Conference 7.286::digital

    
    I also saw this..
    
    /Alkesh
    

    
    now, where have i heard this before?  
    
    why, i believe it was on CNBC the last time.  my question is:
    "did ken or digital officially announce this or did CNBC just
    try to scoop everyone again?"
    
    what exactly did CNBC report - that they heard ken was retiring
    or that digital announced that ken was retiring.
    
    we live in interesting times.
    
    8^)

Can anyone confirm this?????

Today I've heard rumours that Pier Carlo Falloti resigned, and now Ken....

JD

I just phoned Ken's secretary, and she confirmed that it is true.  Ken will
retire as of October 1st.

				Nigel

    
    	Re: .5
    
    	Thanks, nice job in confirming it.
    
    					-craig

Yes, but -



 - who the _Hell_ is Bob Palmer?

-Jack

    It had a pretty cool video.

    Bob Palmer is not a new hire, au contraire.  He is the VP of
    Manufacturing & Logistics, and has been instrumental in the
    restructuring of manufacturing.
    
    If this is true than it doesn't bode well for Jack Smith.
    

    According to ELF he is VP of WW Manufacturing.

According to ELF, Bob Palmer is either the VP for Worldwide
Manufacturing or a Sales Support guy in Waltham.

    At 4PM today, two thing were happening.
    
    In Rye, New York, I was listening to Bruce Ryan, Vice President,
    Corporate Controller, tell the audience, the Banking and Investments
    sales teams, that Ken Olsen had no intention of retiring.
    
    In New York City, my workstation disk filled to the max and a the Dow 
    Jones listening process failed.  It's been restarted and hopefully, we
    get a repeat of the story from the Dow Jones News Service soon.

    	Word from HP is that CEO John Young and #2 man (Lou Platt?)
    	also resigned today.

re: .11

Oh Goody! Do we get a choice?
:^)
-Jack

    Bob Palmer is (was) the World Wide V.P. of Manufacturing last time I
    saw an org. chart of us.
    
    I just called my broker and asked them to check the wire services for
    news relating to any of this.  DEC stock went up $2 1/8 today to close
    at $41 5/8's.
    
    It is official Ken Olsen is retiring effective Oct. 1st.  This came off
    of the Shearson-Lehman-Hutton wire information service:
    
    Ken Olsen (66) President and founder of Digital Equipment Corp.
    announced that he intends to retire effective October 1 as the 
    President-CEO of DEC.  Digital said that the Board of Directors
    intends to approve Ken's recommendation for Robert B. Palmer
    V.P. of Digital to assume the office of President and CEO.
    
    Olsen said, "I had a long and satisifying career at Digital.  It is now
    time for the next generation of management to assume leadership.  I'm
    making this announcement now in order to ensure an orderly transition
    at the beginning of the companys fiscal 1993 year."
    
    **End of news wire**
    
    Wow!

               Digital announces retirement of Ken Olsen; Board of
               Directors expected to name Bob Palmer as successor

  President and founder Ken Olsen, 66, plans to retire from the company,
  effective Oct. 1.

  At its next meeting, the Board of Directors is expected to approve Ken's
  recommendation that Bob Palmer, 51, vice president, Manufacturing and
  Logistics, be named president and chief executive officer.

  "I've had a long and satisfying career at Digital, and it's time for the next
  generation of management to assume leadership," said Ken.  "I'm making this
  announcement now to provide an orderly transition at the beginning of the
  company's 1993 fiscal year."

  Commenting on the announcement, Bob said, "We have a strong business with
  talented and dedicated people, clearly focused on providing computing
  solutions for organizations worldwide.  I'm honored and eager to carry forward
  the vision that Ken has established for Digital.  He is a computer industry
  pioneer and an architect of innovation, and has built one of the world's
  major corporations.  His vision of interactive and distributed computing has
  been revolutionary."

  Bob joined Digital in 1985.  In 1986 he was named vice president,
  Semiconductor Operations.  In 1989 he was appointed vice president,
  Semiconductor and Interconnect Technology.  He was appointed to his present
  position in Nov., 1990.  Previously, Bob served as executive vice president,
  Semiconductor Operations, United Technologies Corporation, which acquired
  Mostek Corporation in 1980.  He was one of Mostek's founders and held a
  series of management positions.  He earned a bachelor of science degree in
  mathematics and a master of science degree in physics from Texas Tech
  University.  He is a past member of the Boards of Directors of the
  Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), SEMATECH, Semiconductor Research
  Center (SRC), and the Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation
  (MCC).
  Ken founded Digital in 1957, and has been its only chief executive officer.
  He is a member of the Boards of Directors of Polaroid Corporation and Ford
  Motor Company; the Corporation of Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  (MIT), Cambridge, Mass.; board of trustees, Gordon College, Wenham, Mass.;
  the Corporation of Wentworth Institute, Boston; and a deacon of Boston's
  Park Street Church.

	Ironic how topic 1992 got to be this one, huh?

	Boy, I'll be we are in for bigger changes before the year is out.
	Good by old DEC.

							mike

This is the press release.

Copyright � Dow Jones & Co. 1992
Source: Business Wire
Headline: 
 Digital announces retirement of Kenneth Olsen; board of directors expected to 
name Robert Palmer as successor
Time: Jul 16 1992 1740


Story: 
  MAYNARD, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Digital Equipment Corp. announced today 
that Kenneth H. Olsen, 66, founder and president of Digital, plans to retire 
from the company, effective Oct. 1, 1992.
  At its next meeting, the Digital board of directors is expected to approve 
Olsen's recommendation that Robert B. Palmer, 51, Digital's vice president, 
manufacturing and logistics, be named to succeed him as president and chief 
executive officer.
  ``I've had a long and satisfying career at Digital, and it's time for the 
next generation of management to assume leadership,'' said Olsen. ``I'm making 
this announcement now to provide an orderly transition at the beginning of the 
company's 1993 fiscal year.''
  Commenting on the announcement, Palmer said, ``We have a strong business 
with talented and dedicated people, clearly focused on providing computing 
solutions for organizations worldwide.  I'm honored and eager to carry forward 
the vision that Ken has established for Digital.  He is a computer industry 
pioneer and an architect of innovation, and has built one of the world's major 
corporations.  His vision of interactive and distributed computing has been 
revolutionary.''
  Palmer joined Digital in 1985.  In 1986 he was named vice president, 
Semiconductor Operations.  In 1989 he was appointed vice president, 
Semiconductor and Interconnect Technology.  He was appointed to his present 
position in November, 1990.  Previously, Palmer served as executive vice 
president, Semiconductor Operations, United Technologies Corp., which acquired 
Mostek Corp.  in 1980.  He was on of Mostek's founders and held a series of 
management positions.  He earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mathematics 
and a Master of Science Degree in Physics from Texas Tech University.  He is a 
past member of the boards of directors of the Semiconductor Industry 
Association (SIA), SEMATECH, Semiconductor Research Center (SRC), and the 
Microelectronics and Computer Technologoy Corp. (MCC).
  Olsen founded Digital in 1957, and has been  its only chief executive 
officer.  He is a member of the boards of directors of Polaroid Corp. and Ford 
Motor Co.; the Corporation of MIT, Cambridge, Mass.; board of trustees, Gordon 
College, Wenham, Mass.; the Corporation of Wentworth Institute, Boston; and a 
Deacon of Boston's Park Street Church.
  Digital Equipment Corp., headquartered in Maynard, Mass., is the leading 
worldwide supplier of networked computer systems, software and services.  
Digital pioneered and leads the industry in interactive, distributed and 
multivendor computing.  Digital and its partners deliver the power to use the 
best integrated solutions -- from desktop to data center -- in open 
information environments. 
17:23 ET   JUL 16, 1992

    In the Denver office, we've heard the rumor that Zereski and Falotti
    (sp?) are leaving.

    Channel 5 in Boston also just announced Ken's retirement.
    
    						Thom...

    re: .16
    
    Note that this was announced *after* trading closed today; thus the big
    jump in DEC stock today (+2 1/2 to 40 7/8) is *not* related to this
    announcement.
    

    
    Hmmmm...now what does this action say to Jack Smith?
    
    We were told in a meeting late this afternoon that Pierre-Carlo
    Fallotti has indeed resigned. The 2 events (KO & PCF) are unrelated
    (i.e. coincidence).
    
    Bob Palmer as far as I know owns Mfg, Semiconductor process and the PC
    business.
    
    -Joe
    

    
    
    Any bets on how long Jack Smith stays around?....seems like a 
    pretty hard slap in the face of a "faithful servant"
    

    Re .21 The reason you here of K.O's retirement and similar events first
    in the media is because of the legal requirement (SEC rules) to
    disclose publically first events that may significantly affect the
    stock price or financial standing of the company. Otherwise YOU could
    be caught up in an insider trading suit.
    
    We may never know what specifically precipitated K.O's resignation. It
    may create yet more myths and rumours if there are any of us left to
    generate them! :-)

.18>	Good by old DEC.
    
    	IS that "good buy"?  Dec stock at mid 30's (as it was earlier
    	this month) would have been a good buy maybe.

>    Note that this was announced *after* trading closed today; thus the big
>    jump in DEC stock today (+2 1/2 to 40 7/8) is *not* related to this
>    announcement.
    
    	Buy on rumor.  Sell on news.  We'll see tomorrow.
    

    I wouldn't be so harsh to judge Palmer and what the "new DEC" will be. 
    Perhaps change at the helm is what we need.
    
    /d.c.

    Channel 7 also noted that employee cuts, expected to be about 15,000,
    might climb as high as 30,000 under Palmer.  And that the "new DEC" 
    isn't expected to emerge until 1994.
    
    A call to an HP friend confirms that John Young and his
    second-in-command (a name I didn't recognize) also resigned today.
    
    Wasn't Bastille Day the day the French aristocracy lost their heads?
    Isn't today two-days-after-Bastille Day?  A new historic event,
    the day the computer industry aristocracy passed the torch...
    
    It's never dull....
    
    -j

    
    
    re: .14
    
    
    yes, john young, president of h.p. also retired today effective
    nov. 1.  mr. morton, one of his good buddies, also left h.p.
    
    lou platt did not resign, he was named the new president.
    
    confirmed by calling their corporate offices.

Gee whiz, and today is the day that Ross Perot decided he didn't want to 
be our President.

Perhaps there is a major world-wide conspiracy that is affecting the 
leaders/ex-leaders of major computer-related corporations.

Might make a cool Tom Clancy novel ...

>Might make a cool Tom Clancy novel ...

Nope - he retired too.      :-)

    Does this mean that there is someone waiting in the wings to take
    Digital over?  Why appoint a rather obscure individual into this
    position, unless he is just an interim place-holder?  Any bets on who
    that might be?  Olivetti?
    
    Daryl and Murli the Twins

    
    Either the Ken news got out to wall street early or something is
    brewing. 1.65 million shares traded today, up 2 3/4 points. That kind
    of action doesn't happen for nothing. The entire past two weeks have 
    been heavy buying too. 

