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From: urjlew@ecsvax.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: Steve Chen resigning (was Re: Cray Research walkout)
Message-ID: <3958@ecsvax.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 2-Oct-87 18:30:36 EDT
Article-I.D.: ecsvax.3958
Posted: Fri Oct  2 18:30:36 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 3-Oct-87 11:48:25 EDT
References: <2956@ames.arpa> <2184@im4u.UUCP>
Distribution: na
Organization: UNC Educational Computing Service
Lines: 34
Summary: Why Amdahl left IBM

In article <2184@im4u.UUCP>, suhler@im4u.UUCP (Paul A. Suhler) writes:
> In article <2956@ames.arpa> fouts@orville.nas.nasa.gov.UUCP (Marty Fouts) writes:
> >According to a Cray press release, Chen's project was taking more
> >money than Cray was willing to pay.  This is not an unusuall business
> >decision.  Ask Dr. Amdahl why he left IBM sometime.
> 
> I heard Amdahl explain it in a talk back in '76 or '77.  It wasn't the
> development costs so much as revenues.  With IBM's pricing structure,
> they made less money the bigger the machine.  It reached a point where
> if Amdahl had built and IBM had sold the machines he wanted to build,
> IBM would have had many customers switch from lesser machines to the
> faster, thus cutting total revenues.  The only way he could build
> what he wanted was to start a company that had nothing to lose.

Dr. Amdahl repeated the same statements in a talk he gave earlier
this summer at TUCC as a part of his presentation on behalf of
TRILOGY. He spoke on Amdahls law and also enterpreneurship. However
the arguements above were used to illustrate what creates an
opportunity for an enterpreneur. These may have been the reasons
why Amdahl was feeling frustrated at IBM. But according to him,
the reason that he left was because of a conflict of interest situation.
He said that he had become involved with a competing? startup
computing company, as an officer?, and was called up for it by IBM.
He had to make a choice.
And the rest is history.
  
Disclaimer: The responsibility for writing this is mine. I hope that
I have not offended anyone.

-----------------------------------------------
  Reply-To:  Rostyslaw Jarema Lewyckyj
             urjlew@ecsvax.UUCP ,  urjlew@tucc.bitnet
       or    urjlew@tucc.tucc.edu    (ARPA,SURA,NSF etc. internet)
       tel.  (919)-962-9107