rab@rabtrs (Rich Bilancia) (04/29/86)
The following report was prepared primarily for my clients. Please feel free
to copy and distribute as your needs may exist, just be sure my copyright goes
with it!
--------------------------
A Report of the
TANDY Business Computers Users Group
1986 Annual Conference - Fort Worth, Texas
Copyright (c) 1986 - Richard A. Bilancia
The 1986 Annual Conference of the TANDY Business Computers
Users Group (TCBUG) was held at the Worthington Hotel in
Fort Worth (adjacent to the Tandy towers) on April 21st
through 23rd. The first day of the conference was dedicated
to Tandy speakers who outlined the direction that we can
expect Tandy to be taking for the balance of 1986. The
second day was dedicated mainly to industry expert guest
speakers. The third and last day was reserved for business
topics of the Group.
After TCBUG President Jim Larkins made a few opening remarks
to the approximately 160 attendees, Ron Stegall (Tandy
Senior Vice President, Business Products Division), David
Goyne (Tandy Vice President, Support Services) and Bill Wash
(Tandy Director, Computer Merchandising Services) led a
panel discussion of support and service concerns of the
TCBUG membership. A history of support and service was
presented describing the positive steps taken by Tandy to
service and support their computer customers since the TRS-
80 Model I was introduced. The members of the panel
suggested that if and when service or support problems still
do arise that TCBUG members use the Tandy "chain of command"
until they are satisfied.
Later it was announced that while the TRSDOS Model II, 4 and
12 systems are no longer the Tandy flagship models, the
TRSDOS operating system will continue to be supported but no
further development (either in the operating system or
additional software) will take place. Additionally, to
allay some rumors that the Tandy 6000 was being
discontinued, it was explicitly stated that the Tandy 6000
will be included in the Summer 1986 catalog [more on this
later].
The Tandy corporate policy on consumer electronics parts
availability was outlined as follows: three years for
cosmetic parts, five years for mechanical parts, and seven
years for electronic parts (all minimum periods). No
official policy exists for computer parts, by the speakers
expected a ten year minimum.
Throughout the rest of the morning and even included in John
Roach's Keynote speech at lunch the first day, it became
more and more evident that in Tandy's attempts to be "the
low cost mass merchandisers of MSDOS machines" they will be
abandoning the Motorola MC68000 based machines (i.e., the 16
& 6000) in favor of the Intel based machines (i.e., the
1000, 1200, 2000, and the 3000). In a private conversation
with 6000 Buyer (product line manager), Kent Roberts, I
concluded that "abandoned" may be slightly too strong of a
word, however it is clear that the 3000 and not the 6000
will be Tandy's new flagship! With that in mind, XENIX V
for the 3000 is "hopefully" expected by "this summer". It
will support up to six users and up to twelve megabytes of
RAM. There are no plans for either a version of System V
XENIX on the 6000 or the previously promised 132 column
version of Multiplan for the 6000.
Other announcements included a slimming down of the printer
product line: the 430 will be coming down in price, there
will be a new daisy wheel printer, the 2100P will replaced
with a 2200 and be bundled with a tractor. The Model 100
will be replaced by a Model 102 that will be 100% compatible
with the Model 100 but will be slightly thinner and cost
$100 more. An 8087 co-processor is available for the MSDOS
machines. VIANET is now shipping (as of April 25th) for the
MSDOS based machines but will still not be available for the
6000. The Iomega Bernoulli box will be available for the
2000 on May 1st. Unify version 3.2 for the 6000 is close --
probably by the end of May 1986 (for a $249 upgrade charge)
with completely new documentation.
The most important general announcement at the conference
was the creation of an Express Hardware Order program
patterned after the Express Software Order program already
in place. No specific hardware is yet available, but much
will become available for the MSDOS products as well as some
for the 6000.
6000 owners at the conference were able to bring their
combined strength to have Tandy to release a patch that
eliminated the dreaded "Hard Drive n: Active drive not
ready" message, and make Tandy admit that there is a
hardware problem with the 3 user UART cards for the 6000.
If you are a 6000 user and need information to help resolve
these problems, please call or write me for more
information.
Nearly 80% of the attendees appeared to be 6000 users and
were needless to say quite disappointed in the announcements
related to the 6000. The new TCBUG Board of Directors is
comprised of members who are all 6000 users. At this point
it may be too early to tell what direction the new Board
will be taking to ensure ongoing support and improvements
for the 6000, but I strongly urge all Denver area Tandy
users (6000 owners or not) to join TCBUG and ensure on going
support for the equipment that they use to run their
businesses. Membership forms are available from your store
manager.
Richard A. Bilancia
Computer Guidance & Support
Littleton, Colorado 80162
(303) 973-4035
April 27, 1986