    Maybe not a take-over - how about a merger.  Strange how HP and DEC
    lose their leaders on the same day.  Somebody getting ready to take
    over?  Ross Perot has nothing better to do now... I wonder...
    
    Murli and Daryl The Twins

    I don't think I'd call Mr Palmer an "obscure individual".. From what I
    know of him (a moderate amount) I think Ken has made a good choice.
    
    just my opinion..
    
    ...tom

    
    
    
    
    
    re: .33
    
    olivetti is a sure thing, right!
    
    i thought the reason that pier carlo fallotti didn't get 
    the nod from ken/the board to assume the presidency of dec
    is because he is going to take over olivetti and then buy
    dec.
    
    
    	8^) 
    
    all humor aside, can one of our european brothers tell
    me what the reaction over there is to pier-carlo leaving.
    he's been very successful these past 4-5 years (except for
    last year) and has been a rising star.  what happened and
    how is everyone taking the news.
    
    interesting times!!
    

    	Ross Perot will take over HP and rename it to HRP.
    
    	All this leadership change is caused by the full moon.

    
    re: .35
    
    I've had conversations with friends in the past that said that HP management
    with Digital products wouldn't be bad at all!
    
    Regards,
    
    Steve
    
    P.S. Goodbye Ken, it's been nice working with/for you!

    Well, last night, when I was talking to the same HP friends, they
    said that they had been hearing about a DEC/HP merger.  I said it 
    was some wild speculation by a Boston Globe writer (from a couple of 
    weeks ago...) and where had they been, being a 'Snake'1 under a rock 
    (ha, ha)?
    
    *BUT*... who knows?  
    
    Maybe I *shouldn't* have sold my stock at the end of this last stock 
    plan... oh, well... there's always December... at least the beginning
    price for the shares should be good, eh?  :-)
                                                           
    -j

re: Note 1992.33, SIERAS::MCCLUSKY
>Does this mean that there is someone waiting in the wings to take
>Digital over?
No.

>Why appoint a rather obscure individual into this
>position, unless he is just an interim place-holder? 
Obscure? Gimme a break.

>Any bets on who that might be?  Olivetti?
We just bought 10% of them and now they are gonna take us over? Interesting.
    
>Note 1992.34, MR4DEC::GREEN
>"Perot's the dude"
Yesterday's news.   :-)

>Either the Ken news got out to wall street early or something is
>brewing. 1.65 million shares traded today, up 2 3/4 points.
Do the math. Digital's famous 1.5 billion bank account vs. 125M shares
outstanding. How low did you expect it to go?

Mickey.

re: .38

I would have been very surprised for Falotti to ever even have been in the
running for Maynard CEO.

-Jack

                                                      

                    DIGITAL INTERNAL USE ONLY Document

                  I N T E R O F F I C E   M E M O R A N D U M

                                        Date:     16-Jul-1992 17:13 MDT
                                        From:     DICS_DIST
                                                  DICS_DIST@NEST@MRGATE@NROMTS@NRO
                                        Dept:      
                                        Tel No:    

TO: See Below

Subject: MESSAGES TO EMPLOYEES FROM KEN OLSEN AND BOB PALMER                    


         MESSAGES TO EMPLOYEES FROM KEN OLSEN AND BOB PALMER:


Digital informed employees and the media late Thursday afternoon, July 
16, 1992 that Ken Olsen, 66, the company's founder and president, 
plans to retire from the company effective October 1, 1992.

Ken will nominate Bob Palmer, 51, vice president, manufacturing and 
logistics, as president at the next Board of Directors meeting later 
this month.  The Board is expected to select Palmer as President and 
Chief Executive Officer.

KEN OLSEN: 

"I've had a long and satisfying career at Digital, and it's time for 
the next generation of management to assume leadership.  I am making 
this announcement now to provide an orderly transition at the 
beginning of the company's 1993 fiscal year.
	
"I believe that a company's chief executive needs to be a leader of 
change. This announcement is consistent with that view.

"My message to Digital people and my many friends and colleagues is to 
encourage you to continue your efforts to make Digital a company 
that's known for its leadership in products, technology and service.  
I will be seeing and talking with you over the coming weeks as I 
prepare to leave the company.  I want to encourage your strong support 
for Bob Palmer.  I am positive he is the right choice to lead Digital 
in the future which is why I am recommending his appointment as 
President by the Board."

BOB PALMER:	     

"Ken Olsen is a pioneer in the computer industry and a recognized 
leader that we've all looked up to as our founder.  I am 
overwhelmed by the confidence Ken has shown in me to offer my name to 
our Board as his successor.

It is up to the Board to make my selection official at their next 
meeting.  It is premature for me to discuss any plans today, but I can 
assure you I believe in keeping employees involved and informed about 
our vision, strategy, and where we need to be.

I don't want to imply we have an easy time ahead of us, but I pledge 
to communicate with you about how we all have to work toward 
returning Digital to profitability and leading our industry into the 
future."

Distribution:
    
<distribution list deleted> 
    
                    DIGITAL INTERNAL USE ONLY Document

    
    RE: .42  Mickey:
    
>Note 1992.34, MR4DEC::GREEN
>"Perot's the dude"
Yesterday's news.   :-)
    
    
    	Okay, I fixed it.   :-)
    
    

    DEC stock advanced nicely today because two (2) Wall Street brokerage
    houses put it back on their buy lists as an "attractive" stock. This
    was prior to the KO retirement announcement which came after the market
    had closed. As reported on PBS's Nightly Business Report (NBR) this
    evening.

    
    bodes well for tomorrow then, because wall st can only see Ken's 
    leaving as positive. 

Palmer actually has a lot going for him:

- He's a relatively recent hire (1985) so doesn't carry the baggage of
having lived through our 60s and 70s success (and of being part of the
old boys network).  This has both real and imagined (by external
analysts) benefits.  Had Smith or one of the other more likely candidates
been named, the market would have reacted negatively.

- He's been here 7 years, so he does understand the DEC culture.

- He's had more senior management experience external to DEC than any of
the other possible candidates.  Having been a Mostek co-founder and an
executive VP at United Technologies gives him bother the entrepenurial
perspective that KO had plus the big company perspective.

- While relatively unknown at DEC, he is *very* well known outside of DEC

- He is the VP whose been responsible for some of our greatest
technological breakthroughs in the last couple of years, particularly the
NVAX and ALPHA (EV-4) chips.

- He comes from the engineering/manufacturing side of the company which,
despite our movement towards a more marketing-driven company, is the
traditional area for our leadership.  If you look back, Jack Shields is
about the only senior line executive we've ever had who came from
something other than engineering/manufacturing.  This goes along with the
"DEC culture" aspect mentioned above.

- He's one of the few VPs I've never heard anything bad about.  I don't
know him at all myself, but usually there are always rumblings about
senior managers and particularly officers.

- He's young (51) and will be motivated to make this a successful and
challenging place to work (since he could be here 14+ years).

Ken has always hinted that his successor might not be obvious.  This was
a surprise announcement.  So far, I haven't found anything bad in the
choice.

One surprising thing about the announcement:  it doesn't mention if Ken
will remain on the Board.

>One surprising thing about the announcement:  it doesn't mention if Ken
>will remain on the Board.

I'd be really surprized if he didn't. I mean after all, this is his store.
He built it.

    RE: .49
    
    Actually, there are two related questions.
    
    	1. Will he remain on the board?
    	2. Will he be chariman of the board?
    
    Steve

    Clarification... someone just called Channel 7 and had the story
    read to them, then sent me mail regarding the 30K layoff number.
    Channel 7 did *speculate* in their reporting that with Palmer at the 
    helm that cuts might be deeper than the numbers already being
    bandied about the press (15-20K).  And they *did* mention 30,000.
    But they did *NOT* report that as a fact.
    
    And... of couse, we all know that there's been *NO OFFICIAL*
    announcement of *ANY LAYOFFS* at all... just the repeated speculation
    of 15-20K in most press articles.  And, in fact, I think 30K was
    bandied about several months ago, so that may be where Channel 7
    got the idea.               
    
    Lots of press speculation, no real facts from the ones that count,
    the inside folks who will make the hard decisions.
    

    Now everybody sing...
    
    
    	"All we are saying...is give Bob a chance!"
    
    :*)
    
    B_A_who's_hoping_stock_soars!

    I put various Wall Street reports, including the one issued today by
    Prudential Securities into SUBWAY::DIGITAL_INVESTING as they are
    issued.  Today's price movement reflected the positive news in that
    report.
    
    ATomorrow, July 17, the market will react to the news of Ken Olsen's
    retirement.

    
    
    RE: .45
    
     yes, but Dan Quayle will still think he's running! :-)
    

    So, anybody care to guess which plan KO is taking, SERP or TFSO4?
    
    :-)

    Has anyone noticed a certain irony here...
    
    ...this is topic 1992...
    ...this note is about Ken announcing that he's retiring...in 1992...
    
    ...well, struck me funny, anyhow.  ;-)
    
    jeremy

    I guess y'all who don't know Bob Palmer's name don't live in
    manufacturing.  Seriously, "obscure"?!  When I told my boss the news,
    we BOTH thought Palmer was a shoo-in; he's a rising star (a risen star
    now, eh?) whose authority/responsibility has been soaring for some time
    now. 
    
    lt

    Lots of us live in the field and we don't know much...'cept what we
    read in these here notesfiles!
    
    

    
    
    What does this mean to the stock price tomorrow morning ?
    
    Ramesh

    I've worked with Bob Palmer for over five years, off and on. He is an
    incredibly brilliant selection. Extremely committed to people. And at
    the same time to operational excellence. For Bob, the approach is to
    focus on the result and then work carefully and consistently toward
    that end. That is how EV-4 got to be the fastest microprocessor in the
    industry (years of constancy of purpose toward the goal of absolute
    world-class leadership). That's how we made the difficult decisions to
    close several manufacturing plants.

    Bob gets along with his peers extremely well. He is well respected. He
    is likable as an individual. And an excellent friend, even if you
    don't see him for a long time. Add to this his credentials and his
    reputation outside (as detailed in other notes) and you have an
    excellent new leader. I'm very excited!

    re-56
    See-.18
    
    B.A.

Anyone seen anything "official" about the Falotti and Zereski rumors?

								- paul

    I'm a little surprised of the retirement, my expectation was that Ken
    would stay on until Alpha was -successfully- introduced and shipping.
    There are those who would respond saying that's now, but I expected
    about another year.  I wish him well in his retirement.  Say what you
    want about him, his vision, strategy, etc., but most of all his
    character is what I admire most of all.  
    
