SYSMSH@ULKYVX.BITNET.UUCP (07/20/86)
I've been going to decus symposia since 1978. I started out with TOPS-10 and wound up with VMS and Ultrix-32. I go to DECUS to find out what is new on the DEC horizon, to find out problems in new releases of software, and to get into bull sessions with development types in an attempt to lobby for updates I'd like to see. I'd like to make a couple of comments about the changes in DECUS symposia over the last 8 years. (1) Student access to the symposia seems to be quietly curtailed. When I was a slime student DECUS would advertise the fact that students could attend for $25. Now there is virtually no mention of this, and the decus symposia seem to be scheduled in proximity to the dreaded finals week. (2) Competition with DECWORLD is most disturbing. Each year it looks more and more like DECWORLD is where I should have gone. All the new stuff is shown off at DECWORLD. Recently DECUS has been scheduled to occur in very close proximity to the DECWORLD exhibit. There is no way one can jusitfy going to both. I predict that gradually DECUS will turn into a social event only. Furthermore, customers who wish to observe which direction DEC is going in (so that they do not buy 'doomed' hardware) will have no choice but to try to send someone to DECWORLD. Mark Hittinger/systems programmer iv/OCIS south center University of Louisville/Louisville, Ky 40292 sysmsh@ulkyvx