Conference 7.286::digital

    Ya know, traditionally it's polite to sign your name if you are writing
    from a generic account...

    not hard to understand why he/she didn't.....
    
    sign their name...
    

    I admit that the morale in this company is very low right now.  But
    this kind of noting does nothing to help the situation, it only fuels
    an attitude of failure.
    
    I've been at Digital now 11 years, to some of you that is merely
    kindergarten, but to me its a good portion of my adulthood.  It means
    that I've grown up here.  This company has helped to shape my work
    values as well as sharpen my skill set.
    
    It also seems that MCS has been somewhat shielded to the last 5 years
    downsizing efforts and only recently been cut so close to the bone that
    the morale effects are still forthcoming.  The last two layoffs seemed 
    fast and furious leaving the triangle with only one edge, stockholders.  
    
    Inspite of what appears to many employees as irrational behavior with
    these most current layoffs, I believe most want to rejuvenate this
    company so that a satisfying employee/employer relationship can once
    again be enjoyed.
    
    What can we do to make a difference?  Do we now believe that our
    efforts truly have no value or weight when decisions are made?
    
    I don't know... perhaps I'm simple minded, but I just believe that
    working with integrity can only make Digital employment better
    regardless of the integrity perceived of those in decision making
    positions.
    
    Nancy
    

    The account OMNI07::SYSTEM is the responsibility of the registered
    system manager, so it's not exactly an anonymous post.  VTX EASYNET
    gives its registered location, cost center, cost center manager name,
    drop number, ethernet address, etc.
    
    Of course the database may not be 100% up to date.  The registered
    system manager is not in ELF, and it is alleged to be running OSF
    (which wouldn't commonly have an account called SYSTEM).

    Having lost the sense of the base note, I MUST reply to .3.
    
    I AM MCS (aka field service), and it is not just recently that we have
    felt the pain (to use Billy Boys words). We (locally) have gone from an
    organization that was able to satisfy our customers needs/wants very
    well. We also had the tools and processes in place to support that end.
    Now (or should I say in the last 3 years), we have gone to "getting by
    and prayer". We have been loosing personel at a furious pace. In the
    last go around, rumors were flying around that "all the local managers",
    (including the district manager) were history. Well, that never
    happened, but we did loose 3 engineers, one of which we still can't
    understand why !  
    
    I was in the NAVY for 6 years and we had a saying at that time that
    feels as if it applies today.
    
    "We the unwilling, led by the unknowing, are doing the impossible, for
    the ungrateful. We have been doing so much for so long with so little, 
    that we are now qualified to do anything with nothing." 
    
    John (frequent reader, occasional writer)

    re .4: You don't have to be a detective to find out... there's
    currently only SYSTEM and one other user logged in on that machine; a
    person by the same name as this other user is registered as the contact
    person in the database; there is only one person by this name in ELF
    who is located where the node is located (and the mail addresses
    match)...
    
    And, FWIW, it is running OpenVMS 6.1, not OSF.
    
    As to the contents of .0, I sort of agree... (but I'm in Germany and we
    already have a union).
    

    .5  
    
    To quote a great movie, "I feel your pain."  I, too, am in MCS.  And
    yes I know we've had layoffs, but it seems these last two cut deeper
    into morale, if that is possible.
    
    But the question still remains, "Can we make a difference?"
    
    Nancy

	re: .6

>>    re .4: You don't have to be a detective to find out... there's
>>    currently only SYSTEM and one other user logged in on that machine; a
>>    person by the same name as this other user is registered as the contact
>>    person in the database; there is only one person by this name in ELF
>>    who is located where the node is located (and the mail addresses
>>    match)...


      this kind of evidence looks pretty circumstantional to me, DETECTIVE...

    
	

    did he leave a glove behind?
    can he afford expensive lawyers ?

    re .8: Maybe.. but then again, I'm _not_ a detective...   ;-)
    
    And who cares, anyway?
    

    
    I don't see what good a lawyer would be, unless an individual has cause
    for complaint, but not enmass.  As for unions, I wouldn't expect that
    would help the situation - unions are losing their "competitive edge"
    with employers in many areas - benefits, job security, retirement
    plans. But, you would be paying union dues, sometimes rahter costly,
    and also forced on to people who are not members.
    
    Yes, Nancy, people make 95% of the difference.
    
