest manufacturers
of thin film disk heads and sells them in volume to several other drive
manufacturers.  I heard a rumour that unless you buy a drive made in Japan
or by IBM that has thin film heads they will more likely than not have been
made by Digital.

jb

    The Wall Street Journal wording 6/29/92:
    
    "Separately, a Digital spokesman confirmed thatt F. Grant Saviers and
    Domenic J. LaCava, both vice presidents and coporate officers, will
    leave the company effective July 1.  Each had been sidelined by a
    reorganization earlier this year, but had been asked to remain."
    
    Mark
    

    
    Anyone know where old "Dom The Don" went?
    
    -Ed
    

    RE .-1
    
    I think he took a late SERP. Not sure why he was allowed to decide
    later than anybody else. Maybe because he was a VEEP.
    
    Reminds me, KO's coming to LKG tomorrow. Must remember to ask why he
    needs an organization that is 4+ deep in VPs in places.
    
    Dave

    re: .46
    
    LaCava wasn't allowed to decide later than everyone else.  He had
    originally signed up for SERP and was convinced to stay by upper
    management.  After he and management were unable to agree on a suitable
    position he decided to SERP anyway.

Dom's cousin is Alfred Fiandaca, the fashion designer.

    
    Re: .-1
    
    So *THAT* explains his wardrobe.  ;-)
    
    -Ed