Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!know!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sdd.hp.com!usc!ucsd!ucselx!bionet!agate!ucbvax!hparc0.hp.COM!graham
From: graham@hparc0.hp.COM (Graham Eddy)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apollo
Subject: Re: HP: Why DID you buy Apollo anyway?
Message-ID: <9012091932.AA13025@relay.hp.com>
Date: 10 Dec 90 04:24:06 GMT
References: <9012051357.AA02241@umix.cc.umich.edu>
Sender: usenet@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 35


>wow! do i see hate&resentment here!  i would be interested to hear, especially
>if there is something i might be able to pass back to people i might know in
>hp/apollo, why you come to ask if every hp/apollo person is clearly stupid and
>in need of some hard-facts-of-life

>-graham

Well, actually it was the HP people who I was referring to as stupid, and
obviously the business people who arranged the buyout and then squandered their
new resource. We all know that predominantly technical people read this list,
but it has been proven (through our netpower efforts) that it gets read by
others when a loud enough scream comes across.

This may sound like a commercial for a bank, but... I got a phone call from
my SE (support engineer) at Stardent computer the other day. He wanted to know
if there was anything I needed from him. No other reason, he just wanted to
make sure I was being sufficiently supported on my Stardent machines. I've
always favored the smaller computer vendors because they're motivated. That's
why I was a staunch Apollo preacher in 1985.

Some will say that you can't expect that kind of support from a large company
like HP, Sun, DEC, etc., but I say, if you can't, then why bother with their
products? I'm not dependent on 3rd party software, so I don't need a
popular brand of computer.

The point I was making in my mad swipe was that there were some happy Apollo
customers, then HP did their thing, and now there are some unhappy customers.
And what has HP gained from it all? Diddly, as far as I can tell. I've
switched brands, and I'll refrain from further complaints, because it's
really none of my business. Every once in a while (like every month when
Workstation Magazine comes out), I find another reason to get steamed, and
this time I flew off the handle.

Scott