This "#_at_$&*() bull," was part of the party line presented by a DEC sales
team at a presentation I attended about fifteen years ago, on behalf of one
of the "systems integration contractors" their policies were designed to
support. The presenters routinely referred to their clever position in the
government market in the terms I used.
This was VERY consistent with the way other things appeared at that time.
When I worked in other government-related environments, I also noted that,
while Digital provided field service, they were not the vendor who provided
the original hardware. I was persuaded by this and numerous other
statements which had been made to the same effect, by others who worked with
the DEC line.
I always thought of this as a clever arrangement to ensure that the
government got the pitch from their contractors as well as from DEC, and to
ensure a sound common basis for DEC to interact with the various contractors
with no risk to their business. Because DEC didn't provide the services
that these contractors provided, they could be assured of lots of business
with the gov because when a job went out for bids, nobody would base their
bid on Honeywell or IBM because they provided services at no charge which
DEC didn't, and therefore, although perhaps half a dozen entities would bid
on a given job, they all would propose DEC equipment. This was at least in
part because the same entities who would submit proposals also had people on
the inside who wrote the specifications. This worked well for the gov as
well as for their contractors. It also worked well for DEC.
Dick
-----Original Message-----
From: Bill Pechter <pechter_at_pechter.dyndns.org>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp_at_u.washington.edu>
Date: Friday, April 23, 1999 6:35 AM
Subject: Re: The "FIRST PC" and personal timelines (Was: And what were
the80s
>> They (DEC) wouldn't sell
>> directly to the government because that required they let government
>> auditors look at their books. There was too much risk that the word
would
>> leak out that their profit margins on their mini's were pretty generous.
>> That would have led to competition, which they really never enjoyed.
>>
>>
>> Dick
>
>
>This is unadulterated #_at_$&*() bull.
>And revisionist history with an agenda sucks.
>
>I take serious offence to this. DEC sold directly to the government.
>They (the gov't) was their second largest customer when I was there
>(behind the good old AT&T Ma Bell folks). I was a dedicated Field
>service type at Fort Monmouth. I also did time as a government
>contractor on projects.
>
>What are you basing this opinion on.
>
>Bill
>
>---
> bpechter_at_shell.monmouth.com|pechter_at_pechter.dyndns.org
> Three things never anger: First, the one who runs your DEC,
> The one who does Field Service and the one who signs your check.
Received on Fri Apr 23 1999 - 11:53:08 BST