phipps@fortune.UUCP (Clay Phipps) (02/28/84)
In regard to the [paraphrased] line:
... DEC still hasn't caught up yet in micro sales
with that young snot Zenith ...
I hope that the above was primarily in jest, at least with regard
to Zenith. Yes, DEC's showing has been surprising.
A micro-11 (with UN*X) should have been a world-beater, if timed right.
But "young snot" ? Hasn't Zenith been around since long before DEC's founding ?
Like in the days when "maintenance" was a matter of changing vacuum tubes ?
I agree that they are a recent entrant into the micro industry,
but isn't it reassuring to see that not every successful player
in the micro industry has to be a start-up company or named IBM ?
Isn't it somewhat depressing that Zenith is the only one
of the old guard American radio & electronics firms, e.g., RCA and GE,
to be able to learn new tricks on its own, rather than
having to private-label something designed and built by the Japanese
(consider VCRs) ?
By the way, I have no connection with Zenith whatsoever.
-- Clay Phipps
--
{allegra,amd70,cbosgd,dsd,floyd,harpo,hpda,ihnp4,
megatest,nsc,oliveb,sri-unix,twg,varian,VisiA,wdl1}
!fortune!phippspournell@sdcsvax.UUCP (02/29/84)
What I meant by "young snot" was that Zenith, a very new firm to computers (they bought Heath only a few years ago), seemed to understand the field's needs and wants much better than DEC, who supposedly has years on them. Unless they did so many years back, Zenith has never sold computer-related hardware to my knowledge--until they bought Heath from Schlumberger and made a large commitment. None of the large old-style electronics firms have successfully made the transition to computers; RCA and GE both ate it big trying to take on IBM in the mainframe market. Note that Zenith's entry against IBM's PC is n*o*t yet another IBM PClone; meybe there's still room for hope.
spam@eneevax.UUCP (03/02/84)
[gobble]
I agree with the statement that Zenith isn't a "young
snot." Although I don't own one of their computers, I do own
several of their television sets. My favorite is the 1812A,
which is a VHF-only B&W set. This vacuum-tube wonder has run
flawlessly for 12 (twelve!) years, after I replaced the volume
control (after 6 previous perfect years). It also has excellent
picture & sound.
Why is this in net.micro? Interest: do their computer
products perform as well as this ancient viddy-set? If so, I'm
going to go right out and spend bucks on one, and laugh at all
the poor folks with baked Apples!
Gloat, gloat . . .
--
--Alea iacta est,
John ("Spam") Rehwinkel
uucp: ..!seismo!rlgvax!umcp-cs!eneevax!spam
(I love getting mail!)