XPost: alt.folklore.computers   
   From: tkoenig@netcologne.de   
      
   Peter Flass  schrieb:   
      
   > The support issues alone were killers. Think about the   
   > Orange/Grey/(Blue?) Wall of VAX documentation, and then look at the   
   > five-page flimsy you got with a micro. The customers were willing to   
   > accept cr*p from a small startup, but wouldn't put up with it from IBM   
   > or DEC.   
      
   Using UNIX faced stiff competition from AT&T's internal IT people,   
   who wanted to run DEC's operating systems on all PDP-11 within   
   the company (basically, they wanted to kill UNIX).  They pointed   
   towads the large amout of documentation that DEC provided, compared   
   to the low amount of UNIX, as proof of superiority.  The UNIX people   
   saw it differently...   
      
   But the _real_ killer application for UNIX wasn't writing patents,   
   it was phototypesetting speeches for the CEO of AT&T, who, for   
   reasons of vanity, did not want to wear glasses, and it was possible   
   to scale the output of the phototoypesetter so he would be able   
   to read them.   
      
   After somebody pointed out that having confidential speeches on   
   one of the most well-known machines in the world, where loads of   
   people had dial-up access, was not a good idea, his secretary got   
   her own PDP-11 for that.   
      
   And with support from that high up, the project flourished.   
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