🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <9d71bdb2-2096-4bf3...@googlegroups.com>,
 <hanc...@bbs.cpcn.com> wrote:
>On Saturday, February 3, 2018 at 1:39:07 PM UTC-5, Dan Espen wrote:
>
>> > AT&T's management did not destroy Bell Labs.  It was destroyed by the
>> > lawyers who forced the breakup of AT&T.
>
>> Actually, the breakup was proposed by AT&T.
>> They may or may not have lost the anti-trust suit.
>> At the time, I thought not.
>> Within the company, the story was that AT&T would be free to enter
>> the computer maker market thereby becoming the next big thing.
>
>IMHO, at the time AT&T made the compromise decision (circa 1980),
>their path seemed generally pretty reasonable, except, perhaps,
>for keeping Western Electric.  
>
>I think given the atmosphere of the time--there was a lot of anti-Bell
>feeling among regulators, legislatures, Judge Greene*, DOJ, and 
>newcomers who wanted a piece of the market, that AT&T was doomed 
>in court.
>
>* Oslin's book says Greene was clearly out to 'get' the Bell System--
>he thought it was an evil monopoly and he sought a reform agenda.
>
>
>> Ridiculous.
>
>Wanting to get into the computer business was certainly a good
>decision by AT&T.  The company had outstanding talent and 
>experience in electronics and software.  It had the name.
>It had Bell Labs and W/E to develop and manufacture stuff.  
>Unfortunately, like so many other large American companies,
>it just didn't 'click' in the computer marketplace.
>
>Remember, IBM was terrified in the 1950s of big players
>like RCA and General Electric who had so much more than
>IBM did, yet IBM prevailed.
>
>Indeed, at the time, everyone thought AT&T would give IBM
>stiff competition in computers (and IBM would give AT&T
>competition in communications).
>
>For whatever reasons, AT&T didn't succeed at computers.
>
>

One of the fun things I saw at Pyramid wat the problem with AT&T's union
field service crew being unwilling to troubleshoot machines running under
Unix.  They only were willing to run completely off-line diags which didn't 
exist at Pyramid in the field, IIRC.

The techs threatened a walkout at Pyramid's training.

They AT&T System 7000 were rebadged Pyramid MIServer class boxes.
One of the moves to the DC/OSx was the move to SVR4 on MIPS... which
died when AT&T purchased NCR.

Bill