[Main General Bulletin Board | BBFAQ | Prev by Date | Next by Date | Post Followup ] Member Login / Signup - Members see fewer ads. - Latest Member Gallery Photos Out of context quote Like This Post: - Subscribe to Daily Digest for this Bulletin Board Posted by JerseySaab [Email] (#666) [Profile/Gallery] (more from JerseySaab) on Wed, 25 Jun 2014 07:18:25 In Reply to: Why would anyone want a computer in their home?, Steve T, Wed, 25 Jun 2014 06:38:32 Alert me when someone posts in this thread: Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup

What Ken Olsen was talking about is what today we refer to as "cloud computing" where you have what is essentially a terminal in the home and all the heavy lifting and data storage is done via remote servers. Ken Olsen did see the future of computing, he was just too far ahead of his time.

I would argue that most people really do NOT want a computer in the home. They do not want the responsibility that comes with administering a general-purpose computer system. What they really want is a terminal that will give them access to capabilities provided by someone else who will do the actual maintenance and administration. Hence the popularity of "cloud computing" which is conceptually a throwback to the way things were done 30-40 years ago.

I know well DEC's "not invented here" problem with adopting technology from outside the company, and they tended to overestimate their own clout in the marketplace as well. Both of these were factors in the company's demise.

I had a DEC PRO-350, it was basically a PDP-11 in a desktop box, so running MS-DOS was not really an option. (Though at the time I was part of the testing team for a product called "Venix" which was a Unix variant, so I ran that rather than the native OS which was a version of RSX11-M.)

The Rainbow could run MS-DOS but it was not IBM compatible and they had those crazy RX50 floppies which initially the end user could not even format. DEC did finally wake up to what the marketplace was demanding at the time (IBM-PC compatibility) but it was too little, too late.

->Posting last edited on Wed, 25 Jun 2014 10:03:39.

• Just can't seem to catch a break, JonInAtl, Wed, 25 Jun 2014 04:40:09
  • Or perhaps you just caught a break, Brucer, Tue, 1 Jul 2014 14:33:44
  • Re: Just can't seem to catch a break, RS , Thu, 26 Jun 2014 13:37:05
  • You'll be fine, Noel, Thu, 26 Jun 2014 06:08:55
  • Hang in there, DE , Wed, 25 Jun 2014 15:17:25
    • Re: Hang in there, AdamSAAB2kAero , Wed, 25 Jun 2014 16:41:04
  • don't feel bad, Iceland90, Wed, 25 Jun 2014 11:27:10
  • There is no security working for someone else, JerseySaab , Wed, 25 Jun 2014 05:28:54
    • Why would anyone want a computer in their home?, Steve T, Wed, 25 Jun 2014 06:38:32
      • Out of context quote, JerseySaab , Wed, 25 Jun 2014 07:18:25 <-- Viewing This Message
      • Interesting, ELaw , Wed, 25 Jun 2014 06:46:13

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