Conference 7.286::digital

Momentum...it will make ya go faster...

Well, no it won't.  It'll keep you moving even if you're trying to stop....

				Steve

    One fawning article from a lapdog press does not a turnaround
    make.
    
    Publius

    By god you guys are pessimistic. Reminds me of the old saying;
    
    "For some reason a pessimist always complains about the 
    noise when opportunity knocks." ;-)
    
    				-MARTIN-

RE: .3 (fawning article by a lop-dog press)

>    says. Halfway through the process today, Palmer's efforts have
>    begun to yield results encouraging enough that some industry
>    observers say that Digital may just become the turnaround story
>    of the 1990s."
 
I'm sorry, but I cannot contort, twist, or otherwise mis-read that
statement so as to apply the word "fawning" to it.  "Halfway", "begun
to yield", "encouraging enough", "*some* industry observers (emphasis
added)", "may just become".  How many weasel words would you like in
one sentence?

They said things are beginning to get better.  Well, compared to when
Bob Palmer took over, I would say things are better.  We are making 
money, selling Alpha in many markets, teaming with all the right industry
players, getting good press in many different places, and the stock price
has tripled from what it was back then.

And nobody who has a solid grasp on reality calls Fortune magazine a
lap-dog for Digital Equipment.  Either read some of the slam-dunk articles
they did on us 3-4 years ago, or (to my mind worse) how they totally
ignored us during the first phase of our recovery.  

We are getting good press from many different places about the job we
are doing, and I am happy to see that people are finally noticing the
solid work being accomplished here.  We aren't done yet, and Fortune
carefully pointed that out, but we are better than we were by a lot.

-- Ken Moreau

Re:   <<< Note 4350.5 by ODIXIE::MOREAU "Ken Moreau;Technical Support;Florida" >>>

|I'm sorry, but I cannot contort, twist, or otherwise mis-read that
|statement so as to apply the word "fawning" to it.  "Halfway", "begun
|to yield", "encouraging enough", "*some* industry observers (emphasis
|added)", "may just become".  How many weasel words would you like in
|one sentence?
    
    IMHO, granted the article is better than *some* past press, 
    the article ignored some of our current liabilities.
    
    1. There still isn't a viable partnership with an accepted CAD
    vendor on the Alpha platform - the one place you would think 
    the Alpha would be ideal. As a result, SUN and HP still own that
    market. We lost Cadence. I know we have Mentor - but that doesn't 
    really cover VLSI design as its focus is more toward PC board layout.
    Viewlogic isn't there yet and probably won't be for another year.
    
    2.  In spite of the re-org an entrenched bureacracy exists which
    hampers productivity under the banner of controlling costs.
    
    3.  Also, in spite of the re-org, we still have as a legacy some of the
    decision-makers who contributed mightly to getting us into the mess in 
    the first place still clinging to jobs in positions of responsibility.
    
    4. We continue to sell off pieces of the business on our way to
    becoming  Just Another Commodity House. Hasn't core R&D been gutted ? 
    
    None of these things look to me like a company on the rebound.
    Rather, it looks like a company on its way to becoming a hollow shell
    with full time career employment for bureacrats and managers, playing 
    'me too' in the marketplace using rented technical expertese. 
    
    
    Maybe 'fawning' is too strong a word. 
    
    How about 'sympathetic'?
    
    Publius

	I don't think "core R&D" has been gutted. I think it's been
	pushed closer to "get product out". Personally, I think that's
	a good thing. Witness things like FX!32 and Digital Internet
	Tunnel and other really cool gee-whiz things we (digital) have
	come up with lately that are going direct to customers real soon
	or already.

	I think things have just been brought a little closer to reality.

							mike

    > I think it's been
    > pushed closer to "get product out". Personally, I think that's
    
    Don't let the ISO 9000 auditors hear you say that! :-)

I also have a great belief in our 'core R & D'. In the 'good old 
days', we used to have lots of duplicate projects - it didn't matter 
then, did it. Now we are much more focussed on projects that produce 
revenue. When was the last time we marketed a 'Vaxmate' ?

Alan

!

    Re: -1

>  some old saying
>  "For some reason a pessimist always complains about the
>   noise when opportunity knocks." ;-)

... and my saying is
An optimist is a person strong enough to face facts ;-)
       

[Posted by WWW Notes gateway]

    re -1.
    
    >>An optimist is a person strong enough to face facts ;-)
    
    The trouble with being optimistic is that some people will
    think you're illiterate.
    
    On the other hand...
    
    An optimist is often as wrong as the pessimist, but she 
    (or he) has a lot more fun ;-)
    
    
    				-MARTIN-
                        

> When was the last time we marketed a 'Vaxmate' ?
    
    1986: VAXmate
    
    1990: DECpc 433 Workstation
    
    1994: Multia
    
    ...petri

    
    
    RE:  .15
    
    good one Petri  8^)   we never learn.... what's next?  Multia(intel)
    
    gb
    

    
    	An Alpha Internetstation; complete with no disk, memory, or
    software; physical "net" connection is optional...
    
    	But we'll get the price under $2,000. ;-)
    
    		the Greyhawk

That would've been funnier if it weren't so true...

SB