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From: mjl@ritcv.UUCP (Mike Lutz)
Newsgroups: net.micro
Subject: Re: RE:DEC Marketing Strategy
Message-ID: <461@ritcv.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 6-Aug-83 16:57:36 EDT
Article-I.D.: ritcv.461
Posted: Sat Aug  6 16:57:36 1983
Date-Received: Sun, 7-Aug-83 07:40:54 EDT
References: ncsu.2259
Lines: 26

There a couple of problems with Gary Fostel's comparison of the software
(un)developed for the DEC PRO 350 and previous DEC systems.  Gary says DEC
makes machines and lets the software come after, some done internally, but
mainly from the outside.  (If I've misstated this, I'm sorry.)  However, this
is apparently NOT the strategy for the PRO, because DEC won't let anyone see
what's under the hood.  It is nigh on impossible to get any decent hardware
documentation that, say, a systems programmer would need to port UN*X to the
PRO.  You're pretty well stuck with P/OS, and if you want to do any REAL
development for the PC, you'd better have a VAX with DEC's Toolkit to back you
up.  What is more, the new proprietary bus makes the development of a second
source peripherals market impossible.  Contrast this to IBM, whose PC inter-
nals are openly documented, and where a flourishing market has already
developed for add-on products.  We've had lo-o-ong discussions with DEC on
this topic, and, quite frankly, I was not satisfied with the outcome.

The second problem is one of market.  Whereas gurus, hackers, and other "pro-
fessionals" can live with a stripped down machine, the buyer's in the PC mark-
etplace see the computer as a tool.  They are as unhappy with the ineffective-
ness or inappropriateness of this tool as they'd be with a car that had no en-
gine.  Even BIG BLUE had to adopt markedly different strategies when it en-
tered the personal computer market.  Given the relative market penetrations of
the IBM PC and the DEC PRO/350 within one year of introduction, it's obvious
to me which organization did its homework.

Mike Lutz
{allegra,seismo}!rochester!ritcv!mjl