NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] DEC celebrating its victory in personal computing
Following a pointer from http://hightechhistory.com/ I came across a
reminder of how the best of the past isn't the future.
http://hightechhistory.com/2009/11/24/1982-dec-documentary-on-entering-the-p
c-market-or-not/
[ The actual YouTube video is at http://bit.ly/8EymbS and it's a
must see. I hadn't run into it before. I've noted in other
venues that I can't help but see similarities between the
enthusiasm and energy levels at DEC in their heyday -- and at
Google today. DEC's "Mill" in Maynard, Mass. was the Googleplex
of its era. DEC seemed too big to fail, and yet they did,
spectacularly, when they failed to adapt to changing market
conditions fast enough. And DEC's competitors -- unlike Google's
competitors today -- weren't just a mouse click away.
-- Lauren Weinstein
NNSquad Moderator ]
DEC emphasized industrial quality and reliability. We see an echo of this in
the Telcos attempting to do "Internet" (http://rmf.vc/?n=FiOSRealityCheck).
We see this today in the recent discussion of PSTN and POTS vs. the
Internet. It's an echo of the Y2K syndrome - trying to prevent failure
rather than discovering how tolerate failure while putting all the effort
into taking advantage of new opportunities.
At the end of the video the DEC engineers are wondering why others are not
doing as good a job a they are. It's like watching a race car optimized for
speed and nothing but speed heading towards a bend in the road that it can't
navigate with the drive proudly pointing to the speedometer - his only
instrument.
Today the telecom industry has the FCC (and Congress) saying "Bend? What
bend? Just follow the broad band." even as the wheels are leaving the road
and we're strapped into a car hurtling into the abyss.