The PC's Soviet?

From: Jack Peacock <peacock_at_simconv.com>
Date: Wed Apr 15 18:27:22 1998

> All right, I have taken this for a while, but no more. This ignorance
> about Soviet technology and abilities is ridiculous. I think you
> people have kept your anti-communist opinions along with you IBM
> 704s.
>
> Although the USSR certainly had ridiculous administration, and its
> technology was not very modern, there were many advances by the
> soviet union, and it now has just as much technology as the US.
>

The soviets always had comparable technology, but were limited by
inefficient manufacturing and logistics. Those only exposed to western
design philosophy tend to belittle soviet engineers because of the
seemingly crude appearance of their equipment, but they had to meet
vastly different product requirements. Their export market was the
underdeveloped third world, no infrastructure at all. When your target
market is some place like Mongolia, Eritrea or South Yemen you have an
entirely different set of design parameters. There is no Radio Shack
down the corner, no parts store in town, no UPS delivery service. Even
literacy is at a premium. Yet they were able to deliver relatively
sophisticated equipment to places like this, and were able to maintain
it locally. I for one have a great respect for soviet engineers like
Mikoyan or Antonov, even Mikhail Kalashnikov, the guy who designed so
well he worked himself right out of a job.
        Jack Peacock
Received on Wed Apr 15 1998 - 18:27:22 BST

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