notes@ucbcad.UUCP (11/19/83)
#N:ucbesvax:6000008:000:794 ucbesvax!turner Nov 19 02:25:00 1983 The S.F. Chronicle business page reports that Crown Zellerbach, a manufacturer and distributor of paper and office products, is opening a division of supplies for the electronic office. They see this as a natural extension of their current business--in fact, they seem to feel like they are entering late, given how well positioned they are from the point of view of distribution and maintenance. What cracked me up was the name for their offspring: Eczel. Sure, spelling the parent company's initials into "excel" is clever--but don't they see that the name shares its first four letters with the word "eczema"? And the ambiguous pronunciation is certainly worthy of one of those weird Exxon OA firms. (What were they, now? Qyx was one....) --- Michael Turner (ucbvax!ucbesvax.turner)
trb@masscomp.UUCP (Andy Tannenbaum) (11/27/83)
Eczel, huh? It does remind me of the Exxon Office Systems names. I don't remember them all, but I do remember Qwip, which was a telecopier, I think (?). I could never take those names seriously, because I always thought of those two classic breakfast cereals, Quisp and Quake. I was waiting for them to announce Quux. Also, as long as we're talking about Exxon Office Systems, I remember when they cut back operations a couple of years ago, lots of people were talking about XOFF Office Systems. Exxon Office Systems is still alive, at least in NJ, even has a USENET machine, I think. Andy Tannenbaum Masscomp Inc Westford MA (617) 692-6200 x274