[TUHS] DEC and Dave Cutler (was Re: The John Snow's of the UNIX family)

[Clem Cole]

On Wed, Jan 16, 2019 at 12:30 PM Larry McVoy <lm at mcvoy.com> wrote:

> On Wed, Jan 16, 2019 at 11:55:03AM -0500, Paul Winalski wrote:
> > DEC's downfall was a total lack of skill at marketing.
>
> Sun made stuff that was just as good as what DEC built but they were
> cheaper.  DEC couldn't adapt to decent machines that didn't cost a big
> pile.
>
> History repeats itself, Sun couldn't wean itself off $20,000 workstations when
> you could get an almost as fast PC for 1/4th or less of that price point.

I think you are both right actually and in some ways saying the same
thing.  I refer to this as the economic of solution argument.  It's right
out of Clay Christensen <http://www.claytonchristensen.com/>'s book The
Innovator's Dilemma
<https://www.amazon.com/Innovators-Dilemma-Technologies-Cause-Great/dp/1565114159>


The problem as Larry point out, is that when some one else does something
that is economically a better solution, it is marketing jobs to understand
that. and help lead the company with products that work.  The problem is
that marketing rarely says, "We need to eat out own lunch/children ...
etc."  Instead they talk to customers who tell them make XXX for their
futhure more specialized and higher end system, which of course has higher
margins.  I worked with a VP that once said: "I'd rather sell a $100K
system then a $10K one, because the cost of sale is the same."   What he
did not realize is that Sun was selling 20 systems for $10k, while DEC (or
Masscomp) sold one at $10k.

Clem

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