Conference 7.286::digital

Not that I know of - it's been a long time since I've heard of anything from
Sonny.  But Terry Shannon of Illuminata (and the original Charlie Matco of
Digital Review) publishes a similar type (few pages and expensive, but
with interesting stuff) newsletter.

					Steve

    Yeah, I remember the (at the time) very strange sensation that we had
    hit the "big time" when I saw the first or second "Monosson on DEC"
    newsletter about 15 years ago.  As far as I know, Sonny was the first
    independent publication to focus on Digital.
    
    Sonny went on to write a regular "Monosson on DEC" editorial column in
    Digital News.  When Digital News and Digital Review merged to form
    Digital News & Review, his column disappeared, and as far as I can see,
    he dropped out of sight (along with Charlie Matco........).

    "Charlie Matco" was a pseudonym with a shared identity.  A lot of
    Digital Review reporters took turns being Charlie.  During his stint at
    the magazine, Terry Shannon was one of them.  However, Terry left in
    the early 1980s when the rumor-mongering and anti-Digital attitudes
    among the DR staff became too much for him.
    
    M

    Well, Sonny is downtown (Boston) - his daughter, Debbie, runs a company
    for him called "Boston Financial & Equity".  They are a leasing company
    for high risk leases.  I asked Debbie the other day if her Dad was
    still around, because I too remembered him from his publications - she
    replied "yes, he certainly is".  He's just not writing about the stuff
    anymore - unless its "writing" a lease for them.
    
    Jane

Re: 4266.3, Terry Shannon left Digital Review "in the early 1980s when the
rumor-mongering and anti-Digital attitudes among the DR staff became too
much for him": one of the key events, I believe, was in 1986 or so when
Digital Review published cost-of-manufacture figures for the MicroVAX 2000
-- figures that were certainly a corporate secret, and which almost
everyone considered very bad judgment to print.  I saw Terry shortly after
that at a show, and as soon as he saw me he blurted out "I didn't do it!"
In fact, he told me he had tried to convince the paper's editors not to
publish the figures, obviously unsuccessfully.  Digital turned over heaven
and earth internally searching for the leak -- computer search of the phone
logs and questioning employees, for instance -- but I don't think it was
ever found.  Terry told me later that the figures came from someone at Sun.

___Pete

    I believe Terry was the *first* charlie matco, and is proud of the fact
    that his version of mr. matco was a more sophisticated fictional
    character than some of the later persona 

    And I have had the distinct pleasure of being Terry Shannon's Customer
    Account Rep, back in the early '80's, before he got famous.
    
    (How many [1,xx] CAN you have? :-)
    
    .mike.

Well, I have sitting on my desk an official Charlie Matco coffee mug.

				Steve

    I'm *still* miffed that someone STOLE my Official Charlie
    Matco coffee mug...
    
    Hmm...  Steve, where did you get yours?  %^}
    
    					andrew

Terry Shannon sent it to me.

		Steve

    I'm impressed.  I didn't meet Terry until he started his 
    own business in Hollis, NH.  (I got my mug at a customer
    visit with the publisher).

I didn't actually meet Terry until DECUS this past spring, but we've been
exchanging mail for several years.  (No, I didn't get the mug for sending
him rumors.)  I mentioned to Terry how, many years ago, we (languages engineers)
would always joke about the latest Charlie Matco column and kid each other
about having a Matco mug (but nobody did).  Terry agreed to send me one, and,
a couple of weeks ago, he finally did.

					Steve

    Re several back:
    
    Pete, you're right about the timing -- Terry left DR in the mid-80s,
    not the early 80s, and he told me the same thing -- the transfer cost
    schedule for the MicroVAX 2000 came from Sun, and publishing it
    contributed to Terry's leaving.
    
    Another reporter who had a talent for getting under Digital
    management's skin was Gary McWilliams, then working for Electronic News
    and Computer Systems News.  Gary, however, was simply an honest and
    resourceful reporter, and I always respected his skill and good humor. 
    Management, however, was annoyed by his ability to dig up news before
    it became public, and once went so far as to trace all Digital calls
    placed to his number.  Gary now works for Business Week in Dallas or
    Austin.
    
    BTW, Kathleen Hudson in MRO used to work for Monosson on DEC.

> ... the transfer cost schedule for the MicroVAX 2000 ...

> [Digital] once went so far as to trace all Digital calls
> placed to [Gary's] number....

The company did that with the MicroVAX cost-of-manufacture figures also.

___Pete