While I have no love for this merger, I find it interesting that in the
early 1980s, Ken Olson (former DEC CEO) was saying that the idea of a PC on
every desk was silly, while Compaq was making plans to steal (I mean
"clone") the PC from IBM.  It looks like somebody saw the train coming,
while somebody else just got run over by it.

For what it's worth, the console to the switch that runs our entire network
is a Compaq Portable II (a "suitcase" i286 with 512k RAM, a 20mb HDD, and a
9 inch (20cm?) green monochrome screen).  It has been on for years.  Much
like Digital's, their hardware *is* fairly well-made, so at least we
shouldn't see a decline in new hardware quality as a result of the buyout.

- Tom

At 12:40 PM +0200 1/27/98, Saku Setala wrote:
>Johnny,
>
>nice to hear from you :)
>
>I was thinking that since the compaq buyout press release was talking
>about 'respecting the 40 years old history' of digital, maybe they would
>like to change their name to a little more respectable one. At leat to my
>ear Compaq sounds very rough.
>
>
>On Tue, 27 Jan 1998, Johnny Billquist wrote:
>
>> Hi, Saku...
>>
>> Since Compaq is outright buying DEC, I wouldn't expect any name change.
>> Maybe a DEC division inside Compaq at the most.
>>
>> *sniff*
>>
>> 	Johnny
>>
>> Johnny Billquist                  || "I'm on a bus
>>                                   ||  on a psychedelic trip
>> email: bqt@update.uu.se           ||  Reading murder books
>> pdp is alive!                     ||  tryin' to stay hip" - B. Idol
>>
>>


--
Tom Guptill
UNIX Systems Manager
Department of Physics and Astronomy
University of Rochester