In the tiniest of defenses of Dick Pick during the infamous Bill Gates conversation, one should examine the prevailing systems of the time. If this conversation took place in 1980-81, then let's jump into that time machine. (Actual dates may vary)
The Apple II or II+ already had 3 years momentum with its BASIC language/OS, floppy etc. Heathkit had a different but similar BASIC/OS as well as Radio Shack (TRS-80 anyone?). Throw in the Commodore 64, Atari, Intellivision and it looked like everyone was attaching a keyboard to a TV set. Add the hobbyist nature of the S-100 bus plus other single user OS's like CPM and MPM and this thing called MS-DOS didn't appear to be anything different. Given the real hardware of the time, Dec's PDP-8,9,10, Perkin Elmer/Interdata, IBM system 32/34, Burroughs and a whole lot of forgettable mini-computers (as opposed to mainframes like VAX, system 360/370, etc) Pick was sitting pretty comfortable having a good OS and database marriage on the Microdatas and Ultimates circa the late 70's early 80's. I recall trying to create a Pick-like dictionary-driven app on a Perkin Elmer system. It wasn't until the late 80's and arguably the early 90's when the PC's gained momentum with the introduction of Windows 3.1 that they became more functional and interconnectable. Until then, it was just as green-screen as we were. But given the PC programs like Lotus, Harvard Graphics and WordPerfect, it was gaining respect on the desktop. There was early Revelation using floppy drives and the Pick-PC-XT with its 10MB second partition system. I owned both in 1983-84 but at that time, PC users were more into tinkering and configuring their systems instead of running a database. DOS appealed to them as an environment to fiddle with IRQ's, dip switches, CONFIG.SYS etc. Run a database application? I'm having more fun tweaking the OS. Talk about tweaking, I recall owning an EPROM burner to distribute protected software on an Apple II+. I wore 2 hats. My 9-5 Pick hat and my 5-9 DOS/Apple hat. My 2 cents on the infamous meeting. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Lee Bacall" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: "Harvey Rodstein" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "MIke Shebesta" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Becky Piel" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Porfirio Matt Sperandio" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2004 4:32 PM Subject: Re: [U2] MV Fad > Ross and others, > One would have to go back in time to around 1987 for those exciting > attendance figures for Spectrum. > The shows at that time were incredible events. Ask some of the old-timers > like Charlie Noah and Henry Eggers - they can tell you some interesting > stories about "history". > > No, Pick isn't a fad, as fad's are fashion news. Most of us happen to work > in an arena that is considered un-fashionable by mainstream IT, which tends > to > favor large staff and huge budgets that justify big salaries and senior IT > titles. > > Pick shops don't generally have titles like chief information officer, > Director of Information technology or Vice President of Information Systems. > We tend to have a single programmer capable of supporting 500 users doing > double duty as both support person and help desk while enhancing > applications and running reports for management. We have allowed it to > become an environment that is looked upon by management as a bastard child > rather than as a valuable adjunct to the business. The mainstream world > shines in their ability to sell management on their importance. > > I'll pose this question rhetorically to the group... what have we done to > become the kicking post for CEO's and CFO's who now favor Oracle or even > Microsoft SQL > server as an environment? > > Essentially, we have tried to "cheap out" by telling ourselves and > management that we can do it cheaper, when what we really should have been > saying is that we can do it better, but we are going to need more money and > more help and more education. We didn't get, because we didn't ask. Oracle > sells because management "buys in" at the boardroom level or on the golf > course where bragging is king and no one can brag about spending 50k on a > database, but spending 2.5 million on Oracle implies bragging rights. > > Dick Pick although a gifted visionary in terms of seeing the elegance in the > methodology to flexibly store and retrieve data, truly screwed up when Billy > Gates asked hime if he would port Pick to a PC with two floppy disc drives, > as he said "no, go #$%(* yourself" in a fit of pride. > > Lee Bacall > http://www.binarystar.com > Phone: +1 (954) 791-8575 > Cell: +1 (954) 937-8989 > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Ross Ferris" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Wednesday, May 05, 2004 8:51 PM > Subject: RE: [U2] MV Fad > > > > I don't recall there EVER being 5,000 people at a Spectrum conference (not > that I have been to many) - and based on the previous 2 years that I have > attended, 500 sounds like an increase. > > > > By definition a fad is also relatively short lived .... to even make > reference to 5 years ago indicates that this is not the case - and the first > International Spectrum I went to was 1992 ?, so I think that for a 'fast > paced' arena like technology, multi-valued is not a 'fad' ..... though the > growth rate could always be better :-) > > > > Ross Ferris > > Stamina Software > > Visage an Evolution in Software Development > ------- > u2-users mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://www.u2ug.org/listinfo/u2-users ------- u2-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.u2ug.org/listinfo/u2-users