    -- Marian (new employee :) )
    

re Note 4591.11 by USCTR1::CARNEY:

>     As for unions, I wouldn't expect that
>     would help the situation - unions are losing their "competitive edge"
>     with employers in many areas - benefits, job security, retirement
>     plans. 

        I think that unions have been losing the "competitive edge"
        vs. employer benefits, but that pendulum may be swinging back
        as full-time employment becomes less common, employers scale
        back benefits, etc.

        Perhaps the future version of a union in our industry will be
        an employee-owned contractor shop.  If such a shop provided a
        good number of key people for key projects, wouldn't they
        have some collective clout (as well as providing the
        benefits)?

        Bob

    Nancy,
    
    I agree with you 100%.  We can spend our time complaining or we can
    spend our time trying to make a difference.  I know it's disheartening
    to see good people leave.  I don't want to see anymore good people
    leave Digital.  My contribution is the efforts I make to convince our
    customers to invest with Digital, our people, our software, our
    processors.  Everybody needs to play a role and we need to continue to
    focus on the future.  Yes, more people may be asked to leave, in some
    areas, people are being hired, the company is refocussing, changing. 
    Any change typically involves pain, but it doesn't help to say ouch
    every time.  Get on with it and let's play to win in every area we
    contribute to as individuals, team members, and as a company.
    
    Rick

    Re .8:
    
    What's your point?  Circumstantial evidence is admissible.
    
    
    				-- edp
    
    
Public key fingerprint:  8e ad 63 61 ba 0c 26 86  32 0a 7d 28 db e7 6f 75
To find PGP, read note 2688.4 in Humane::IBMPC_Shareware.

    
    	Yeah, he's guilty as all get out.
    
    	I say we hang him ... tomorrow, high noon.
    

    I didn't think engineers got up that early? ;^)
    

    Let's give him a fair trial first before we hang'm. 8-)
    
    Jim C.
    
    

    
    RE: 4591.12
    (Whoops, I think I got the edit function wrong - still learning this system)
    
    I think the your idea may be something to consider (always worth
    looking at new models).  Maybe a lot of contractor shops could create
    enough mass.  Maybe, too, new benefits products will develop to adderss
    the new market, if it develops into a potentially profitable market.
    
    More Hmmmm,
    
    Marian

    And if we can't find a tree tall enough...
    
    	Let's drag him....!

	** July 1, 2007 **

	Maynard, Mass (UPI)             Digital Equipment Corporation
	today announced a new severance program to continue its headcount
	reduction efforts (previously referred to as down-sizing, right-
	sizing, correct-sizing, capsizing, happy-sizing and Mass. Murder).
	The new financial package, internally called "TFSO 34", includes
	a fifty-cents-off coupon from Hardees and a bus token.  Employees
	are wistfully recalling the days when the package included money.
	The current 25% layoff will impact 14 employees.  A Digital spokes-
	person said that their hopes were that the new Alfalfa chip would
	bring DEC back to its previous glory and profitability.



	The Alfalfa chip, scheduled for release in November, has been
	touted as the fastest microprocessor in the world, and also very
	low in cholesterol.  Company president Dan Quayle said, "Digital
	has had some good times and some bad times, and I plan to make
	sure that we continue to do that to the best of our abilities!"
	Digital stock reached 35 cents yesterday, a two-year high.

    It has been determined that the alfalfa chip is recycleble.
    
    It can be processed into a cylindrical granular that can be fed to
    rabbits.  These alfalfa chips have been shown to improve the performce
    of the rabbits that consume them on a daily basis.
    
    Boy do they multiply quickly.

    Manufacturing of alfalfa chips is tricky. They're made into a long
    cylindrical unit which is sliced thin to create the individual
    chips.
    
    (Of course, the cylindrical unit is called a "straw pole".)

    The trickiest part about making alfafa chips is getting the shredded
    air quality just right - too much shredding one way or the other and
    the lot has to be scrapped.

	And when you shred too much, you get alot of buckwheat.

						mike

What revision level is Fab 6's air shredder at?  Is it out of rev 
ALREADY?????????

    >>What revision level is Fab 6's air shredder at?
    
    Have you tried dir/tit=FAB ???? We Engineers are very busy you know. I
    think you are exaggerating the importance of the customer....

    Actually, you get better results if you do a
                 dir/tit=for "tat"
    
    
    OOOOHHHHHHHHH, are we having fun yet?