    Many of the replies indicate they have either not heard of or knew
    what Bob Palmer did.  Having worked in HLO for about 10 years prior
    to moving into the field, Bob has been a part of the success achieved
    there, specifically in managing the engineering and manufacturing
    organizations.  With the successful introduction of the Alpha chip,
    this may have been what clinched the position for Bob.  Major strides
    have been made in technology, manufacturing, and engineering under his
    leadership.  Of course, the credit also belongs to the folks supporting
    him.  In any event he has been a 'constant rising star' since joining
    Digital in 1985.  
    
    Although I can't claim to be a personal friend of his, I've met with him,
    supported him, and observed his actions.  From what I remember, he was
    fair, knowledgable, and not afraid to answer the tough questions.  He
    has been known to be very frank about Digital's problems, the need to
    be more efficient to be competitive, etc.  He's 'technology' oriented
    in the sense that he knows that R&D is an important aspect of the
    business, notice the recent $500M+ investment in another semiconductor
    facility.  He's a polished, image oriented speaker, a radical departure
    from Ken.  I expect him to be decisive.
    
    I think Ken wanted to continue the premeir technology focus at the 
    highest level, which has been Digital's trademark.  Bob should be able
    to continue that focus.  I wish Bob good luck.  He's got his work cut
    out for him.  The impact to the field will largely be unknown, since
    he's not been exposed directly to sales and service in his previous
    roles.
    
    -john
         

    
    Re: .63
    
    >he's not been exposed directly to sales and service in his previous
    >roles.
    
    This is very good.  He is in the same position as many of our
    customers ;^} !!
    

Headline: . Digital announces retirement of Kenneth Olsen; board of directors expected to name Robert Palmer as successor.
source: Business Wire


  MAYNARD, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Digital Equipment Corp. announced today 
that Kenneth H. Olsen, 66, founder and president of Digital, plans to retire 
from the company, effective Oct. 1, 1992.

  At its next meeting, the Digital board of directors is expected to approve 
Olsen's recommendation that Robert B. Palmer, 51, Digital's vice president, 
manufacturing and logistics, be named to succeed him as president and chief 
executive officer.

  ``I've had a long and satisfying career at Digital, and it's time for the 
next generation of management to assume leadership,'' said Olsen. ``I'm making 
this announcement now to provide an orderly transition at the beginning of the 
company's 1993 fiscal year.''

  Commenting on the announcement, Palmer said, ``We have a strong business 
with talented and dedicated people, clearly focused on providing computing 
solutions for organizations worldwide.  I'm honored and eager to carry forward 
the vision that Ken has established for Digital.  He is a computer industry 
pioneer and an architect of innovation, and has built one of the world's major 
corporations.  His vision of interactive and distributed computing has been 
revolutionary.''

  Palmer joined Digital in 1985.  In 1986 he was named vice president, 
Semiconductor Operations.  In 1989 he was appointed vice president, 
Semiconductor and Interconnect Technology.  He was appointed to his present 
position in November, 1990.  Previously, Palmer served as executive vice 
president, Semiconductor Operations, United Technologies Corp., which acquired 
Mostek Corp.  in 1980.  He was on of Mostek's founders and held a series of 
management positions.  He earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mathematics 
and a Master of Science Degree in Physics from Texas Tech University.  He is a 
past member of the boards of directors of the Semiconductor Industry 
Association (SIA), SEMATECH, Semiconductor Research Center (SRC), and the 
Microelectronics and Computer Technologoy Corp. (MCC).

  Olsen founded Digital in 1957, and has been  its only chief executive 
officer.  He is a member of the boards of directors of Polaroid Corp. and Ford 
Motor Co.; the Corporation of MIT, Cambridge, Mass.; board of trustees, Gordon 
College, Wenham, Mass.; the Corporation of Wentworth Institute, Boston; and a 
Deacon of Boston's Park Street Church.

  Digital Equipment Corp., headquartered in Maynard, Mass., is the leading 
worldwide supplier of networked computer systems, software and services.  
Digital pioneered and leads the industry in interactive, distributed and 
multivendor computing.  Digital and its partners deliver the power to use the 
best integrated solutions -- from desktop to data center -- in open 
information environments.

           CONTACT:  Digital Equipment Corp., Maynard
                     Dallas Kirk, 508/493-4562

			DIGITAL NEWS
			17-Jul-1992


    DIGITAL BOWS TO SHAREHOLDER PRESSURE OVER BOARD APPOINTMENTS

    Digital has bowed to shareholder pressure and set up an independent
    committee to scrutinise appointments to the main board. The move comes
    after reports of board level disagreements over the strategy of the
    company.

    Computing, London. 16 July 1992

    

What will really happen when Bob Palmer takes over?

Will he take his time in making the big decisions or will the axe come down on 
all around him almost immediately? What I mean is, will there be a lot of 
changes in upper management and will there be the 30K layoffs that some people
seem to think possible upon his appointment. 

Did Ken move aside to avoid being labelled the man who let 15-30 K people go? Or
was there pressure from within the higher echelons to have someone new take over. 

This was one event that didn't leak, Ken's stepping down!

                               James.

    
    "Oh, it's you BOB"
    
    -Mike Z.
    
    Lets go git 'em...

	... about the HP resignations, either.  The WSJ business news headlines
on the radio this am only mentioned KO.  Of course, they also attributed the the
2 5/8 stock rise to the news, too, so they obviously don't know everything!!  :>)

    According to one report/rumor, Falotti did resign over differencces
    with Ken.  Now that Ken has resigned, they are trying to woo him back,
    thus no official announcement as of yet.
    
    Whatever happened to the John Young rumor.  No news about HP in this
    morning's Globe - at least I didn't see it.
    

  re:.59
     > What does this mean to the stock price tomorrow morning ?
    
       It will open at 41, and go either up or down (or maybe stay the
    same).
                                   Denny  8^)

In article <[email protected]>,
   [email protected] (UPI) writes:
Xref: ryn.mro4.dec.com clari.tw.computers:2283
  clari.biz.misc:1717 clari.biz.finance:6811 clari.local.sfbay:30
Path: ryn.mro4.dec.com!nntpd.lkg.dec.com!nntpd2.cxo.dec.com!
  pa.dec.com!decwrl!uunet!looking!clarinews
From: [email protected] (UPI)
Newsgroups: clari.tw.computers,clari.biz.misc,clari.biz.finance,
  clari.local.sfbay
Subject: Platt named Hewlett-Packard president
Keywords: computers, manufacturing, corporate personalities,
	corporate finance, corporate management
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Date: Thu, 16 Jul 92 13:33:37 PDT
ACategory: financial
Slugword: hewlettpackard
Priority: regular
Format: regular
ANPA: Wc: 292; Id: z5550; Sel: xxbfc; Adate: 7-16-425ped
Approved: [email protected]
Codes: ybfcrxx., yfcqrxx., yfcmrxx., //nf--f/
Lines: 27

	PALO ALTO, Calif. (UPI) -- Hewlett-Packard Co. Thursday announced the
election of Lewis E. Platt as president and chief executive officer.
	He will assume the post Nov. 1, succeeding John A. Young, who is
retiring Oct. 31 after 14 years as president and CEO. Platt, 51, also
was elected to the HP board of directors.
	Platt currently is an HP executive vice president and head of the
company's Computer Systems Organization.
	HP Chairman David Packard said the selection of Platt was the
culmination of a two-year process that began with the company's 1990
reorganization.
	Platt joined HP in 1966 at the company's former Medical Electronics
Division. He held a variety of positions before becoming a senior vice
president in 1985 and an executive vice president in 1987. He became
general manager of the Computer Systems Organization in 1990.
	``HP is extremely fortunate to have someone as capable and broadly
experienced as Lew Platt to serve as our next president and CEO,'' said
Packard, who will remain as chairman of the board.
	``The strength of the new organization and the company's excellent
overall health make this an especially good time to move ahead with the
management transition as planned,'' he said. ``We're well prepared and
we expect the transition to go smoothly.''
	Packard said Thursday's announcement marked only the second time in
HP's 53-year history that a new president and CEO had been elected --
aside from the company's co-founders. Packard and William R. Hewlett
directly managed the company until 1978.
	Hewlett-Packard is an international manufacturer of computer and
measurement products an a market leader in laser and ink-jet printers.

I heard that Ken decided to retire because his last rating was a 5
("fails to meet requirements"), and he didn't want to get layed off :-)

Bill

    The Boston Globe reported this morning that unnamed sources "close to
    Digital"  state KO was under increasing pressure from the BOD to step
    down.  His support on the board was said to be only 5-4 after the Q3
    losses were reported.  According to Nikki Richardson, KO has *not*
    resigned from the BOD; his term expires in November 1993.

    I was discussing Ken's retirement, and Bob Palmer's appointment to
    replace Ken, with a friend this morning, he thought that the
    appointment of Bob is only a temporary one. Bob will be the person to
    make all the drastic changes in Digital. Then someone else will be
    brought in later. I do not know if I agree, but it is a thought.
    
    ?????
    

From todays WSJ:

HP's John Young, CEO, retires, Lewis Platt to succeed.

HP's Dean Morton, COO, retires

Young and Morton will leave the company's board.

DEC's Ken Olson, retires, Robert Palmer expected to replace.

DEC's Pier Carlo Fallotti, VP Europe, resigns.  Not clear if related to 
     KO's announcement.

grc

    word has it that Pier Carlo Falotti is leaving ... for the US of A
    to take better care of european interests.
    
    Heard this via-via as being pronounced by VP Joerg Rieder in
    his leaving speech in Germany (leaving - for an european function)
    
    from Paris,
    Ruuf
    

According to the Boston Globe, July 17, 1992:

"...Digital stock had been lifted in recent days--though it closed yesterday at
41, far from its peak of 199 and 7/8 in 1987--by rumors of a possible takeover
and a [sic] unspecified major change in management."

    From Livewire:
    
    
    DIGITAL ANNOUNCES RESIGNATION OF PIER CARLO FALOTTI
    
    The Corporation announced today, in Maynard, that Pier Carlo Falotti
    had tendered his resignation as president and chief executive officer
    of Digital Equipment Corporation International (Europe).
    
        The text simply said the following:
    
    Maynard, MA -- July 17, 1992 -- Digital Equipment Corporation
    announced today that Pier Carlo Falotti, President-Digital Europe, has
    resigned from the company. John F. Smith, senior vice-president,
    Operations, to whom Mr. Falotti reported, will assume his duties in the
    interim.
    

The following is my opinion worth about 2 cents.

Ken is 66 years old, he has worked hard for a good many years and made a 
success of the company.  I think that it shows alot of foresight, not
to be morbid but it would have been a real mess if he had kept on for
another 10 years and then passed away without nameing a replacment.

I hope Ken enjoys what ever he does and if he wants to start a new
company I am sure he will not have a hard time finding people who
want to work for/with him.


Sue

    
    Does anyone know what's the state of Mostek Co. which Bob co-founded
    yrs ago ?
    
    Michael..

