I was privileged to work for DEC for a total of twelve years. Hands down, the best company I ever worked for. Ken Olsen cared deeply about people. And we loved him. I "took the package" in 1994 in the Palmer era. I never cared for GQ Bob.
I was in a chemical production plant just last year with a new hire fresh out of university. The control system still runs on DEC Vax and Alphas, much fun explaining just how old this stuff was and how utterly bombproof it proved to be.
I just ran across the video -- so nostalgic. I worked for DEC for 10 years in the Chicago area and the Bay Area. I have only fond memories of people and learning so many exciting things. It was a real family.
I Proudly Worked 7 Years for Digital, The Best Company in The World with a Scientific Spirit. It was really Fantástic. Thanks Very Much Mr. Kennet Olsen. God Bless You. You are an Example of an entrepenur with no limits beyond dar than the creative imagination. THANKS
Market consolidation in the mid to late 1990s and into the early 2000s has seriously stifled true innovation and genuine computer technology competition. The type of spirit DEC was known for. Vale Ken.
How will I ever forget Bob "the Butcher" Palmer? Someone needs to write a book on how one man could singlehandedly destroy a billion dollar company in just a couple of years. Sold off everything. I lost my career because of his ineptness. 16 years down the tubes and had to start over in 1994. This video is not far off. It was absolutely a great place to work. One thing not forgotten, even back then was the open door policy. There were not any doors on any office, only on conference rooms. Even our President's office did not have a door on it. Took me quite a while at my next company to get used to the fact that people would to into offices and actually close a door behind them. After 16 years, that did bug me I'll admit. I have nothing but great memories of working there with the exception of Bob the Butchers reign of terror. What a complete opposite personality and person from Ken Olsen.
DEC was the top of line semiconductor company then. It was a great place to work then Intel came in copied (* stole) the Alpha processor design to create the "Pentium" processor. DEC sued but by the time it played out in courts, lossed marketshare to Intel. DEC failed to realize small business/consumer needs. Intel bought them out and DEC fab became Fab17. The Alpha was way ahead of its time, being 64bit and hundreds of Mhz when others were measily 32bit and 16-33Mhz in the '90s. C'est la vie
Thoroughly enjoyed that, I had 20 years up to 1998. It was a unique culture in the industry and such a shame that it did not ultimately prevail. I noticed some of my European colleagues on there, but not many :)
I used to work with a PDP-11 and a MicroVAX and even not knowing a lot about DEC I had this good feeling to work with excellent computers from a exceptional company. I never had this again with others systems.
I worked for digital for 12 years in Colorado Springs Colorado. The best company I’ve ever worked for. I know that plant in Colorado Springs well at least one of them they tore down the other one in the back still standing. I went there last year 2021 and it was sad to see the plant gone.
COMPUTER HISTORY: Digital Equipment Corporation made many significant contributions to the Information Technology Industry and to the world we live in today. I worked at Digital Equipment Corporation from June 1990 - March 1994. It remains the best place that I ever worked. Watch this video and you will learn a lot about DEC and the maturing of the Information Technology Industry.
I worked for DEC for 5 years until they "outsourced" all the marketing people - 800 people were producing videos, brochures, etc. 100 people were hired by a new company that DEC helped set up and I was there for 10 years throughout the Compaq purchase of DEC. When that company closed - 4 of us (original DEC people) started Jupiter Productions and 12 years later we are still producing videos for HP and we often run into people that started at DEC. So cool - Ken was awesome. www.jupiterprod.com Have you joined the DEC alumni group on LinkedIn?
"I worked 7 days a week, I never claimed overtime." The executives and stock holders that you. Our mansions and luxury cars would not have been possible without such dedication.
Kenny drove a Pinto. Most of us claimed and got paid overtime, but it was the most fun I had in a long career in the business. It really was a family, and a good one.