    
    	RE: .27
    
    	In less time, and fewer words, than it took you to put in that
    	useless reply, you could have answered the question.  If you
    	don't know the answer, I for 1 won't consider you completely
    	ignorant.
    

    re: I think you are exaggerating the importance of the customer....
                                         ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
    I'm sure many would like you to expand on this statement....

    re .30
    
    I hope you see from the context that this is ironic. Or are you an
    engineer who is sore about such a mean dig from a service/support view
    at Engineering ? The string is black humour, please don't take offence
    ...
    
    Kevin

    G'day,
    
    In Australia, a certain Grahame (sp?) Richardson was the 'numbers man'
    for the Labor Party. On retirement from politics he wrote a book
    entitled ' Whatever it Takes'. A quick read reveals that he was
    involved in 'whatever it took' to get numbers...with the emphasis on
    the seedy... 
    
    The slogan takes on a whole new meaning downunder!
    
    
    djw
    

    
    Re .32:
    
      I've never liked the slogan "Whatever it takes".  Some people could
    justify illegal or unethical activity with that slogan.  I still prefer
    the old slogan of "Do whats right".  I'll also add to it by saying,
    "Do whats right as well as it can be done".
    
    Jim Morton

    Several of the auto dealers in the Houston area use the "Whatever it
    takes" slogan in their radio advertising.
    
    Harry
    

re Note 4591.34 by HSOSS1::HARDMAN:

>     Several of the auto dealers in the Houston area use the "Whatever it
>     takes" slogan in their radio advertising.
  
        Yes, but we expect that from used car sales people.  :-}

        Bob

    >   Yes, but we expect that from used car sales people.  :-}
    
    Yes, but does that make Digital sound like used car sales people? :-(
    
    Harry
    

    BankOne in Columbus Ohio has used the same slogan for years, no less
    than the last 15 or so.

It's registered trademark on their ATMs.

    "What Ever Else It Takes"

    
    Folks - the Whatever It Takes discussion was held about 18 months ago
    in this conference, but let me address a couple of points made in here.
    
    First, we own the use of the tag line in the IT category - it is used
    in several other categories - no news there. Several Service oriented
    firms hold the line - a Hotel is one, and the bank mentioned above is
    another.  It is unclear to me why such insitutions would use it if the
    ethical issues are so large. 
    
    Second, our first ad for the slogan explicitly defined what we meant
    - and said: "Whatever It Takes does not mean that we will
    compete unfairly or break the rules; that ethics and integrity will be
    sacrificed on the altar of profits.  It does mean that we will go to
    the nth degree to win your business, it means we will play tough. But
    fair. We intend to go as far as guts and talent and vision will take
    us. And share the benefits with you along the way."
    
    (excerpt)
    
    Third, the Tag Line was extremely intensively tested before
    implementation, and we did not get ethical concerns raised by either
    customers or VAR's tested. It was always in the context of a company
    working to customer best interests, a company you would like to work
    with too.
    
    Bill
    BT 

>                      <<< Note 4591.40 by AKOCOA::TROY >>>
>                      -< "IT'S ABOUT EFFORT AND RESULTS" >-
>
>    Folks - the Whatever It Takes discussion was held about 18 months ago
>    in this conference, but let me address a couple of points made in here.
    
Regardless of how well the decision process went for the tag line,
it is subject to re-evaluation, even if only in this conference.

In fact, "Whatever it takes" is unimaginative, overused, and ambiguous.

  It's unimaginative in that it says nothing about our business.

  It's overused, as evidenced by the fact that it's already allocated
  to several kinds of business in various fields via the trademark registration
  process.  Again, in that context it adds nothing to our business.
  
  It's ambiguous, as evidenced by the apparent need to write a 100 word 
  paragraph to set limits on its intentions and exclusions.  It also appears
  that that disclaimer was only ever seen in the first roll-out of the use 
  of the phrase.

In today's business climate, it also sounds mean, which could lead some to
hear ethical connotations.

Why can't we do better?

And in that light, let me propose a more positive statement:

         "Better.....   Always."

- tom]

How about these:

"Digital - Watch us"
"Digital - Watch out for us"
"Digital - More than just 1's and 0's"
"Digital - You won't get Boole from us"
"Digital - We make computers & stuff"

either  8*)  or  8*(    depending on your sense of humor.