    I'll take Texas for $200

    My $.02 re: Pier Carlo
    
    This is BAD news.  Pier Carlo was/is one of the best and most dynamic
    of the senior group IMHO.  For the three years I worked in Europe, I
    found him to be a visible leader with strong communications skills and
    excellent management skills, as well.  He presided over a long period
    of DEC's growth and success in Europe, which I believe he is largely
    responsible for.  A real "people person".  I will miss him, and I know
    that his resignation will hurt the company.  He will not be easily
    replaced.
    
    Regards,
    
    Bill

    re: .81
    
    Mostek in Colorado Springs closed up several years ago, laying off
    all its employees!

Falloti was named President and a Director of The ASK Companies this afternoon.
The ASK Companies consists of INGRES, ASK (Maxcim and Manman), and Data 3. 

    Well, regardless of whatever the company has to do to survive and
    thrive, I just hope that the new management continues to travel the
    moral high road that Ken has let us travel in the past.  With all
    the financial and other problems we've been going through, I think
    Ken is to be admired for keeping his people first as much as he
    could.  Sometimes, maybe the hard decisions took too long to be
    implemented, but I would rather work for a company that errors on
    the side of caring for its employees more than caring for profits.
    
    
    Maybe that attitude caused more problems than otherwise would have
    been necessary, but in this day and age of corporate greed, buyouts
    and all the rest, it's special to work for a company that cares about
    more than just black ink.  Besides, the black ink will take care
    of itself if the people that work for the company are taken care of.
    
    Just my $.02 worth.
    
    Pat

    re: .86
    
    Well said.  I believe that it was that kind of attitude that inspired
    the loyalty and respect of so many.  I hate to see it end up this way.
    

.84>    re: .81
.84>    Mostek in Colorado Springs closed up several years ago, laying off
.84>    all its employees!
    
    A quick check in the ZKO library business publications reveals an entry
    for Mostek cross-references the entry for SGS-Thompson, a unit of
    Thompson-CSF SA, a French company.  I would interpret this to mean that
    Mostek was bought out, and I have a recollection of Mostek being in
    dire financial straits a few years back.  I think that was part of the
    RAM foundry shakeout that hurt National badly as well.  Don't know if
    that can be laid at Palmer's door, or if he was already here, or if he
    came here after selling his company.  
    
    In any case, I wouldn't hold it against him, seems like it would've
    been an opportunity to learn if nothing else.  Have any others among
    our high mucky-mucks founded and run their own company in this
    business?

.87>    I hate to see it end up this way.
    
    Why?  It would've been nice to see KO bow out on top, but we're not
    there now.  Better to step aside and give someone else the chance to
    turn it around than to let ego ride roughshod over the best interests
    of the company, employees, shareholders, and (ultimately) the founder's
    legacy.
    
    I heard a hallway comment speculating that he didn't want to preside
    into the company's prolonged slide downhill, and may have decided that
    if he couldn't turn it around quickly (which hasn't happened) to hand
    the reins over to someone else.  Whether that decision was entirely
    a choice he voluntarily embraced eagerly is not the point...

    Hats off to Mr. Olson for a job well done.  I know my 11 years with
    D.E.C. has been memorable ones and I hope the Mr. Palmer will make the
    next ones as memorable (provided that I'm not slated for the next few
    rounds of "right-sizing".  When I worked in the airline industry, they
    called it "furloughing".  In the south we called it "canned".  And in
    Hollywood it's "between jobs".  Why is everyone so afraid to say that I
    was fired?
    
    Here's hoping that Mr. Olson continue to make a valuable contribution
    to the computer industry and Mr. Palmer to D.E.C. and the computer
    industry.
    
    

   re:.81 >Does anyone know what's the state of Mostek Co. which Bob co-founded
    >yrs ago ?

		No.

		But if you hum a few bars I can fake it.

		[or in light of these recent developments...]

		No.

		But if you take me to a few bars I can fake it.

	Sorry couldn't resist...
		  

    re .90: As someone who's spent 11 years with DEC, I would have hoped
    you would have at least learnt how to spell our (now soon to be former)
    CEO's last name.
    
    re Falotti - I agree with some of the previous noters: it's a loss to
    the company. One of the press releases quoted him (from memory, may not
    be literal) saying something like "the talks I had with ASK during the
    past five months..." - so he probably had planned it for some time.
    
    On the other hand DEC Europe is a mess - I don't know if it can get
    much worse.

RE: Mostek

Mostek's fate is part of Palmer's history, as given in the press release:

.65>Previously, Palmer served as executive vice 
.65>president, Semiconductor Operations, United Technologies Corp., which acquired 
.65>Mostek Corp.  in 1980.

UT probably sold off or closed many of the Mostek FAB facilities, 
but they still produce chips, both for themselves and contract customers,
including Uncle Sam.  Many are designed right here in Colorado Springs, at 
UTMC (United Technologies Microelectronics Center), a Mostek heritage.

Mike
    

    I used the word "obscure" for Bob Palmer and I can defend that choice
    quite well - those of us in the Field, ...never heard of him...  I've
    had Field people ask if it was "Arnie...", "Bob, who..." etc.  Maybe
    this points out a very basic problem with the way we do business. 
    People in HQ, manufacturing, etc. know him quite well - but the people
    that are close to the Customer don't know such an important individual. 
    When I first came here three years ago and went to New Hire Training, I
    commented about the focus on New England being detrimental to our
    efforts in the West.  First customer I called on said that they didn't
    like the fact that, "...D.E.C. is an East Coast company...".  I
    certainly hope that Bob ah-uh-oh-ah Palmer can help broaden the focus
    and improve the communication.  We'd like to feel like members of the
    team...
    
    Big Mac

    The consensus of external commentary on the announcement was that Ken's
    retirement was involuntary and imposed on him by the Board of
    Directors.
    
    The directors were unavailable for comment, and will meet next week and
    appoint a spokesman to speak for the Board.
    
    The Board will also meet to select Ken's replacement.

1>>    Olsen said, "I had a long and satisifying career at Digital.  It is now
2>>    time for the next generation of management to assume leadership.  I'm
3>>    making this announcement now in order to ensure an orderly transition
4>>    at the beginning of the companys fiscal 1993 year."
    
    <<1 I'd hardly call "owning" the place a "career"!
    
    <<2 "leadership" !? A long time ago Ken. And afraid I haven't seen it
    	in any "next generation" lately.
    
    <<3 "orderly" transition !? in a state of termoil!
    
    <<4 Sorry Ken, that was last month.
    
    Damn, I'm sorry to see that man go. But I guess he, and a lot of us,
    have already been a long time gone.
    
    Signed,
    
    13+

    Mostek was started by a group of disgruntled Texas Instruments
    engineers in 1969. One of those founders was Bob Palmer. I seem to
    recall that Mostek held the patent for using multiplexed addressing for
    DRAM chips, which greatly reduced the number of pins required and
    therefore the physical size of the chips.
    
    At their peak, they employed over ten thousand people. In late 1979, or
    early 1980, Mostek was bought by United Technologies. Mostek stock at
    the time was trading at about $19 per share. If I remember right, UT
    paid $62 per share for the company. Bob Palmer, and several others that
    had been around since the beginning became quite wealthy when they sold
    their stock options. Mostek became Mostek/United Technologies. 
    
    Mostek got caught up in the alleged 'dumping' of DRAM chips by the
    Japanese during the early 80's. In late '80 or early '81 the Japanese
    were selling 16K DRAMs for 75 cents each. At the time, it was costing
    Mostek $1.93 to make one of these chips. Needless to say, they weren't
    making any money at those prices.
    
    Before the bottom fell out ofthe DRAM market, Mostek was a great place
    to work. They were growing so fast that they even had billboards along
    I-35 north of Dallas advertising for help. It was a fun and positive
    place to work until the end grew near. Then the backstabbing began as
    managers were trying to carve out a piece of what was left. It got
    pretty ugly.
    
    Several years ago, United Technologies sold what was left of
    Mostek/United Technologies to SGS-Thompson. There were about 1,100
    employees there at the time. SGS laid off everyone, closed the place
    for a couple of months, then called back a very few key people to get
    things started again. About 3 years ago Digital was using SGS-Mostek
    (or whatever they're called these days) as a foundry to second source
    some of our chips. I don't know if this is still in place, but I'd
    guess that the Palmer connection helped them get that business.
    
    One thing I can say, there were no 'packages' when the layoffs took
    place there. The only package you got was your final paycheck, the
    required legal documents and a map showing how to get to the Texas
    Unemployment Office. :-( 
    
    Harry
    

    
    .....Anybody know what the stock did today??
    
    

    Without being overly sentimental:
    
     1.	How do you say good-bye to a legend?
     2.	How do you (as a field employee) say thank you Ken?
     3.	Can one send tears of joy for a long fruitful career through the
    	 network?
    
    I could easily pour out 100+ lines detailing the accomplishments I've
    enjoyed *because of* Ken's dream.  Without that dream, could you be
    reading this notesfile now?  Would the computing industry be the same?
    ...well, you folks sort of know the rest.
    
    Ken, I realize that you aren't gone just yet but thank you for a
    fantastic opportunity and a tremendous learning experience.
    
    Bob, you've got a tough act to follow.
    
    
    Phil_who's_been_in_this_place_since_high_school.
                                        

{Reproduced without permission from The Boston Globe, Saturday July 18, 1992}

NEW DIGITAL BOSS EXPECTED TO ACT FAST
By Charles Stein Globe Staff

To understand Robert B. Palmer, the soon to be President of Digital Equipment
Corp., you have to know a bit about the semiconductor industry that regards him
as something of a hero.

It is not a business for the faint of heart.

The competition is murderous, both from the Americans and the Japanese. To
succeed you have to be faster and cheaper than your rivals. If you fail on 
either count, you can disappear and never be heard from again.

The hard-edge that Palmer, 51, developed in that unforgiving environment
may explain why he was picked Thursday over better known executives to succeed
Kenneth Olsen as the new leader of Digital. The computer giant has hit
difficult times. It has been slow to see which way the market is heading, slow
to bring new products to market and slow to cut its costs.

So what could be more logical than naming a new president whose nickname
is "Rapid Robert"?

"He is fast at everything," said Robert Paluck, an old co-worker of Palmer's,
now the president of Convex Computer Corp. in Richardson Texas. "He talks
fast, he thinks fast, he gets things done fast; he even runs fast."

Digital, in a surpirse announcement, said Olsen would step down in October
after 35 years at the top of the Maynard company he founded in 1957. Digital
is a $14 billion firm that employs 27,000 people in Massachusetts and thousands
more in New Hampshire. The company lost $294 million in the first three months
of 1992 and is expected to announce another big loss for the quarter that
ended June 27. Palmer declined to be interviewed yesterday.

Palmer's fans in the semiconductor world thaink he is just what the doctor
ordered at Digital. The expect him to move quickly to stem the red ink at the
company. The may mean faster, deeper layoffs at a firm that for 33 years has
a no layoff policy. It also could mean a change in the corporate culture
that has prized creativity and freedom more than speed and low costs.