I was at DEC from 1984 to 1989 and I only left because I had an ass for a manager and I was training new-hires that got 30% more alary than I - and I was told "that's what we have to do to attract new talent". But what about the 'old' talent? But the oddest thing is - I still look back as that being the best place I ever worked - and I have been at some cool places...
I remember the day when in 1988 we took the SPICE2 code from the Control Data mainframe at Ruhruniversität Bochum and compiled it on a COMPAQ 386 30MHz. Was only 4x slower than on the said mainframe. That was the day when I figured out mainframes are a thing of the past. I also had the pleasure to work on an Alpha PC for a few hours. Soooo fast. Sad that Intel also managed to get this technology killed.
In 1963 DEC entered the mainframe market with their PDP-6, largely a failure. In 1968 the PDP-6 was improved and released as the PDP-10 mainframe, very popular among Fortune 500 companies. In 1979 they produced the their last model of PDP-10. In 1983 DEC completely abandoned their mainframe products, which caused a lot of damage to the Fortune 500 companies that depended on them. DEC deliberately went out of their way to hide what they did. When the VAX 9000 came out, DEC product literature proclaimed it was DEC's first mainframe. Who would buy a mainframe from a company if they knew they had sunk all of their mainframe customers in the past? To this day, small children who can't be bothered with reading history books think that DEC only produced minicomputers, not mainframes. DEC fooled you in order to cover up their ugly past.
As you state the PDP-6 entered the market in 1963. You also acknowledge the product family continued until 1983. In no way is that timeframe across two decades an abandonment of a customer base. These systems were highly valued by their customers and the supplier. The PDP-6 and follow on DEC10/20 systems were extremely influential in computing - Bill Gates used and was influenced by them. Arpanet started on them - leading to the Internet. Those who bought them were loyal and passionate customers to their supplier and DEC supported them. I completely disagree with your statement that running a product line from 1963 to 1983 is abandoning the early customers. 20 years in a time of significant technology change shows DEC was better than its peers at that time. Compare DEC to the BUNCH (Burroughs, UNIVAC, NCR, Control Data Corporation (CDC), and Honeywell) or IBM and the seven dwarfs if you Include IBM , General Electric, RCA in the 1960 to 1970's. I worked as a programmer, systems architect, It project manager n the 1970's to 2020 across 3 continents (Europe, USA, Australia). Companies I worked with who had PDP systems (including DEC10, Dec 20 Tops 10/20 and Tenex operating systems) were historically loyal to DEC and DEC was loyal to them. There may be a few exceptions, but in general the vast majority of the full PDP customer base of over 600,00 systems wanted a future product that standardised on 32 bit architecture and virtual memory - they were given that. They moved to VAX, VMS and Alpha from 1970 to 2000 and were well served by the technology as well as the support from DEC and the IT community.. The BUNCH, plus RCA and GE left the building. IBM mainframe customers continued buying the mainframe product which brought little innovation compared to DEC. Look at where Microsoft DOS; Windows NT came from; also Ethernet; the Internet; Alta Vista then Google; and thousands of other other technologies. For the record, the total number of PDP-6 systems ever sold was 23. The total number of PDP10 systems was 1,500. The total number of other PDP systems exceeded 600,000! The customer base expanded, they were not abandoned.
This video talks in past tense like the good times were over. Sounds like things used to be great, fun, and warm while "now" (as far as the video's concerned) it sucks and is just any other profit-hungry corporation.
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I was privileged to work for DEC for a total of twelve years. Hands down, the best company I ever worked for. Ken Olsen cared deeply about people. And we loved him.
I "took the package" in 1994 in the Palmer era. I never cared for GQ Bob.
God bless you Ken, thank you for more than simply a job. I learned so much from my 12+ years with your wonderful "family.' Joe Roux
I was in a chemical production plant just last year with a new hire fresh out of university. The control system still runs on DEC Vax and Alphas, much fun explaining just how old this stuff was and how utterly bombproof it proved to be.
I just ran across the video -- so nostalgic. I worked for DEC for 10 years in the Chicago area and the Bay Area. I have only fond memories of people and learning so many exciting things. It was a real family.
