[TUHS] Re: Demise of AT&T

On Mon, May 19, 2025 at 9:43 AM Noel Chiappa <jnc(a)mercury.lcs.mit.edu> wrote: Indeed. Extinction of existing practice by new technology happens all the time and not just in the computer field. Before sound recording and playback was invented, fancy restaurants, hotels, etc. hired orchestras to play background music. The phonograph put a huge number of orchestras out of business. There's a knee-jerk tendency in our industry for companies to respond to new technology by retreating to the high end of the market in an attempt to protect profit margins. IBM did this when minicomputers came along; Apollo did it when confronted with cheap workstations (Sun); DEC did it when the PC appeared; Intel right now is attempting to do it to stave off competition from ARM. In all cases the effort has been unsuccessful and usually has resulted in the death of the company (IBM has survived, but as a shadow of its former self). I think it was Scott McNealy who said (regarding protecting existing products and profit margins) that a tech company must be prepared to eat its own children. If they don't, the competition will. -Paul W.