But technology executives say Digital must make those changes if it wants to
survive and prosper in the rapidly moving computer business. "You couldn't
have a better person at a better time to take over one of our most important
companies," said T.J. Rogers, president of Cypress Semiconductor Corp., a
California firm.

The big question about Palmer is the same one people ask about President Bush:
Does he have the vision thing? Can he rise above the nuts and bolts to chart
a course for Digital that will distinguish it from its computer rivals?

"He hasn't spent many years in the computer business," said Jeffery Kalb,
a former Digital executive now running a West Coast computer firm. "His
biggest challenge will be the strategic side of the industry." Kalb was
one of many executives who were surprised Digital reached outside the
computer end of the company for a new president.

One thing is already clear: Digital has chosen a man who is very different
from the legend he will replace.

Olsen is a big bear of a man. Palmer is lean and athletic. Olsen is famous
for his casual styleof dress. He was once mistaken for a janitor at Digital
headquarters. Palmer wears expensive suits and is known around the company
as "GQ Bob." "He cares about the way he looks," said Paluck. Olsen is prone
to long rambling speeches. Palmer is very direct.

Olsen came out of the Boston computer world. Palmer is a texan who has grown
up making semiconductors or chips, the building blocks of computers and every
other electronic device.

To hear the people in the industry tell it, the chip business is like the
Wild West. You have to be tough to make it.

"Bob would knock down walls for you," said L.J. Sevin. "He's a strong,
no-nonsense guy." Sevin, now a well known venture capitalist in Dallas,
recruited Palmer out of Texas Instruments in 1969 to start a brand new chip
making company named Mostek Corp.

Palmer quickly became the vice president of manufacturing, a field that has
been his specialty ever since. It is a field that demands tremendous precision
and attention to costs. The difference of a tenth of a penny can be crucial,
say those in the business.

Mostek thrived for more than a decade and former colleagues give Palmer at
least some of the credit for that success. They remember him as a leader who
could motivate the troops to work hard. They use words like "action-oriented"
and aggressive to describe his style of management.

Palmer joined Digital in 1985, and his rise has been characteristically speedy.
In 1986 he was named president of semicodnuctor operations. In 1990 he was
made vice president of Manufacturing. His principal achievement at Digital
was the on-time deliver of Alpha, a new chip that is expected to power the
company's next generation of computers.

It is the style of the chip-making business - the discipline, even the
ruthlessness - that may be Palmer's most important contribution to Digital.
"In technology, time is everything," said Paluck. "It doesn't matter how
good you are if you are late."

Rogers says much the same thing. He believes Palmer can bring efficiency to
Digital without destroying the qualities that made the company great.

Rogers met with Palmer just two months ago. Even then, he said, Palmer talked
about Digital as a company that offered great opportunity. "He called Digital
one of the crown jewels of the computer world," said Rogers.

Palmer will now have a chance to make those jewels shine once again.

    

    According to a TV report on CNN, it indicated that Ken did not make his
    decision all by himself.  The report said that he was either asked or
    pushed into doing so.  It was also speculated that Bob Palmer was Ken's
    choice, and not necessarily that of the rest of the board.
                                  

    re .103/92 INdeed, didn't I just see something that said that Europe
    came in well over budget...
    
    q
    

    Where did .103 go? I never saw it..
    
    Anyway, even though the official figures aren't out yet, DEC Germany
    has publicly (in a press release) said that the loss will be a
    three-digit number (in millions of DM). Some sources say it will be
    aroung DM 150 million (~100 million US dollars).
    
    Of course, not all of this is operational loss - about 500 people were
    laid off.
    
    I don't know how the rest of Europe is doing.
    

    I'm not a moderator here, and I didn't complain to them, but from my
    recall of the note, it revealed financial results (or numbers claiming
    to be so) of the company that have not be disclosed externally.

Re: .92

>    On the other hand DEC Europe is a mess - I don't know if it can get
>    much worse.

I don't understand how anyone could come close to this synopsis. Why do you
have this perception?
								- Ian W.

.103 mentioned one eight-letter word that started b and ended t. In fact,
what happened was that .92 equated 'Germany" with "Europe". Having seen the
sort of fun and games my German counterpart has had these past few months,
I can sympathise with their position... but it's not shared by all the other
European countries!
								- Ian W.

    Our engineering organization got an interesting note from KO before
    the announcement about the retirement.  It invited us to come and
    meet with KO and the engineering community this Monday for a 
    2 hour discussion.   If there's anything interesting discussed 
    I will post a note here.  
     

  Re -.1: This meeting will take place at PKO. The auditorium has a capacity of
600. I heard (before K.O.'s retirement was announced) that this presentation 
won't be broadcast on DVN and won't be available on videotape. As of now, this
is a far more important event than it was four days ago, and I hope they change
their mind and make it available on video. I expect that the auditorium will be
packed.

Ian
	I preferred your previous version!
Andy

   Digital                      U.S. JOBS BOOK        Digital Internal Use Only


  00AA CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER                     WC: 4 (Exempt)
      Title: CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER            Shift: 1  Travel: 10%  Hours: 40

Recruiter:  Digital BOD                         Requisition Number:  H000000
   E-mail:  HAVOC::BOD                                        Date:  16-JUL-92
  LOC/DTN:  MLO5-5/ABC  555-0123                  Relocation Funds:  No

       Job Site:  MLO CORP HDQTRS/ENG/MFG MAYNARD, MA
Job Description:
Lead Digital out of current financial difficulties and regain profitability. 
Must have "the vision thing".   Requires at least 10 years experience running a
multi-billion dollar company at the vice-presidential level.  Good 
communication skills.  Must have the ability to maintain good customer, press
and analyst relations.  Able to make quick, tough decisions and guide
management in their execution.  SRI 99     ***PREFERRED CANDIDATE IDENTIFIED***



:-)

Charlie

    No "BS" or higher, required?  ;-)

    
    
    	re .112
    
    	Enjoy your fishing.... you have worked hard for it!

    RE. .112 -< Goin' Fishin' >-
    
    � Anyway, I like Ken's quote:"And once I'm gone, I'm gone. I'm going
    � fishing.
    
    Your quote brought back something that was published in the October 27,
    1986 Fortune Magazine.  The article was entitled "America's Most
    Successful Entrepreneur".  The front cover showed Ken Olsen in his
    fishing garb.  A page in the article also showed him standing in his
    canoe with paddle in hand.  It has a caption saying "Canoes, not
    yachts, are Olsen's style.  He likes roughing it on remote rivers in
    Canada."
    
    It would be nice to see someone so successful really retire and enjoy
    the rest of his life, but, I doubt that he is the type of person who
    will do that.  I wouldn't be surprised to hear about him in the future
    doing something else in electronics or the computer field.  He has said
    numerous times over the years that he wanted to develop a flat-screen
    for television that would hang on a wall.
    
    
    22+ years....

    I went to the KO engineering meeting today.  I didn't take written 
    notes. The following are some things that I remember. If any of 
    you were there please help enhance or correct the following.
    
    ------------------------------------
    KO + Bob Palmer + Jack Smith + John Simms were present.  Many other
    VP and higher types. There were a few hundred engineers there. You 
    could tell we were engineers because we were mainly dressed casual!

    The front of the room was filled with Ken's tall tower packaging.

    He talked about an engineering budget, why it's important, how it
    should work.  He said that many engineering managers didn't want
    to budget things so they could have power to change things at will.
    If you present a budget it becomes clear if you know what your doing.

    He listed his view of the company's three main problems:

    - It costs too much money to design our products
    - It costs too much money to build our products
    - It costs too much money to sell our products

    We build too many systems that too alike. Too many kinds of
    cables to know what you need to get the system running.  
    Too many enclosures, etc.. It is far more 

    He had one slide that had the following info:

               F�  F�  F� ..
         BU�   .   .   .
         BU�   .   .   .
         BU�   .   .   .
         ..

    This showed that Business units on the left that are close to the
    customers needs; Eg; Banking industry, Medical, Automotive, etc.
    The functional units would work for the business units and design the
    systems, software, etc.

    This was Ken's vision when he tried to re-organize the company a few
    years ago.  The problem was that the functional managers were too
    powerful and wouldn't work for the business unit managers.  They
    would never do the business plans as requested.

    Ken said he was never able to make it happened, he failed. That's why
    he was fired. 

    He described his vision of modular computing.  He showed some STORME
    boxes for the tall towers, these would be the computers, Intel, ALPHA,
    VAX, MIPS, etc.  We would only need a few flavors of these. They would
    all fit in the tall tower cabinets.   He described the storage
    packaging, network hardware, etc.  He stated that this small building
    could manufacture all of the CPU hardware that digital would ever sell.

    He made a good logical case for low cost modular computers.
    He explained how this will make it very easy to sell our products from
    a catalog. It now takes eight experts to configure a system for a
    customer, with modular hardware the salesman will have all the
    information he needs to configure any system.  The engineers owe making
    it easy and to provide all the information needed to get the job done.

    He gave the example of how well the PC biz has just started working
    since we published a good catalog. It tells what are PCs have for
    features and what they don't do.  Very honest.  They are starting to
    sell themselves.  We need to do this for all products.  They have to
    all be easy to configure, sell and service.  

    
    Re:
    
>================================================================================
>Note 1992.117                   Ken is retiring!?                     117 of 117
>DIODE::CROWELL "Jon Crowell"                         67 lines  20-JUL-1992 22:38
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>    This was Ken's vision when he tried to re-organize the company a few
>    years ago.  The problem was that the functional managers were too
>    powerful and wouldn't work for the business unit managers.  They
>    would never do the business plans as requested.
>
>    Ken said he was never able to make it happened, he failed. That's why
>    he was fired. 
    
    And I'll vouch that that last sentence was a direct quote from Ken. I
    guess this means someone should update the title of this notes string.
    
    I found his talk very uplifting. I just totally fail to understand why
    he was unable to get his Business Unit Organization implemented. I feel
    that if Ken Olsen had been able to move his bureaucracy into doing this
    we wou;dn't be in the mess we are now. I hope Bob Palmer has more
    success implementing this plan than Ken did. I feel Ken had the right
    vision. Wonder how his plans got frustrated.
    
    Dave
    

    re: .117
    
    >I found his talk very uplifting. I just totally fail to understand why
    >he was unable to get his Business Unit Organization implemented. I feel
    >that if Ken Olsen had been able to move his bureaucracy into doing this
    >we wou;dn't be in the mess we are now. I hope Bob Palmer has more
    >success implementing this plan than Ken did. I feel Ken had the right
    >vision. Wonder how his plans got frustrated.
    
    	off the topic a little...  I agree!  I had the occasion to attend
    the state of the company meeting a couple years ago as a technical
    support person for our product that we were demoing there.  It was very
    impressive.  Ken and about 500 of his closest 'friends' in the company. 
    He gave a very powerfull speach.  He talked about problems of too many
    MBAs.  About people not willing to make decisions, take risks.  About
    way too much process and not enough production.  etc. etc.  He really
    beat up on the sales group and the high and mid level managers for not
    doing what it took to do the job.  About being indecisive.  He talked
    at length about the problems and I got the feeling that he actually had
    a good idea about what was going on (and going wrong) in the company. 
    And he had some strong opinions about the solutions.  It was very
    moving and inspirational to me.  I thought 'gee, when people get the
    word, things will really change!'.
    
