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Our DEC Connection Zoom program has really taken off!
The purpose is to preserve our Digital stories, enjoy nostalgia with
friends, learn what else was happening at DEC, and discuss what might have
been. Attending the Zoom session is now a member benefit,
so join up or renew if you're not a
(current-in-dues) member. Recordings are available for all sessions,
see the links below in each speaker's synopsis. Tech Talk #10: Wednesday May 14, 2024 - 1 pm Eastern/10 am Pacific/6 pm GMT - Jeff Bergart Encore! 
Jeff today | Jeff's
Finance career at DEC was marked by success, innovation and FUN!
With his uniquely multi-disciplinary background, Jeff loved to
contribute to his organizations in unexpected ways. Jeff's second
presentation is about his FUN years in Computer Special Systems
(1985-1993).
It
was a wonderful reunion for the CSS alums who participated! Their
enthusiasm carried the discussion for over an hour and a half, a Tech
Talk record! Thanks to Jeff and all who participated.
Please contact Jeff at jeffbergart@gmail.com with any comments after viewing his recording. He welcomes your feedback!
Jeff's video presentation*
Jeff's CSS slides w/o script
Jeff's CSS script with slide pics
*apologies for inadvertently showing my adorable dog for about the first 5 minutes of the discussion!
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Corporate Talk #2 - February 4, 2025 - 1 pm Eastern/10 am Pacific/6 pm GMT - An
Open Discussion with Digital's"Internet Evangelist" and author
Richard Seltzer on Alta Vista, the beginning of the search engine, and
Digital's Internet Business Group  | We
are going to try something fun and different! This DECconnection
Corporate Zoom with 19-year DEC veteran Richard Seltzer is about all
your questions on Alta Vista, the birth of search engines, and
Digital's Internet Business Group. Richard served as our "Internet
Evangelist" from 1995-1998 when he wrote a book on Alta Vista and spoke
about it to Digital customers all over the world. He is a talented
writer who wrote the DECWORLD newsletter and all of Ken's MGMT
MEMO newsletters. Since DEC, he has authored 25 different
books - One Family was just
published (a fascinating blend of genealogy, history, essay and
mystery) and it contains a chapter about Ken Olsen which Richard is
happy to share with you here (link to Medium).
Richard's email is seltzer@seltzerbooks.com and he'd like to hear from folks with questions or comments.
Link to video recording of Richard's talk and the discussion afterward.
Link to Richard's slides.
Link to the script for his talk.
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Tech Talk #9: October 8, 2024 - 12
noon Eastern/9 am Pacific/5 pm GMT - Tech Talk with Jeff Bergart 
Jeff at DEC | Please
save Tuesday, October 8 at 9 am PST, noon EST, and 5 pm GMT, for our
next DEC Connection Zoom event - a Tech Talk with Jeff Bergart (at
left, in his DEC years). With his uniquely
multi-disciplinary background, Jeff loved to contribute to his
organizations in unexpected ways.
Part 1 by Jeff is
about his memories of Manufacturing Process Engineering (1976-1980),
under Bill Hanson and Pete Kaufman, located in the Mill and Piper Rd.
Acton.
Please contact Jeff at jeffbergart@gmail.com with any comments after viewing his recording. He welcomes your feedback!
Link to Jeff's Process Engineering recording from 10/8/24.
Link to Jeff's slides (no script).
Link to Jeff's slides with script.
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Corporate Talk #1: December 13, 2023 - 11 am Eastern/8 am Pacific/4 pm GMT - The UK's Reading Digital Revolution
Sandy Mackenzie, DEXODUS | 
Brendan Carr,
Reading Museum | 
Jacqui Garrad,
The National Museum of Computing | 
Gavin Clarke,
Blended Past | 
Ian Severn,
DECUS UK |
Peter Thomson |
| We are excited to present the first discussion of the history and plans for the UK's Reading Digital Revolution
project.
This will culminate in June 2024 in a display at the Reading Museum, and in 2025, a
celebration of the 60th anniversary of Digital's opening its Reading UK
office in 1964. Digital's foothold began the build-up of a technology center
that over the years built a thriving economy in Reading, and led to
creation of a center of technology and computer education.
The
entire effort is an effective and motivated partnership between
once-private industry (Digital UK's DEXODUS and UK DECUS), government
(UK Reading Museum, the National Museum of Computing, and the UK
National Lottery Fund) and private education (University of Reading
Computer Science Department).
