The towers were before my time, but I heard all sorts of stories while working at Eastman Software.
Eastman Software became eiStream which later became Global 360. When I was at ES before and after Y2K, they never saw profitability and had many layoffs. I can only imagine what happened after I left. Like Wang before it, Eastman software was quite a bloated company. My old boss (a hired gun who came in to clean house) did a lot to slim the place down and get people to be a bit more aggressive in making the company profitable. It was great to work for someone like that. There was little to no BS in his presence. But anyways, yea, the software coming out of Wang Imaging was for the most part a bit ahead of its time, a little too expensive, or a little of both. Hrm. Nope, ELI doesn't ring a bell for me. And me being a former North Cambridge punk and all... But I bet a company like ELI had a field day when Wang dissolved. We sold off and thew out so much equipment it was insane. On Wed, Apr 9, 2008 at 5:06 PM, Peter van Houten <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Micheal, you are right; just checked out the rooftop from Google Earth. > On my visits, I wasn't fortunate enough to arrive by helicopter but > had to use the front door... > > One of my ex Wang colleagues told me that after the liquidation, the > towers were sold in 1992 for $500,000! > > Wang Imaging was a very powerful set of applications ~ I wonder what > Kodak eventually did with it? My favourite app was Wang Office. The > entire country was networked and we already had "email" on our desktops > in the early 80s. > > Do you know of the ELI Group in Cambridge? Might be useful to the list > for used hardware. My rep's name back then was Rick Gage as I remember. > > http://www.eli.com > > Took this picture of one of their techs "in his element": > > http://petervdh.googlepages.com/home > > On the 09/04/2008 20:02, Micheal Espinola Jr wrote the following: > > > > Something to note about the old Wang tower: The building forms the letter > W when seen from the sky. This was [I guess] to impress visitors flying in > via the helipad on the roof. > > > > I'm somewhat of a local and spent some time at Eastman Kodak which > > was previously a software division at Wang before Kodak purchased it > > and Wang completely dissolved into other entities. > > > > > > On Wed, Apr 9, 2008 at 1:44 PM, Peter van Houten <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > wrote: > > > > > > > > Well Ray [and all of us old "Wangers"], don't know if you ever went > > > to the towers but it is quite sad to see it now: > > > > > > http://alum.wpi.edu/~tfraser/Stories/Wang/index.html > > > > > > This bloke's site is quite interesting and has lots of old hardware > > > for those that are interested. > > > > > > On the 09/04/2008 17:52, RAY ZORZ wrote the following: > > > > > > > > > > I consider myself lucky that I didn't have to deal much with > > > > PC's. I started on mini's, including a kind of home grown Ti/990 > > > > based system, > > > > > > > then moved to Wang systems, then moved to another proprietary > > > > > > > IVR system. I barely utilized DOS machines. I did buy a 286 > > > > around the > > > > > > > time the 386's came out. I can't remember what version of > > > > > > > > > > > DOS it had. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > "Tom Strader" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 4/9/2008 8:15 AM >>> > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > My Dad had the "Commode 64" (as he used to call it), that was > > > > when I was ohhh, 10 years old. I started on DOS 2.0. I miss DOS > > > > 5.0, it WAS revolutionary. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > -----Original Message----- From: Nikki Peterson - OETX > > > > > > > > > > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, April 09, > > > 2008 11:13 AM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: RE: for old > > > > > > > > > > > > timers > > > > > > > > > > > Commodore-64, ran home, hooked it up to my tv. :) later I bought > > > > a 1721 > > > > > > > tape drive. Very cool! I killed Grues that lived in dark places... > > > > > > > My first HD I don't remember the make, but, that's where I > > > > learned all > > > > > > > about Directories, and why they are nice to have. (I installed > > > everything on the c:/). > > > > > > > My first Windows program 1.0 at work, it had the coolest thing > > > > called Program Manager where it showed you just the exe files > > > > that you could > > > > > > > select and launch from (No menu had to be configured). > > > > > > > Dos 5.0 REVOLUTIONARY!!!! > > > > > > > > Gosh, that was a while ago. > > > > > > > > -----Original Message----- From: Ames Matthew B > > > > > > > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, April 09, 2008 7:34 AM > > > To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: RE: for old timers > > > > > > > > > > > I