Doin' it right (was Re: Comtrol)

[Super user]

In article <6801 at rsiatl.Dixie.Com> jgd at Dixie.Com (John G. DeArmond) writes:
>root at equinox.UUCP (Super user) writes:
>
>Rob Sez...
>>>This is a very sad story.  The year 1990 was a very tumultuous one for
>>>Comtrol.
>
>And root at equinox.UUCP (Super user) Sez...
>>to a death in the family.". We had a good team at Arnet, too. We still stay
>>in touch, too. We're good friends from having worked 8-12 hours a day with
>>each other for a couple years. Even though we may work for competitors now, we
>>still are great friends.
>
>As the person who got this thread going, I just gotta state what jumps out
>at me as I read these tales.
>
>I went through the same thing here in Atlanta at a software company.  
>World class development team, all good friends, great market but a 
>bunch of upper management d*ckheads who could have killed Lotus 123 in
>their sleep and not even realized why.
>
>It looks like there is a super team of intelligent I/O card designers
>on this network.  So why the hell don't you guys get together and do it
>right?  That's what a few of my old crew are doing here.  I'd imagine
>that between the group, someone could attract a marketing droid or 2
>away from one of the dying companies.  Contrary to media-induced beliefs,
>money is available.  Hell, it's as close as your Visa/MC if you really
>want it bad enough.  And hey, while you're at it, why not do some innovative
>things when you design the new card.  With the cheap CAD/CAM software and
>hardware now available, you could try several configurations and go with
>the one that the test market indicates is most desirable.
>
>
>John De Armond, WD4OQC        | "Purveyors of speed to the Trade"  (tm)

Hey, sign me up ;-)

The serial I/O board market is in contractions, as I mentioned in my
first posting on this thread. Equinox's Bob Gintz was welcomed two years
ago by Jeff Pack (then of Arnet, now of Chase) with "Welcome to the 
marketplace, you're #34!". Now if there are thirty-four manufacturers of
I/O cards, they're certainly not going to exhibit at Trade Shows. Only
a handful still do. And among that handful, there may be some fallout over
the next year.  Some of the older, successful I/O companies may have had
growth problems. They were at the right place, at the right time, but now
competition is rough. (As I'm sure most readers of USENET know by the 'wars'
on 'what serial io card is best?"'). 

Living in Florida, I'm not afraid to swim in the lakes where the possibility
exists of alligators (very real, or so I'm warned). The reason, I work in 
the multiuser board market, dammit, i'm used to it. 

Sometimes, companies concentrate on profit so much they start cutting the
things that will contribute to future growth. Like R&D. Or Support. I think
this tends to happen when a company starts to 'mature', when the growth
rate slows down. When the accounting people start to flex their muscle.
"We have GOT to have 20% profit this year!" this comes before "Firings will
continue until morale improves...".

Overall, I've heard the Unix market for io cards is growing between 
15-35% a year. The recession has probably slowed the growth down this year.
It's a good marketplace, a nice niche. Everybody I've met is real nice.
Rick Freedman, of Specialix, even gave me and another Equinox employee a
ride back to the hotel in the Specialix limo! Stallion people are real 
friendly, too. (Stallion - people -- sounds like a hybrid animal doesn't
it??). Nina, of Stallion, has the such a great personality and the cutest
Australian accent.... and Shawna of Stallion Nashville has a great personality
and a wonderful Southern one.... .  

Well, anyway, the views above are solely my own, and are not (necessarily)
shared by others (standard disclaimer).

Wolf