    -ken (mostly read only, generally for a good reason.)

re.42:

>"Digital - We make computers & stuff"

That gets my vote!

Dave.

Whatever..

    I thought it was interesting that the "Whatever It Takes" slogan is
    also used by a local Seattle auto parts chain, Al's Auto Parts.
    
    You would have thought that a Fortune 100 company would have been a bit
    more inventive in it's advertising!

    It appears that whoever is responsible for the "Whatever It Takes" slogan 
    is probably responsible for our present Marketing Campaign.  Both lack
    creativity to generate demand for our products.
    
    When was the last time you used this phrase - "Whatever It Takes"?  It
    was right after I exhausted ever other viable method of solving a 
    problem and decided that something was better than nothing.  And
    something was a shot in the dark.
    
    Who worked with the marketing company that created this slogan and do
    you really thing it reflects a positive image for Digital?  It's not
    something that I want on my business cards.

   re: .last

   > probably responsible for our present Marketing Campaign.

   Marketing campaign?  What marketing campaign would that be?  

   "Whatever it takes" is also used by a local Colorado Springs-based bank.
   I see it all over the place, from many different sources.  It's almost
   like a catch phrase in society these days, not a company slogan.

   -- Sam

    Here's some irony:  Oracle recently announced their RDBMS Universal
    Server and sent out a poster to their loyal fans. What's the tag line?
    Oracle Has It Now.

    Lisa

    
    re: -1
    
    Seems like a company named "Oracle" should use something more like
    "we know the future"...
    
    Sharon

Why don't we use something that advertises our namesake like:

"Welcome to the digital age..." 

Since everything is "digital" with regards to high tech, I think I would be a far better tag 
line.

Comments?




...chuck

    
    	"Digital - service with a smile*"
    
    
    	*Service sold separately, not available in all outlets
    

>>    	"Digital - service with a smile*"
>>    	*Service sold separately, not available in all outlets

And the smile has gold, silver, and maybe platinum fillings!

    I like:
    
    If you'd chosen OpenVMS, you'd be done by now!
    
    FJP
    

>    I like:
>    
>    If you'd chosen OpenVMS, you'd be done by now!

As in "cooked", or "done for"?    

                      <<< Note 4591.54 by UNXA::ZASLAW >>>

>As in "cooked", or "done for"?    

    No, "Done for" as in "Digital Going out of business" if OpenVMS goes
    away...
    
    JMHO,
    
    John W.

    
    

    
    A local TV station (in Philadelphia) is using this slogan now for their
    news department. Is this something legal should be looking into?
    z

    Re: .55
    
    Mr. JW doesn't need to be humble.
    
    OpenVMS still pays the freight, by a wide margin.
    
    And in my note, I am thinking about a particular customer, a particular
    project and one that the customer has spent about $30M _STUDYING_ to
    date.  They have also spent over $300M on the kit causing the problem.
    (Intel and Novell).  And ITHCOTWBDBN! With $ in the Bank!
    
    FJP
    

    Re: .56
    
    Trademarks are product-category specific.  As long as it isn't another
    computer company, there's no conflict.
    
    				Steve

    I'm curious -- and it probably is worth discussing and enlightening
    ourselves.
    
    What are the educated guesses for:
    
    
    			$ volume	unit volume	year-to-year growth
    
    OpenVMS
     (Alpha
     and VAX)
    
    Digital UNIX
    
    WNT Alpha
    
    WNT Intel
    
    
    I would like to know the reality (vs. the marketing spin we hear) of
    what we are really doing.  --and what we should be doing!!!
    
    Randy
    
    
    
    

    > <<< Note 4591.58 by QUARK::LIONEL "Free advice is worth every cent" >>>

    >Re: .56
    
    <Trademarks are product-category specific.  As long as it isn't another
    >computer company, there's no conflict.
    
    >				Steve

    
    Television station in Dallas Texas Uses 
    "Whatever it takes" as their slogan on their Billboards for 
    their news depart.
    
    No Conflict?  It's not Unique and takes our puny message down
    to line-noise in a world of 
    
    "Intel Inside"
    
    "IBM, Proud Sponsor of the Olympics"
    
    "Someday, You will!"
    
    and the tag lines of some of our most viable competitors...
    
    Who chooses these ad agencies and who decides that common, dull 
    non-unique tag lines and commercials will get anywhere in this MTV,
    5 second sound byte world we live.
    
