Paul Winalski: Rather than design a new CPU, they just put NOPs in the Skipjack microcode to slow it down. The official code name for this machine was Flounder, but within DEC engineering we called it "Wimpjack". Customers could buy a field upgrade for Flounder microcode that restored it to Skipjack performance levels. ==== As I remember it, once it came out that the upgrade merely removed gratuitous nops, customers raised sufficient fuss that the denopped microcode was made available for free (perhaps only to those with service contracts) and Flounder (VAX 8500) was no longer sold. Norman Wilson Toronto ON