still have at home an Osborne OS/1. The keyboard for that was > > > > actually > > > > > > > the top of the case (handle bit) which unclipped. Dual 5 1/4imch > > > floppy drives and about a 4 inch monocrome CRT. > > > > > > > -----Original Message----- From: Kim Longenbaugh > > > > > > > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: 09 April 2008 15:29 To: NT > > > System Admin Issues Subject: RE: for old timers > > > > > > > > > > > Back in my day, the "laptops" were the size of a suitcase and > > > > called > > > > > > > "luggables". Compaq's luggable had a small monochrome crt, about 4 > > > or 5 inches. > > > > > > > As far as a command prompt is concerned, coming from a Novell > > > > environment, > > > > > > > I always felt like you had to actually know what your were doing > > > because of the CLI, as opposed to poking around with the mouse > > > until you got lucky and found what you needed > > > > > > > -----Original Message----- From: Reimer, Mark > > > > > > > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, April 09, 2008 > > > 9:10 > > > > > > > AM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: RE: for old timers > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > I still have a Toshiba T1000 Laptop, and it still works. It has > > > > one floppy > > > > > > > (720K), no HD and 512K RAM (IIRC), and Dos 2.11 on ROM (with BASIC > > > of some variety). On another note, I'm still using a 300 Baud modem > > > (actually a 2400 Baud modem downgraded to 300 Baud) to connect > > > > > > > to a fairly old PBX phone system to download logs. > > > > > > > > But those were the days. We actually got quite a bit done on > > > > those old > > > > > > > machines, and I still prefer a command prompt over Windows Explorer > > > for many file functions. I'm sure I'm not the only one on this list > > > like this. Showing my age... > > > > > > > Mark > > > > > > > > > > > > -----Original Message----- From: Angus Scott-Fleming > > > > > > > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, April 09, 2008 1:45 > > > AM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: RE: for old timers > > > > > > > > > > > On 8 Apr 2008 at 23:52, Benjamin Zachary wrote: > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > You know I was right on that page and flipped through it real > > > > > quick and went on to look up the original ibm pc and a bunch of > > > > > other > > > > > > > > > > > > > > things. > > > > > > > > FWIW I still have an IBM XT on the shelf, monochrome monitor, IBM > > > > > > > > > > > keyboard, and all. One of these days I'll have to see if it still > > > boots --before I put it up for sale on eBay ;-) > > > > > > > My first personally-owned PC was a Zenith Z-152, 4.77 MHz, 320k > > > > of RAM and > > > > > > > dual 360k floppies (320k/360k ? memory fades with time). It > > > > > > > cost me over $3,000, with Microsoft Word 1.0 for DOS and an > > > > Okidata MicroLine 9-pin dot-matrix printer (which I still have). > > > > My > > > > > > > brother-the-computer-scientist was jealous -- he worked at the > > > local university and "only" had 64k of workspace on the CDC > > > mainframe. > > > > > > > On Dec. 31 one year (don't you love the income tax?) I upgraded > > > > the Z-152 > > > > > > > to 640k RAM and a 7-MHz NEC V20 chip and added a $399 20-megabyte > full-height hard drive. Ended up giving it to my kid's pre-school > > > loaded with reading and other teaching programs, all pre-Windows, > > > of course. > > > > > > > When I upgraded my 1200-baud modem to 2400-baud I had to find an > > > > off-line > > > > > > > Compuserve-forum-saving/reading program (OzCIS -- for the "old > > > timers" -- did anyone else here use it?) -- at 1200-baud I could > > > > > > > read the forums as they scrolled by, but at 2400-baud I could no > > > > longer > > > > > > > keep up. Egad, I still remember my Compuserve ID: 75500,3223 > > > > > > > and there's even one Google "hit" on my CIS ID still remaining > > > > "out there": > > > > > > > > http://www.google.com/search?q=%2275500%2C3223%22 > > > > > > > > Anybody here remember TeamB for dBASE? > > > > > > > > Angus > > > > > > > > P.S. Yes, I have a (partially) grey beard -- not quite Sid > > > > Dabster but > > > > > > > "one of these days" I'll get there ;-) > > > > > > > > > > > -- Angus Scott-Fleming GeoApps, Tucson, Arizona 1-520-290-5038 > > > > > > > +-----------------------------------+ > > > > > > > > > ~ Upgrade to Next Generation Antispam/Antivirus with Ninja! ~ ~ > > > <http://www.sunbelt-software.com/SunbeltMessagingNinja.cfm> ~ > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > ~ Upgrade to Next Generation Antispam/Antivirus with Ninja! ~ > ~ <http://www.sunbelt-software.com/SunbeltMessagingNinja.cfm> ~ > -- ME2 ~ Upgrade to Next Generation Antispam/Antivirus with Ninja! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbelt-software.com/SunbeltMessagingNinja.cfm> ~