    We're not selling Alpha, VAX, OpenVMS, Digital Unix, WNT or any other
    product.  We're selling D-I-G-I-T-A-L!  By the purse of Adam Smith, 
    we've spent more money on Branding and Limp ads than any other 
    company I know of.
    
    Advertizing and Marketing is not my field of Expertise but my few 
    college credits in the subject tells me that we are not doing a 
    good or even a poor job of telling people what Digital does and 
    position us to sell our products to them and make them believe
    that Digital is a Good choice for those products.
    
    Alpha isn't a household word... Few people knows that Digital has the 
    FASTEST CPUs on the planet...  All they do know is that Digital, a 
    hightech company suffered a 450 million dollar restructuring 
    fee and will lay off 11% of it's workforce.
    
    I recommend reading "Ogilvy On Advertizing" isbn 0-394-72903-X
    it even has pictures of naked bodies being used to sell things
    so it shouldn't be to dull for the marketing people.  
    
    On Page 118 of this enlightening book there is an ad with a gruff 
    balding middle-aged bow-tied Company Executive sitting in a chair.
    
    The Text reads:
    
    I don't know who you are.
    I don't know your company.
    I don't know your company's product.
    I don't know what your company stands for.
    I don't know your company's customers
    I don't know your company's record.
    I don't know your company's reputation....
    
    Now - what was it you wanted to sell me?
     
    Moral:  Sales start BEFORE your salesmen calls -- with business
            advertizing...
    
    
    The world's light doen't shine out of Boston Harbor and the GMA.  
    
    Come out to Dallas, LA, Atlanta, Orlando, New York and Washington D.C. 
    and see how the Digital Message plays to folks from an area where you 
    can't go into a liquor store and cash a Digital check... You might
    feel differently too...
    
    Somebody listen and fix this.... Please...Our company depends on it.
    
    JMHO
    
    John W.
    

   re: .last  See .47

   -- Sam

    re. .61
    
    I was just validating your example;-)
    
    Everyone seems to be using "Whatever it takes..."
    
    I know, let's use "IBM, Proud Sponsor of the Olympic Games..." as 
    our slogan...
    
    It works for them... and the lawsuit would have to cost less than
    our marketing group...
    
    JMHO,
    
    John W.
    
    John W.

    
    re: -1  John, you are a scream!  What a good idea.
    
    As for the marketing thing, I agree completely on the lack thereof. It
    also seems that the Marketing piece of the business is the actual
    'commitment' to the ideals and strategies that a company portrays.
    
    If you do not MARKET your strengths, the the competetion can market
    your weaknesses. I'm sure that everyone could come up with a marketing
    slogan for the products and services they are responsible for, maybe
    a corporate contest is in order....  Let the amature marketeers do
    commercial slots on the tube, and the one that get's the most
    recognition receive an award (maybe a raise heaven forbid) and then
    head up the marketing group as a 'proven winner'.
    
    We need SOMETHING during this time to get morale back in order. 
    Pointing fingers at percieved loosers without explaining what the 'real
    cause and effect' is, and then whacking thousands of people 
    absent-mindedly ain't the way to boost it.
    
    Chet

    ok marketing...
    
    third time this week on evening news I hear about IBM's problems
    getting info to news reporters, european org. asking for some
    of their money back cause they can't get results from this
    great IBM network....
    
    
    get some adds in the major newspapers by thurs/fri am...
    
    " IF you want global information go with a company who has
    a track record..."
    
    give our success stories i.e. the california election system and others
    I don't know about...
    
    you gota slam the competition when their down...that's waht they'd
    do to us...
    
    just do it....
    
    

    
    Last night on Eurosport there was a *priceless* quote by the 
    announcer -  a lot of the women's gymnastics scores were taking 
    a loooong time to show after the competitor had finished, and at
    a particularly tense time the announcer said 
    
    "Oh, I hope that our friends at IBM can get their computers 
    running; they have had a dreadful time this olympics with the scores
    taking so long to calculate....  This would be a terrible time for the
    computer to crash!"
    
    
    You can't beat that P.R.!  
    
    -Mike

	I just heard a journalist who covered the olympics for the past
	30 years saying: 

	'I wish they had taken the system used in Barcelona, it was almost 
	perfect. We seems to be way back to Mexico68. I'm even wondering if it
	was not better there. At least in Mexico I do not remember we had 
	to enter in the painful learning curve we just had in Atlanta'

	Anybody knows who provided the system in Barcelona?
	