    	They made a video of the state of the company meeting and shared it
    on DVN.  I made it a point to go see it to see for myself the reactions
    of the process people and the managers.  It was more than a little
    disheartening to see that all the good powerfull 'meat' (for lack of a
    better term) was removed and the entire thing came down to a sweetness
    and light little speach (along with the same things happening to the
    other speakers, PCF and Don Zereski et. al.).  There was no powerfull
    message, no inspiration left after the good stuff was removed.
    
    	I then began to realize that Ken's message and motivation would be
    largely lost among the people who may have needed it most.  The company
    didn't reduce process and procedure at all.  Those things (at least it
    my corner of the world) continued to grow.  I think that this is (at
    least) a partial result of Ken's strong words not making it to the
    locals (or anyone else not at the meeting to begin with).  Ken knew the
    problems (at least some of them) and the solutions.  But somehow (and I
    find it hard to believe that it was simply an oversight), those
    messages never made it back to us.  Somehow, process and procedure
    became more important to do than actually doing anything at all.  This
    I think is why the company continues to struggle.  And, I suspect, why
    he was asked to step down.

    The last couple of notes concerning the recent meeting with the
    engineers makes me think of how it would be in a military organization. 
    I'm just winging this so bear with me.
    
    Say a brigadier general (Ken) issues orders to his regimental
    commanders (IBU managers).  The regimental commanders screw things up, 
    disobey orders causing the troops (Us!) to be butchered.  The brigadier 
    sees this happening, rides to the front and rallies his troops to follow 
    him and over-rules the regimental leaders.  The troops follow and
    achieve victory.
    
    Simplistic?  Maybe.  However, I believe that if Ken had come directly
    to the "troops", we would have rallied and WE, along with him, would
    have tossed those responsible out on their butts before the next
    quarter.
    
    I bet Ken can begin to understand how Robert E. Lee must have felt at
    Gettysburg after Longstreet's delays cost them the battles on days 1
    and 3.
    
    Marv
    

Copyright � Dow Jones & Co. 1992
Source: Wall Street Journal
Headline: Palmer Faces Big Challenge   At Digital Equipment
Time: Jul 20 1992 0921


Story: 
  By John R. Wilke
  David Stone, Digital Equipment Corp.'s top software strategist, has a 
private joke he shares with Robert B. Palmer, who ascended suddenly to the 
chief executive's job at Digital last week.
  The two men, with Pier Carlo Falotti, president of Digital's big European 
unit, had been named in The Wall Street Journal last year as likely candidates 
to succeed Digital's president, Kenneth H. Olsen. And they knew that each time 
someone emerged as a potential challenger to Olsen's near-total control, they 
lost power and were pushed aside.
  "When we saw each other after that, we drew a little bull's eye on our 
foreheads, like this," Stone says. He gestured toward his forehead and traced 
three concentric circles with his finger.
  But it is Palmer who will remain, not Olsen, ending a spellbinding corporate 
drama with a troubled passing of the torch to a new generation of leadership 
at the company. Although Olsen, 66 years old, won't retire until Oct. 1, the 
precise and methodical Palmer, 51, is expected to take the reins almost 
immediately. He's likely to move quickly to make sweeping work-force cuts that 
Olsen resisted and break a logjam of indecision that has nearly paralyzed 
Digital's senior ranks for months, the Journal reported.
  "Bob Palmer is a strong technologist and pragmatic businessman who isn't 
afraid to take the tough actions that are going to be necessary," says James 
M. Osterhoff, Digital's former chief finance officer. Osterhoff left last year 
after a run-in with Olsen, part of an exodus of talented executives who 
tangled with the iron-willed founder.
  Palmer will have Stone's help reshaping the company, but not Falotti's, 
whose resignation was made public last Friday. In fact, he resigned June 30, 
and his decision to leave had a key role in the events leading to Olsen's 
exit, insiders said. Digital's board was already alarmed by the company's 
freefall and aware that other top managers could be expected to resign unless 
Olsen stepped aside. But the imminent loss of Falotti, who had been 
responsible for Digital's success in Europe, "was the last straw," said one 
executive familiar with the events. "They had to act."
  Falotti, whose frustration with Olsen was well known, had decided to accept 
the chief executive's job at ASK Cos. But Digital mounted a last-ditch effort 
to get him to reconsider. But Falotti had made up his mind. Falotti, in a 
telephone interview, said he was already focusing on the job ahead, at ASK. 
"In this moment of turmoil and emotion I cannot be quoted on this," he said 
from Portugal. "I am a man who looks forward, I do not engage in recrimination 
about the past."
  With pressure from the board intensifying, insiders said, and a looming net 
loss of $1.5 billion or more to be reported on Wednesday for the quarter ended 
June 27, Olsen apparently decided the time had come. By some accounts, he had 
no other choice. But neither Olsen nor any of the nine-member board would 
discuss what happened.
  "In the end, it doesn't matter," said Harvey Weiss, a former vice president 
who ran Digital's $2 billion federal sales division. "Ken's legacy remains. 
His vision and his values endure." But Weiss added that Olsen could be 
maddeningly stubborn. Even as the company began to come apart, "he just 
refused to take help from anyone."
  Digital is likely to become a very different company under Palmer. Analysts 
say that while Olsen's organizational model was that of the research 
university, with often-fractious cliques and independent departments fighting 
for resources, Palmer is likely to build a more top-down management to impose 
new discipline and a more traditional hierarchy onto Digital's freewheeling 
structure.
  As a result, investors and even some Digital executives welcomed Olsen's 
exit, even as they hailed his historic contribution to the industry. Digital's 
shares gained $2.25 on heavy volume Friday, to close at $43.25, in late New 
York Stock Exchange trading. Analysts also applauded. Steven Milunovich of 
Morgan Stanley called the change at the top "a significant, long-term positive 
for Digital."
  For now, though, Milunovich remains deeply skeptical. Dean Witter's Jay 
Stevens, on the other hand, immediately raised his recommendation to a "buy" 
on Digital stock, betting on a comeback in 1993. But he doesn't think the 
changes at the top are complete and predicts that the board will bring in new 
marketing talent at a senior level and replace the company's new chief 
financial officer.
  Palmer takes the helm with Digital in dire straits. Many employees have been 
demoralized by the layoffs and by seemingly relentless infighting among 
management, while executive ranks have been thinned by an early-retirement 
program that claimed many of the company's most experienced managers. Of the 
37 men and women listed as corporate officers in the annual report, only 23 
remain.
  Palmer must also preside over sweeping work-force reductions, which the 
company has already said could reach 15,000 in the fiscal year that began June 
28, out of a total work force of about 112,000. Many analysts expect Palmer to 
push to exceed that number in an effort to return more quickly to 
profitability. One consultant to Digital familiar with internal estimates says 
that layoffs will range from 17,000 to 22,000 and will commence in two waves, 
with the first coming late this month. A Digital spokesman would not discuss 
the cuts and said that Palmer wouldn't be available for comment.
  Perhaps Palmer's most basic challenge is to deliver on time a new line of 
products on which the company's future depends. The products are based around 
a powerful new microprocessor chip, dubbed Alpha, that was developed by 
Digital's state-of-the-art chip making operation. That unit, considered in the 
computer industry to be Digital's crown jewel, has been overseen by Palmer 
since 1985.
  Palmer's tasks will be made even more difficult by the long shadow of the 
founder, whose personality has shaped the company for 35 years. And while it 
isn't clear how much influence Olsen will still wield as a director -- his 
term expires in November next year -- people who have followed his remarkable 
career find it hard to believe he will be able to resist meddling with company 
management.
  But in an interview in May, Olsen seemed to understand the problem. As he 
had said many times before, he repeated that he had no plans to retire and 
wanted to stay at least long enough to get his beloved company back on course. 
But he added, "the real measure of my success will be how well we fare after I 
am gone.
  "And once I'm gone," he said, "I'm gone. I'm going fishing."

    It seems almost obvious that other top management people will be
    leaving the company.  We have begun hearing rumors that Sam Fuller is
    either changing jobs or perhaps leaving Digital.  Does anyone have any
    real information about him (he's currently the VP of Research)?
    
    (Moderators, if there is a better place for this note, please move it
    there.  Thanks.)
    
    

    RE: 117
    
    I got two points out of that...
    
    Ken was ABSOLUTELY right 2 years ago!!!!!!!  He had the recipe to pull
    us out again!!!!!!!!!
    
    He is still fighting to make it happen!!!!!  I think that it is
    astounding (a tremendous testimony to his character) that he would make
    the statement about being fired for failing to make his plan happen. 
    He could have drifted away or come up with a plausible but untrue
    explanation.  Instead, he is identifying the issue, taking
    responsibility and giving Bob Palmer a platform to take off from.
    
    In some other note someone mentioned something to the effect that Ken
    should/could have come to the troops with the message and we would have
    done the rest (a lousy paraphrase).  It seems to me that he is doing
    this now.  He is sacrificing himself, telling the troops that revere
    him that he couldn't get the job done and  essentially saying, Palmer's
    the guy to carry on my vision.
    
    He has often said that the true messure of his success will be how well
    Digital does after he is gone.  It seems to me that he is doing
    everything he can to "cement" his reputation.
    
    I am proud to have worked for him.
    
    Ken Slattery
                                 

    Re .-1
    
    I think you've hit the nail on the head. I'll add to that that I think
    Ken Olsen knew what needed to happen but didn't know how or was unable to
    make it happen this time. His frustration with this was visible
    throughout the talk.
    
    The talk he gave at Parker Street was videotaped. I can't wait to see how
    much the propaganda ministry 'edit' it. Let's take bets on whether
    the phrase about him being fired stays in there.
    
    I believe it shows the true strength of the man to say that he was
    fired rather than making up some cock and bull story about departing
    voluntarily.
    
    As an aside at the end of the talk a few people were getting
    autographs. I happened to have the signoff draft of a new manual for
    the product my group has just finished engineering (I was reading it
    before the talk). Ken signed the front cover of it. It is something I'll
    treasure for the rest of my life. I'm going to have the page copied and
    framed for each member of the project team.
    
    Dave

    Whether or not you agree with Ken you have to admire his strength to go
    before the troops and speak his piece. For that alone I will respect
    him forever.
    
    Gene.