I Proudly Worked 7 Years for Digital, The Best Company in The World with a Scientific Spirit. It was really Fantástic. Thanks Very Much Mr. Kennet Olsen. God Bless You.
You are an Example of an entrepenur with no limits beyond dar than the creative imagination. THANKS
Best company I ever worked for, no contest.
best company ever.
Hail to DEC Carolers for providing great holiday cheer for the employees. I enjoyed singing for Uncle Ken at his Christmas party .
Market consolidation in the mid to late 1990s and into the early 2000s has seriously stifled true innovation and genuine computer technology competition. The type of spirit DEC was known for.
Vale Ken.
How will I ever forget Bob "the Butcher" Palmer? Someone needs to write a book on how one man could singlehandedly destroy a billion dollar company in just a couple of years. Sold off everything. I lost my career because of his ineptness. 16 years down the tubes and had to start over in 1994.
This video is not far off. It was absolutely a great place to work. One thing not forgotten, even back then was the open door policy. There were not any doors on any office, only on conference rooms. Even our President's office did not have a door on it. Took me quite a while at my next company to get used to the fact that people would to into offices and actually close a door behind them. After 16 years, that did bug me I'll admit.
I have nothing but great memories of working there with the exception of Bob the Butchers reign of terror. What a complete opposite personality and person from Ken Olsen.
DEC was the top of line semiconductor company then. It was a great place to work then Intel came in copied (* stole) the Alpha processor design to create the "Pentium" processor. DEC sued but by the time it played out in courts, lossed marketshare to Intel. DEC failed to realize small business/consumer needs. Intel bought them out and DEC fab became Fab17. The Alpha was way ahead of its time, being 64bit and hundreds of Mhz when others were measily 32bit and 16-33Mhz in the '90s. C'est la vie
Thoroughly enjoyed that, I had 20 years up to 1998. It was a unique culture in the industry and such a shame that it did not ultimately prevail. I noticed some of my European colleagues on there, but not many :)
I used to work with a PDP-11 and a MicroVAX and even not knowing a lot about DEC I had this good feeling to work with excellent computers from a exceptional company.
I never had this again with others systems.
Same. These days it's just WORK.
I worked for digital for 12 years in Colorado Springs Colorado. The best company I’ve ever worked for. I know that plant in Colorado Springs well at least one of them they tore down the other one in the back still standing. I went there last year 2021 and it was sad to see the plant gone.
Remember working in the Semiconductor Engineering Group at the Hudson plant. Palmer, suits walk in, the day Digital died.
COMPUTER HISTORY: Digital Equipment Corporation made many significant contributions to the Information Technology Industry and to the world we live in today. I worked at Digital Equipment Corporation from June 1990 - March 1994. It remains the best place that I ever worked.
Watch this video and you will learn a lot about DEC and the maturing of the Information Technology Industry.
I worked for DEC for 5 years until they "outsourced" all the marketing people - 800 people were producing videos, brochures, etc. 100 people were hired by a new company that DEC helped set up and I was there for 10 years throughout the Compaq purchase of DEC. When that company closed - 4 of us (original DEC people) started Jupiter Productions and 12 years later we are still producing videos for HP and we often run into people that started at DEC. So cool - Ken was awesome. www.jupiterprod.com Have you joined the DEC alumni group on LinkedIn?
Ken Olsen "The PC is a dying fad" South Burlington, VT 1987. Good call Ken.
i was lucky to have worked with the PDP 11/29 and 11/34 back in the mid-80s. Not forgetting the Rainbow 100 terminal too. Kudos to DEC!
"I worked 7 days a week, I never claimed overtime."
The executives and stock holders that you.
Our mansions and luxury cars would not have been possible without such dedication.
Kenny drove a Pinto. Most of us claimed and got paid overtime, but it was the most fun I had in a long career in the business. It really was a family, and a good one.
158721 from 1984 to the end.
The Facebook group is also very lively and popular.