	'IBM - the data processing of the sixties'

	Joel

    (from Vogon News Service)
    
     IBM - Networks win no medals at Olympics
            {The Wall Street Journal, 23-Jul-96, p. B3}
       IBM, whose networks were  supposed to provide widespread and
    near-instantaneous access to reams of data generated by the Olympic
    Games, scrambled yesterday to repair the system, which has been plagued 
    by delays and errors.  Executives at the Armonk, N.Y., company said they 
    were making progress in fixing the problems in face of unprecedented 
    demands for information from the thousands of sports officials and 
    journalists working there.
    
       "When you have something this massive, there are going to be
    start-up problems,," said Fred McNeese, a spokesman for IBM.
       
       Technology, which has eaten up $223 million of Atlanta's $1.7
    billion budget, was one of the last placed Olympic officials 
    anticipated significant trouble.  "I expected" some snags with 
    transportation, said A.D.Frazier Jr., chief operating officer of the 
    Atlanta Olympic Committee.  "What I didn't expect was this technology 
    mess.  That's been a disappointment."  One of the biggest snafus 
    involves the availability of results from competition.   Results
    from the Atlanta games are fed directly into computers at competition
    sites.  From there, they are sent into Info 96, an internal information 
    system available to media and others.
       
       Dedicated networks also provide data directly to major news
    organizations such as the Associated Press.
    
       But the software designed to filter all the incoming data hasn't
    worked properly, creating big gaps in information.  Late yesterday, the 
    AP still couldn't get all the information it needed for sports such as 
    judo, field hockey and and weightlifting.
    
       "The service doesn't appear to be getting significantly better - in
    some cases, there's improvement; in some cases, there's not," said Terry
    Taylor, sports editor for the AP.  "Right now, we have to assume that the
    results problem won't be fixed.  Therefore, we are making the best 
    alternative plans possible to ensure that our members are served."
    
       IBM said the delays stemmed, in part, from information getting
    backed up on some slower transmission lines in its computer network.  
    In an attempt to keep data from becoming queued up, technicians 
    increased the speed of some network lines to 38,400 baud, the speed of 
    the fastest standard modems available for PCs.  The upgraded lines had 
    been operating at 9,600 baud, slower than the modems supplied with 
    most PCs.
    
       IBM, which anted up tens of millions of dollars to become both a
    U.S. and worldwide Olympic sponsor, said its software engineers and
    systems-integration specialists are working around the clock to address 
    the problems and are making some headway.
    
       Not all of the problems are of IBM's making; the smooth running of
    the results system relies on numerous others, including Olympic officials. 
    In one case, for example, statistics from the early minutes of a 
    basketball game were skewed because a sports official hadn't relayed some
    last-minute jersey-number changes.
    

>       IBM said the delays stemmed, in part, from information getting
>    backed up on some slower transmission lines in its computer network.  
>    In an attempt to keep data from becoming queued up, technicians 
>    increased the speed of some network lines to 38,400 baud, the speed of 
>    the fastest standard modems available for PCs.  The upgraded lines had 
>    been operating at 9,600 baud, slower than the modems supplied with 
>    most PCs.

They must have had to look pretty hard to find those 9600 modems!  Actually I
could almost see us doing that sort of thing as well.  Somewhere some beanie
would say something like:

	"let's get some of the cheaper stuff off dial.  It only needs to be 
	used a couple of weeks and nobody will probably even notice..." 

-mark

    We managed to do Euro96 rather well from what I hear, perhaps we should
    mention this to everyone!

    re: .66, and who did Barcelona...
    
    If I'm not mistaken, IBM also provided the systems used in Barcelona.

If IBM's slogan were "Whatever it takes", they could rip out the IBM boxes and
replace them with Alphas running Digital UNIX, OpenVMS or NT.

Solutions for a small planet are fine, but what if you are holding your Olympics
on this one?

-Jeff
 

I can see it now...weightlifter raises the weights over his head, the bar
bending, and out of the side of his mouth he keeps whispering "Do they have the
score yet?...got it yet?..... Until finally he can't hold it any more and falls
with the weight on top of him.  At which point a voice over says..."Maybe they
should have used an Alpha...Digital when you can't wait for results....."

George

    
    re: -1 
    
    Now THAT'S a good commercial!  
    