    Re .-1
    
    I beg to disagree. I heard it, talked to the person next to me, he
    heard it. I then saw Jon enter it into the notesfile here. He entered
    exactly what I recall Ken saying. Anybody else want to say what they
    heard. The phrase was about half way through his speech when he was
    talking about his attempts to get things reorganized and that he
    failed, something about taking responsibility and then the bit about
    fired.
    
    Anybody know where we can get a copy of the video from to listen to
    exactly what he said?
    
    Dave

    Also see 2005.0 where yet another person is entering the same thing.
    
    Dave

Re: .112, .116, et al. . .

It's amazing how, in less than five years, KO has gone from being the darling 
of Wall Street ("America's Most Successful Entrpreneur") to being portrayed as
nothing more than a petty over-bearing CEO (ala CNN, USA Today, WSJ, etc.). I
can't help but wonder if KO would still be hanging in there if not for the 
external pressure provided by the money grubbing whores and get rich quick 
scumbag "analysts" that evaluate our company (and others). (How else can you 
describe a profession that blasts IBM stock last week because they only earned 
$1.25 per share when the almighty "analysts" predicted $1.33 per share?)

On a human note, I still have the personal note KO sent me nine years ago when
my father passed away. Considering I had been with the corporation all of three
months, I was certainly moved. I admire Ken immensely for sticking to what HE
believed in, maintaining a simple "Spartan" lifestyle, and his deep devotion to
his faith. I have no doubt that the powers that be around him caused him much
aggravation these past years as he tried to wrestle with turning this company
around. 

To one hell of a bear of a man - I hope they're biting!

    Once again we see the vendetta of the bitter.

    Wall Street was not in charge when DEC lost 85% of its market value.
    DEC has lost billions of dollars of the shareholders funds in an
    industry that it growing.

    Ken Olsen would rightfully take the credit if the company implemented
    its 1990 vision in 1992, was profitable, a stock at $200 paying a $5
    dividend.

    But it's not, so he rightfully takes the blame.

    Wall Street's advice to Digital was ignored, not followed.  Ken Olsen
    isn't arrogant about much, but he was arrogant when it came to
    anyone who dared to suggest that Digital do something really different
    like reduce the size of the work force.

    Wall Street's analysis of Digital's plight was more accurate that the
    internal sanitized version.  As a company which stock is traded
    publicly, who else is going to research Digital?

    The "scumbags" and "whores" are customers, or more particularly my
    customers.  Some of them are former employees of Digital.

    They work in an industry that has fully recovered and is once again
    profitable after downsizing.  The follow their own advice.

    If and when Palmer turns Digital around, Wall Street will give him the
    credit.

RE: .129  Vendetta? Against who, what? It was just a thought...

You are correct that Wall Street was not in charge when DEC lost 85%...
However, the majority of the brokerage firms were, and still, telling
anyone who would listen that DEC was a stock to dump or avoid.

Wall Street's advice to Digital was ignored, not followed. Give me a break.
Now we should be listening to Wall Street to help us carve out the technology 
of the future, plot the direction of the computer industry (or any industry for
that matter), and satisfy the business needs and wants of our customers (even 
yours)? I don't know about you, but I honestly feel that we (DEC) have the
best solution/platform/architecture/software... of any of the major vendors.
I think we are far and away a better choice than any of our competitors for
almost any application. Yet, from Wall Street all we ever hear about is the
bloated employee population, KO's meddling, our projected loss for the quarter,
etc., etc., etc. Never as much about our technology, the investment protection
we provide our customers, our growth paths, our leading edge software products,
our innovation, our creativity, etc. If Wall Street is so "forward thinking",
then why, when IBM stock falls or rises, do the rest of the technology issues
follow in line? If the Wall Street analysis is so "accurate", then why not 
evaluate each and every company, IBM, DEC, HP, etc., on it's own individual 
merits or shortcomings? IBM reports a loss, they go down, we go down. Apple
reports a profit, they go up, we go up. It's stupid. 

I must also disagree with you when you accuse KO of being arrogant in his 
reluctance to reduce the size of the work force. I genuinely believe that
his resistance in this area was, and still is, his compassion for not wanting
to put anyone out of work. In the final analysis, this may have been a factor
that contributed to his demise. 

Ken is a compassionate and caring individual. He also is forward thinking and
has the "vision thing". He never bowed to the wishes and wants of the Wall St.
jerks and I applaud and admire him for that. Sure we're changing as a
corporation and we're experiencing things we never did before and we're
making mistakes. But if Wall Street would give us some slack, I'm confident 
that we will turn the corner and take the market by storm once again. And when
we do, Bob Palmer will be the new fleeting Wall Street "Person Of The Year" 
largely due in fact to the calculations of Mr. Olsen.
    

.130>I don't know about you, but I honestly feel that we (DEC) have the best
.130>solution/platform/architecture/software... of any of the major vendors.
.130>I think we are far and away a better choice than any of our competitors
.130>for almost any application. Yet, from Wall Street all we ever hear about
.130>is the bloated employee population, KO's meddling, our projected loss for
.130>the quarter, etc., etc., etc. Never as much about our technology, the
.130>investment protection we provide our customers, our growth paths, our
.130>leading edge software products, our innovation, our creativity, etc.

The days of the world beating a path to your door because you have the
best mousetrap are over. Having the best X, Y or Z doesn't mean a whit if
you fail in the basic areas of business such as controlling costs.

I've seen many a bright, talented individual utterly fail in business
because they were lousy businessmen/women, not becuase they lacked talent
or skill. Wall St. doesn't care about 64-bit RISC, operating systems or
8-plane graphics, they care about red/black ink.

Market changes in the industry/economy were largely ignored by Digital;
we were still too eurphoric from earlier successes to pay any attention.
In the recent past, growth and demand covered a lot of sin and slack (we
were successful in spite of ourselves). Now it's dog-eat-dog competitive
and we are largely unprepared for it.

Wall St. kept expecting that we would diet, unfortunately now we must
resort to major surgery if we are to stay alive.

Lee

Re: .130

I can't disagree with you, even in our glory days such measurements as our 
earnings per employee, etc. were abysmal when compared against the rest of the 
industry. We were also often criticized for the amount of money we pumped into 
R&D. There is no denying that DEC became fat and happy and as you say, growth 
and demand covered a lot of sin. But, I don't subscribe to the theory that the 
folks running the business of this company are complete idiots (they flunked 
Business 101). To categorize them like that would be unfair, just as it was 
unfair of me to categorize the folks on Wall Street as I did. There is no 
denying that we missed the boat in some areas (like PC's) and miscalculated in 
others (like mainframes). Truth be told, this will continue to happen in a
company as diverse, competitive, creative, and innovative as ours.

However, I am not ready to throw the towel in just yet.  I believe we have 
reported an actual net operating loss only once (last quarter) prior to 
charges for re-structuring. The analysts predict more losing quarters
to come - how many I don't know. Hopefully, we will stem the tide quickly and
resort to the major surgery you suggest and get this company back to the 
prominence it once held and deserves. I, for one, am looking forward to us 
becoming a lean/mean/fighting machine of a company. That is, of course
assuming the Turk does not tap on my shoulder during the coming months.

    I don't know what you mean by "glory days"?  1978-1984?  Our
    "minicomputer" competition was spending more per employee than us to
    design, manufacture, and sell a mini.  Digital had some economies of
    scale and vertical integration.
    
    As for the R&D, Wall Street and, hopefully, Digital, focus on outputs,
    not the inputs.  If DEC's R&D efforts had been more consistent in
    developing new products for new markets, then the opinion of DEC's R&D
    would be higher. 

    
    	I believe that we are going through a fundamental change
    	in styles of management within the company and that is
    	very much evidenced in the differences between Ken and
    	Bob Palmer.
    
    	Ken's style was obviously loser and encouraged independent
    	entrepeneurs and, in fact, even some competition among groups.
    	One of the articles I read characterized it as being similar
    	to the way you would manage research departments within a
    	university environment.  That style has worked for a long
    	time when technology development has been a driving force
    	in the business and cost control was not so much of an issue.
    
    	We (and the industry) have now reached a stage of maturity
    	where that style is no longer optimal and we need a tighter
    	top-down style of management, and I think Bob Palmer is just
    	the right person to bring about that change.  But this doesn't
    	happen just at the top, its got to be a fundamental change that
    	works its way down through all levels of management.
    
    	You can't fault Ken...his style was very appropriate and success-
    	ful for a long time.  
    
    	One other comment I would make is that no one has talked very
    	much about the role of the board of directors in all of this.
    	A very significant problem and perhaps one of the reasons why
    	these changes haven't been implemented sooner is that our BOD
    	has not been a stronger independent force in managing the company.
    	I understand that several investment firms have insisted on
    	providing more direct stockholder influence over the management
    	of the company through the board of directors.
    
    	I believe that's another essential change that has to be made
    	as part of our overall management style.
    
    	Chuck
    

    The reson no one has talked about the Board of Directors is that no one
    on the Board other than Ken Olsen, has made a public comment or
    authorized anyone to make a comment on behalf of the board about
    anything.

    Re: .134 (I dont usually correct spelling but I think this changes the
    meaning somewhat.......)
    
           <<< HUMANE::DISK$DIGITAL:[NOTES$LIBRARY]DIGITAL.NOTE;1 >>>
                          -< The DEC way of working >-
================================================================================
Note 1992.134                   Ken is retiring!?                     134 of 135
SOLVIT::COBB                                         38 lines  22-JUL-1992 08:30
                             -< Management Styles >-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    
    	I believe that we are going through a fundamental change
    	in styles of management within the company and that is
    	very much evidenced in the differences between Ken and
    	Bob Palmer.
    
    	Ken's style was obviously loser and encouraged independent
    				 ^^^^^^
    	Ken's style was obviously looser and encouraged independent

    I take KO's comments at face value.
    
    1) He set a critical goal to reduce the overhead in the company.
    
    2) He failed, at least partially because of his patience with
    subordinates.
    
    3) He (and the Board) held KO accountable for failure to meet an
    essential goal.
    
    4) Palmer has the same goal, but won't have the same patience.
    
    This sequence shows integrity and deserves our respect.  There is no
    need to canonize KO nor to blame Wall Street or anybody else.  We,
    Digital, failed to follow the course that we, Digital, knew was right. 
    We are reaping the consequences of our own failure.  If only it were
    known which of KO's subordinates refused to cooperate in helping reduce
    the overhead, then we'd have somebody to blame.  Frankly, given my
    present state of mind, I'd rather not know.  It'd only prejudice me
    against some people I've known before.
    
    fwiw,
    
    Dick

Getting back to what Ken said at PKO:

I heard on the radio that the NY Times said that Ken's been telling employees
that he was fired by the board.  Since the NY Times is the newspaper of record,
it must be true.

    RE: .117
    
    >> He listed his view of the company's three main problems:
    >>
    >>    - It costs too much money to design our products
    >>    - It costs too much money to build our products
    >>    - It costs too much money to sell our products
    
    Here's what my notes show:
    
    	"Our products cost too much to make. Our products cost
         too much to sell. Our big customer say they won't buy 
         from us."
    

