From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: scj@yaccman.com (scj@yaccman.com) Date: Sun, 24 Jan 2016 16:11:19 -0800 Subject: [TUHS] PDP-11 questions In-Reply-To: <20160124183037.9F0C218C0A8@mercury.lcs.mit.edu> References: <20160124183037.9F0C218C0A8@mercury.lcs.mit.edu> Message-ID: > >> It seems though that there should have been a PDP-11 based desktop > > > Because DEC were a bunch of losers. > > > Why not? I put it down to corporate cultural intertia - ironically, the > same > thing that allowed DEC to eat so much of IBM's lunch. > Also see the book "The Innovator's Dilemma". I takes a very insightful look at why the leader of one generation of technology is rarely the leader of the next. In part, it's because customers, for the most part, want more of the same and cheaper -- the interesting new niches get overlooked by the current big guys. Besides, the book is worth reading for a hilarious picture of how the steam shovel makers tried to make a backhoe to compete with the hydraulic technology that was eating their lunch... Steve