binder@dosadi.DEC (The Stainless Steel Rat) (05/12/84)
As I was the one who complained at Intel for cancelling the 432, I guess a little clarification of my viewpoint is in order. I am all in favour of cancelling a project that is GOING TO BE unprofitable, as DEC did with the super 36-bit machine project. (That comment is bound to raise the rancour of the people who were working on that project, I fear...) What I objected to is the way Intel handled the 432 debacle. They pub- lished info, built chips, SOLD them for a hefty sum, did 2nd pass, up- dated the specs, announced the 432 chip set, published a "here comes the new world standard chip set, look it even runs Ada" article in the com- puter press, dic 3rd pass, sold us (I wasn't at DEC then) some more sam- ples, gave us significant development aid, sold us a development system (not a 432) to do software on, made more promises, established a schedule for release of the memory controller and bus controller, etc. ad nauseam, and THEN they told us to forget it! Now there is one basic difference between the handling of these two can- cellations. DEC never sold, built, or delivered any of its product... What Intel did is akin to implanting a pacemaker and then making the patient give it back. Dick Binder decvax!decwrl!rhea!dosadi!binder