    Maybe the Pocket Hercules would do it!

RE .72

That's awesome.  Someone send that idea to marketing.  Better yet, hire that
noter into marketing. 

Whats that?  

Oh yeah, we don't have a marketing department.  Digital doesn't do marketing.

Never mind.

    RE: .72
    
    Gee, I never knew weight lifting required scoring. 

    
    This is one event that I'd do "what ever it takes".  This would be a
    BIG win.  What's the chance of this happening?  I bet the chances of
    winning the lottery has better odds.
    
 COMPAQ

 COMPAQ TAKES SERIOUS LOOK ON ALPHA CHIP
 Client Server News, July 15-19, 1996

 * Compaq is considering Digital's Alpha chip as an ultra high-end
   workstation and server platform (with more oomph! that Pentium Pro).
 * The company is also looking at 64-bit Windows NT (which is supposed to
   be on Alpha before Intel).

    

    A month ago, COMPAQ was publically trashing Alpha's performance
    (see article below).  On the other hand, since then there has been
    a reorganization that put John Rose in charge of their new
    workstation group.  Rose left Digital with the intention of doing
    a startup that did Alpha PCs, but ended up at COMPAQ, and has
    worked (or at least been in the right place at the right time)
    his way up thru the ranks.  COMPAQ puts Alpha server TPC/C
    performance numbers on its web (they ain't that great and help
    sell COMPAQ servers), but if they're getting into the
    workstation market, Alpha makes a lot more sense there.
    .02 K
    
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------
    
    From PCWeek, UK version, 25 June 1996 
    
    "Compaq has abandonded its Alpha/PowerPC task force and will not be
    adopting Risc architectures for the forseeable future.  This decision
    dispels the persistent rumours that Compaq was looking to license
    RISC technology from either Digital or Motorola."
    ...
    Hugh Jenkins, systems product manager at Compaq, said: "Alpha does not
    make any sense at all to us now. As a processor it is not delivering
    anything like, if at all, the performance gains orginally trumpted for
    it".  According to Jenkins, "it is clear to Compaq that Digital
    is ploughing an increasingly lonely and unprofitable furrow with Alpha"
    

    G'day,
    
     An Aussie olympic commentator...
    
    This computer system is called 'Info 96'
    
    I call it' nympho 96' - it is a mistress to all, and a servant to none!
    
    
    
   dj

About a month ago, PCweek or InfoWorld reported that Compaq seriously 
looked into using Alpha or another RISC system, but decided not to invest 
in that area.

Either Computer Server News in .76 is publishing old news or hopefully, 
Compaq is taking a second look.


                                                        -Paul

    Went to Fry's to buy a Home PC this past week.  The digital Starion 915
    and 950 were there and very reasonably priced I might add, but guess
    what they didn't even get pushed.
    
    As a matter of fact, the rep told me that the 950 had a lot of hardware
    problems and didn't recommend it.
    
    I cannot tell you how surprised he was when I showed him my Digital
    badge.
    
    

    re .80
    Check to see if the part # is 950iR.  They're selling a lot of
    REFURBISHED Starions in my area.  I believe for $999.  Maybe that's
    why they said that.  I assume that refurbished systems were returned cuz
    the owner didn't want it anymore.
    
    	Regards,

    I bought a Starion 933 in March - hard disk failure this past
    weekend - waited very long times on the tech support phone
    lines - after 2 calls and seemingly confused tech support
    responses, finally had one agree I had a bad disk that needed
    to be replaced.  Said I'd be getting a call in 24-48 hours to
    schedule a replacement installation - 4 days later, still no
    call.
    
    I'd be careful if service/support is important to you.
    
    Mark
    

  >  responses, finally had one agree I had a bad disk that needed
  >  to be replaced.  Said I'd be getting a call in 24-48 hours to
  >  schedule a replacement installation - 4 days later, still no
  >  call.
    
    This is the result of "trimming the workforce". Get used to it, it's
    gonna get worse before it gets better.
    
    Or better yet, start "dialing for dollars" and push back. It's still a
    warranty call, right? If enough managers are annoyed by actually having
    to deal with upset customers who start conversations with "Ok, I  got a
    human, what's your bosses name and number."
    
    Don't even let on that you are a DEC employee - if you have a DEC
    product that you paid real dollars for - You are a customer.
    
    .mike.