At 05:05 PM 7/2/1998 -0700, Javilk so eloquently stated:
>> I stand corrected. He was in a recent issue of movers and
>> shakers in the computer industry in Forbes Magazine, and they did
>> clarify that.
>
> Which issue? Might be worth reading -- say, is it on line?
>
It was a special issue. I'll have to dig it out. Earlier this year.
>> But, his failure to do business with IBM was his own doing
>> according to Computer Wars and a couple of other sources. The
>> article in Forbes is quite good.
>
> I suppose that the only real use coming out of Gary's signing such a
>poor deal, would have been in keeping Billy Gates out of the IBM machine.
>In retrospect, that probably would have been well worth it! But money
>aside, the big problem with IBM was always their paranoia about letting
>you know where the stuff was really coming from. Even their employee
>handbooks, which I read as a consultant, keep saying that IBM people must
>not appear to approve of any non-IBM products. I imagine the legalese they
>put in the contract regarding disclosures was horrendous. I remember
>seeing some of that kind of stuff in passing while consulting to IBM, and
>I would not sign anything like that myself.
>
> No, I would lay the blame on IBM. Remember when they announced that
>they were interested in distributing software others wrote? They had a
>$100,000 lifetime royalty cap on anything they distributed. Everyone
>laughed at them! They just didn't get it, and so never made much of a
>splash in PC software, not once others got started. OS/2? Warp?
>
> IBM was always too conservative, letting others push the envelope.
>Even when they developed the first dynamite white LCD screen laptop, high
>level management said NO! And held it back till several other companies
>had them on the market. (I heard the stories from inside IBM, when those
>machines became available as "remainders", sold internally at very hefty
>discounts to employees.)
>
IBM just never believed the PC was anything but a toy. Years ago
I had a software house with products that ran on the IBM System
34 and worked with 23 IBM offices. They the toys came out with
CP/M and I discovered Northstar Horizon where I could run a 5
user system for under $10k. IBM S/34 was $50k. So, even though
I replaced many IBM units and even though many other folks also
replaced the mini's, IBM still didn't want to believe it -- not
even when they introduced their PC.
George
_______________________________________________________
George Matyjewicz, C.M.O. mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
GAP Enterprises, Ltd. http://www.gapent.com/
Moderator of E-Tailer's Digest http://www.gapent.com/etailer/
Your Resource for Retail on the Net
MYWEB - Marketing Your Web
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