    
    RE: The last many:
    
     I agree with most of what has been said here and would like to try to
    Summarise and add my groats worth:
    
    1) Digital did well (in spite of itself as someone already said)
       because it corporately stumbled upon a hit formula with clustering
       at a time when distributed computing was unknown. Now that dist
       computing (Athena, DCE, Full Sail et al) products are coming out
       of the industries ears we do not have any uniqueness. If you are
       selling vanilla ice cream your had better be the same price or
       cheaper than everyone elses.
    
    2) Digital has been forced to enter the "Pile it high, sell it cheap"
       segments of the market (PC's UNIX etc) in which price is often
       the sole differentiator. Unfortunately we have tried to do this
       whilst retaining our opulent lifestyle and attitudes which are
       just too damned expensive for a company whic is deriving an 
       increasing amount of its business from high-volume low-profit
       systems. Opulent lifestyle/attitudes whatever do I mean?
    
    		A) I mean control so slack that engineering in different
                   places are allowed to create multiple products which 
                   largely do the same thing.
    
    		B) I mean our addiction to process (eg product prevention
    		   committees which make our products late, expensive
    		   and uncompetitive). The Digital disease is process.
    		   If all the process had some effect, like preventing
    		   product flaws, improving data flow inside the company,
    		   delivering what was needed to the customer facing folks
    		   on time and in a usable format then fine - but it very 
    		   often doesnt. 
    
    		C) We have far too many professional meeting attenders - 
    		   and we still stage those meetings far too expensively. 
    		   Somebody's gotta say "Hey, guys - have the
    		   meeting here in this expensive facility we built for
    		   you. DONT fly off to XXX."  Perhaps that
    		   someone will be Bob Palmer. I hope so.
    
                
    
    3) The analysis (which I think I agree with) is that high profits are
       only to be made in selling value added services - consultancy. Again
       the move to the lower end of the market at one helps and hinders
       this effort. If a corporate customer has a large mixed herd of PCs and
       workstations then he/she will probably pay us nice money to hook it
       all up and maybe even provide some annuity business to keep it all 
       going. But the non corporate customers having paid shirt buttons for
       their APPDec or personal DECstation or PC will be very unlikely to
       pay Digital's prices for consultancy. There are many people out
       there who will provdie the service cheaply. Again, when the box
       does not contain uniqueness (DOS is DOS for example) we can only
       compete for consultancy business on price and we don't come close.
    
    
    What is the answer? 
    
    We have to start behaving like a company thats losing money and not
    rely on the cash in the bank and the promise of ALPHA to maintain our
    expensive addiction to spending money like water. Someone has to say,
    the gravy train isn't just late - its permanently derailed. Stop
    behaving like you're still on board it!
    
    Alan T
    UK DCE/OSF/Multimedia support.
    

    
    
    RE: .140
    
    I agree. The world changed, we didn't. 
    
    My only addition: 
    
    		One of the reason there are so  many overlapping projects,
    		is "We have too many people." Intelligent hard-working 
    		people that come up with the same basically correct ideas
    		and try to get them funded and implemented. They get funded
    		because they are ok ideas, but we wind up funding too many
    		of them because we just plan have too many people. 
    
    		Of course, I can also think of several really dumb ideas
    		that got funded. 
    

Apologies.

My .131 is a bit unfair; it is quite easy to be a 'Monday Morning
Quarterback'.

Just in a bad mood having to mess with a uncooperative bit of network gear at
that hour (and doing more of it now...)

Lee

COMPANY NEWS (sm) provided by Dow Jones/News Retrieval
Copyright (c)1992 Dow Jones & Company

Symbol Searched: DEC   
 
7/22/92 Digital's President Said To Claim He Was Forced Out


  By John R. Wilke
  Kenneth H. Olsen, the founder and president of Digital
Equipment Corp. who retired suddenly last week, told a
large group of Digital engineers that he was forced out,
company insiders said, The Wall Street Journal reported.
  Last week, close associates of Olsen said that retirement
was his decision alone. But it has been unclear whether the
decision to retire came at the board's request or in
anticipation of a vote by the board calling for his
resignation, and the board isn't talking.
  Although details of the session couldn't be confirmed,
accounts of the meeting circulating internally quote Olsen
as saying he was "fired" because he couldn't make
organizational changes stick.
  Olsen couldn't be reached for comment. A spokesman said
that he "can't confirm or deny it, I wasn't at the
meeting." However, he conceded that "people are talking
about it around the company." He added: "Let's assume it's
true. Does it really matter anymore?"
  The computer company insiders said Olsen was warmly
greeted with a standing ovation by the group of more than
100 engineers Monday at a Digital site in Maynard, Mass.,
near the company's headquarters. Olsen came before the
group with Robert B. Palmer, who last week was named to
succeed Olsen, and John F. Smith, senior vice president.
  They said Olsen was in good form and spoke candidly and
at length about his inability to make organizational
changes he said were needed to respond to customer needs.
In particular, he said that his efforts to make engineering
groups report to marketing were rebuffed, and was quoted as
having said, "that's why I was fired."
  Other executives say it isn't that simple. Since April,
when Digital reported an unexpectedly large loss, Olsen has
been under pressure by the board to move more quickly to
cut costs. The long-pliant board became very active,
pressing Olsen as never before and urging that strong
outsiders be brought in at senior levels. Insiders said the
board was also alarmed by apparent management discord and a
rising number of senior-level resignations over Olsen's
autocratic and unconventional management style.
  Olsen's talk was the subject of lively exchanges on the
huge electronic-mail network that ties together computer
terminals across the company, serving as its electronic
gossip line, employees said.
  Olsen's retirement is effective on Oct. 1, and he is
entitled to remain on the board through November 1993. But
if Olsen was indeed forced out, it raises the question of
who is chairman of Digital's board. Although nobody has
ever held the post at Digital, Olsen had always been the de
facto chairman, and that role may now have to be taken by
someone else.

    Re: .143
    I read that article yesterday in the WSJ and I wondered if someone
    on the WSJ staff had an account somewhere on the network and was
    reading our notes files.
    

    Several simpler explanations:
    
    Much more likely, there is a disloyal or bitter employee or an employee
    who thinks that he or she is "doing the right thing" by contacting the
    Wall Street Journal with information that is embarassing.
    
    It might also be through several levels of indirection, once a note is
    extracted and mailed out through the gateway or printed and faxed, you
    don't know who is reading it.

RE:    <<< Note 1992.122 by UNYEM::ETELMANS "Thelma & Louise for President" >>>
                              -< Others leaving? >-

>    It seems almost obvious that other top management people will be
>    leaving the company.  We have begun hearing rumors that Sam Fuller is
>    either changing jobs or perhaps leaving Digital.  Does anyone have any
>    real information about him (he's currently the VP of Research)?
    
From:	RDVAX::FULLER "Sam Fuller  22-Jul-1992 1745" 22-JUL-1992 17:44:45.05
To:	wrksys::bhandarkar
CC:	FULLER
Subj:	False Rumors

Dileep,

No truth whatsoever to rumor I'm leaving or changing jobs.  

Well, maybe I should be glad people are thinking of me, even if the rumor is 
wrong.

   Sam

    When I read that Ken said he was forced out because he 1) couldn't make
    organizational changes stick, and 2) that his efforts to make
    engineering groups report to marketing were rebuffed, it looks to me
    like:
    
    NMS (The New Management System) did Ken in.
    
    Remember the Heald Pond brainstorm of two years ago?  When it was
    announced, it did not appear to me that it could be implemented without
    causing major disruption, and that the administrative systems needed
    could not be put in place (PDIM'd...planned, designed, implemented,
    managed) before Q1 FY92, when we tried to go live with the first
    version of the thing.
    
    As it turned out, no Account P&Ls (the primary means of measuring
    performance under the NMS) were available until this past January, and
    a major revision was incorporated at that time as well.
    
    The bottem line is that for Q1 and Q2 in the U.S. field, we were flying
    blind with no reliable actuals!  No Budget either until the last week
    of December (with major revisions in January).  The confusion in the
    U.S. field as to where to source and apply resources IMHO directly
    impacted our results negatively this year.  
    
    NMS consumed a massive amount of effort by dedicated, competent,
    well-intentioned people who had been given their marching orders by
    Ken.  To me, it is incredible that we got as far toward implementing it
    as we did.  What remains, the Account based sales organization, is but
    a small part of the original NMS concept.
    
    My suspicion is that the Board never bought in on NMS, and when Ken
    insisted on going ahead with it, and it failed to produce the
    turnaround, they held him accountable.
    
    Carter
    

    re: .143  "electronic gossip"
    
    I wouldn't be surprised at all to find out that this one single article
    leads to the end of notesfiles like this one.
    
    A company that I work with on a regular basis doesn't have a "huge
    computer network", so the secretaries use to fax around hardcopy
    "rumor rags".  One of these rags contained information that was
    slightly uncomplimentary to a senior manager, and got "leaked".
    Within two days, all fax machines were moved into managers' offices
    and people who posessed copies of the rag were officially reprimanded.
    Other draconian measures were taken that don't even bear repeating.
    
    Management of large companies generally take a dim view of having
    their dirty laundry aired, by whatever means.
    
    Geoffrey
    

    re: .141 - I would agree that bright people will often come up with
    similar ideas but given our size and the number of ideas that seem to
    get flushed out, I don't understand why there isn't more variety. The
    possibility of variety exists as can easily be seen by creations from
    some of our competitors such as Apple.  I suspect the reason we haven't
    produced more ideas - especially ones that make it to the surface - is
    based on problems in being so process focused and other cultural
    anomolies and not in that we have "too many" people.  So........why
    throw the babies out instead of the bathwater?

    
    I entered the note with Ken's quote for the following reasons:
    
    -He said it in front of several hundred of us at a meeting open to
     everyone in the company.
    
    -He didn't change his mind after the fact and say anything like
     "please don't quote me on this..", or even imply this.
    
    -He is a very honest man and must have had a reason for saying it.
    

Copyright � 1992 Dow Jones & Co. from Dow Jones News Service
Digital Equipment - Olsen -2-: Also Will Leave Pres Post >DEC


  MAYNARD, Mass. -DJ- Digital Equipment Corp. (DEC) said Kenneth H. Olsen will 
resign from the board, effective Oct. 1. 

  The resignation will occur concurrently with Olsen's previously announced 
retirement as president, which was reported July 22. He was entitled to remain 
on the board through November 1993. 

  10:33 AM
---

    Gee, me and the founder to leave the company on the same day!!!
                                                   
    I wonder if he wants to come to our "Last one out, please turn out the
    lights Rave", in Reading UK...  
                                   
    Ken, if you're listening and in the area, then mail me and I'll send ya
    a ticket :-)!                  
                                   
    Winton