What an epic exit interview. Ah well, I'm off, see ya!
I was at DEC from 1984 to 1989 and I only left because I had an ass for a manager and I was training new-hires that got 30% more alary than I - and I was told "that's what we have to do to attract new talent". But what about the 'old' talent?
But the oddest thing is - I still look back as that being the best place I ever worked - and I have been at some cool places...
I remember the day when in 1988 we took the SPICE2 code from the Control Data mainframe at Ruhruniversität Bochum and compiled it on a COMPAQ 386 30MHz. Was only 4x slower than on the said mainframe. That was the day when I figured out mainframes are a thing of the past.
I also had the pleasure to work on an Alpha PC for a few hours.
Soooo fast. Sad that Intel also managed to get this technology killed.
from LP25 to Vax 9000, Alphas and Compaq wildFire.
In 1963 DEC entered the mainframe market with their PDP-6, largely a failure. In 1968 the PDP-6 was improved and released as the PDP-10 mainframe, very popular among Fortune 500 companies. In 1979 they produced the their last model of PDP-10. In 1983 DEC completely abandoned their mainframe products, which caused a lot of damage to the Fortune 500 companies that depended on them. DEC deliberately went out of their way to hide what they did. When the VAX 9000 came out, DEC product literature proclaimed it was DEC's first mainframe. Who would buy a mainframe from a company if they knew they had sunk all of their mainframe customers in the past? To this day, small children who can't be bothered with reading history books think that DEC only produced minicomputers, not mainframes. DEC fooled you in order to cover up their ugly past.
As you state the PDP-6 entered the market in 1963. You also acknowledge the product family continued until 1983. In no way is that timeframe across two decades an abandonment of a customer base. These systems were highly valued by their customers and the supplier. The PDP-6 and follow on DEC10/20 systems were extremely influential in computing - Bill Gates used and was influenced by them. Arpanet started on them - leading to the Internet. Those who bought them were loyal and passionate customers to their supplier and DEC supported them.
I completely disagree with your statement that running a product line from 1963 to 1983 is abandoning the early customers. 20 years in a time of significant technology change shows DEC was better than its peers at that time. Compare DEC to the BUNCH (Burroughs, UNIVAC, NCR, Control Data Corporation (CDC), and Honeywell) or IBM and the seven dwarfs if you Include IBM , General Electric, RCA in the 1960 to 1970's.
I worked as a programmer, systems architect, It project manager n the 1970's to 2020 across 3 continents (Europe, USA, Australia).
Companies I worked with who had PDP systems (including DEC10, Dec 20 Tops 10/20 and Tenex operating systems) were historically loyal to DEC and DEC was loyal to them. There may be a few exceptions, but in general the vast majority of the full PDP customer base of over 600,00 systems wanted a future product that standardised on 32 bit architecture and virtual memory - they were given that.
They moved to VAX, VMS and Alpha from 1970 to 2000 and were well served by the technology as well as the support from DEC and the IT community..
The BUNCH, plus RCA and GE left the building. IBM mainframe customers continued buying the mainframe product which brought little innovation compared to DEC.
Look at where Microsoft DOS; Windows NT came from; also Ethernet; the Internet; Alta Vista then Google; and thousands of other other technologies.
For the record, the total number of PDP-6 systems ever sold was 23. The total number of PDP10 systems was 1,500. The total number of other PDP systems exceeded 600,000! The customer base expanded, they were not abandoned.
If they wanted to keep the company, they wouldn't have merged.
Couldn't have put it more succinctly Vale...
Markov car line Olsen??
6:22 Hey, that's Dutch! :)
Sweet :) QC
This video talks in past tense like the good times were over. Sounds like things used to be great, fun, and warm while "now" (as far as the video's concerned) it sucks and is just any other profit-hungry corporation.
You haven't lived if you have never BOOT> DT0
I bet the average worker there has a different opinion on the company.
I was a average worker ,a field service engineer it was amazing place for everyone.