On Thu, 29 Jan 1998 10:56:44 -0500, "Hiawatha Bray" <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

>...about the impact of the Compaq-Digital merger on the workstation market.
>Compaq is trying to position itself as a leader in enterprise computing and
>networking.  That means the company will be going directly against HP.  I
>want to hear from HP users:  Do you think the new Compaq can win your
>company away from HP?  If so, why?  If not, why not?  What should HP do to
>compete against Compaq?
>
>I'd like to include some other information in my article: Your name and
>title, the name of your firm and the general area in which it's located.
>
>Want to take part?  Just shoot me an e-mail as soon as possible--a deadline
>looms.  Thanks much.
>
>Hiawatha Bray
>Technology Reporter
>Boston Globe
>P.O. Box 2378
>Boston, MA  02107 USA
>617-929-3115 voice
>617-929-3183 fax
>[log in to unmask]
>http://members.tripod.com/~krothering/index.html
>PGP 5.0 public key available at http://www.pgp.com/keyserver/pks-lookup.cgi
>
>
It is a non-issue.  DEC couldn't compete with HP (UNIX), as their
sales, marketshare, and profits proved.  The only reason DEC didn't go
belly up earlier is that they have been selling every asset they had
over the last few years just to keep afloat!

One of the biggest reasons why PC "workstations" haven't been serious
competitors to RISC-based SUN's, SGIs, and HP's is simple horsepower.
The intel architecture as it is today is a toy.  Furthermore the
primary operating system, NT, is still considered, "not ready for
prime time".... but getting better.

Look at the capability of the graphics cards for intel-based PC's.
The fastest ones do only a million or so vectors per second, and much
less quads or poly's.  The RISC-based engines have 10 to 50x the
performance.  Do you think they rendered Toy Story on a PC.

Why don't you ask the people at Pixar what they think of Alpha-based
or Compaq workstations suitability in their environment.  I bet they
laugh at you.

David A. Lethe
VP - Compass Corporate Systems
(15 years in the business, 15 years experience with UNIX)
 - ex HP UNIX VAR
 - now an IBM VAR
972-208-3660