The first presentation featured 6 speakers: an introduction from Sandy Mackenzie from the DEXODUS team;
Brendan Carr, Reading _Digital Revolution_ project director from the
host Reading Museum; Jacqui Garrad, Director of the UK's National
Museum of Computing, and her consultant Gavin Clarke, a technology journalist; Ian Severn,
Chairman of UK DECUS; and Peter
Thomson, a former Chairman of DEXODUS. Each speaker will describe
their
role in the original organizations and with this project, commenting on
the impact that Digital and the
technology center had on Reading and its economy over the years.
The recording is 1 1/2 hours in length (and totally
captivating!).
Link to Video Recording: 1-1/2 hours
Link to Brendan Carr's slides
Our moderators:
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| Alan Goldsworthy,
DEC Connection | Rod Sutherland,
Digital's Ambassador to 55 countries |
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Tech Talk #8: April 18, 2023 - 2
pm Eastern/11 am Pacific - A conversation with Tom Stockebrand,
with Bob Anundson
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Tom Stockebrand
Bob Anundson |
Tom Stockebrand
("Stocky") is a highly-respected computing pioneer who contributed to
Digital in amazing fashion over his 30-year tenure from 1960-1990.
Tom, who earned a mechanical engineering degree from Caltech, worked
with Ken Olsen and others for 6 years at Lincoln Labs prior to joining Digital.
There Tom worked on the predecessor to LINCtape, with giant 14" reels;
then he helped morph it into the LINCtape used with Lincoln Labs' TX-2 computer.
At Digital, Tom developed DECtape, which is, according
to CHM, a very reliable block-addressed tape drive
with a shirt pocket-sized tape reel (and probably the first commercial
personal portable digital storage). He
followed this up by starting a group that created the Digital VT
family of video terminals, beginning with the VT05 in 1970 and the VT50 introduced in 1974.
When Digital sold the terminals business in 1995, over 6 million VT
units had been shipped -- an unqualified success by any standards.
Tom recently recorded an Oral History (this OH is a
3-1/2 hour interview) for the Computer History Museum (CHM) in Mountain
View CA. It covers his professional life history so, if you want
to hear it just from Lincoln Labs through Digital, start the time slider
mark at hour 1 and stop at hour 3. That's still 2 highly engaging
hours of Tom's history, most relevant to us. Click
here to view it on YouTube.
The purpose of this Tech Talk is not to repeat
Tom's CHM OH, but to summarize 10 minutes of highlights of Tom's
career, and leave a lot of time for Tom's stories and DEC Connection members' questions
and discussion. Bob Anundson, who gave our first DEC
Connection Tech Talk, was the product manager for Tom's products, and
Bob will serve as an interviewer. Bob and Tom have remained friends
since working together in the 1960s. They will be assisted in the
Q&A by Al Goldsworthy of our DEC Connection board.
LINK TO TOM'S SESSION
RECORDING HERE
Link to
Presentation and Products
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Tech Talk #7: February 23, 2023 - Kerry Bensman
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We recently enjoyed the discussion from
Avram Miller about the Professional 3xx Series of Personal Computers,
with references to the two complementary Digital products in the
personal computing space. One was the Rainbow 100 Personal
Computer, a product about which Kerry Bensman can tell us quite a lot!
Kerry, who at the time worked for the late Barry James
Folsom, will share the history of the Rainbow 100, DEC's relationship
with Microsoft, and his own anecdotes about the PC
industry in the early days.
After graduating
from M.I.T. with a B.S. in E.E., Kerry joined DEC in December 1969. As a
mill rat, he spent a couple of years in TOPS-10 and then transferred to
Denver as a Software Specialist, covering one fourth of the U.S. He was
promoted to Northern California District SWS Manager in Northern
California and then Northeast Regional SWS Manager in Waltham. After a
short stint in Customer Services Marketing, he joined the Rainbow Group
as Group Product and Applications Manager. He was responsible for the
Rainbow 100B and CP/M and MS-DOS. Following the cancellation of the Rainbow,
Kerry moved on to TOEM as the Basic Industries Manager and left the
company in 1990, a few months after completing the Harvard Business
School International Senior Managers Program. He then spent a couple of
years at Wang Laboratories and later relocated to Boulder, CO as
Director of Software Business for IBM's Printing Systems Division.
After leaving high tech, Kerry served six years as a City Councilman for
Lafayette CO, and now lives in the St. Louis MO area, enjoying his
family including a young granddaughter.
LINK TO VIDEO RECORDING OF KERRY'S
TALK. |
Tech Talk #6: January 11, 2023 -
Gale "Jake" Jacobs
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Gale Jacobs joined Digital in
1973 and served in sales, marketing and management positions in
Portland, Oregon, Mexico City and Acton, MA. His talk will feature
cultural differences and the agony and ecstasy of serving as National
Sales Manager in Mexico during a time when the country’s economic
pendulum was swinging from soaring heights to abysmal lows, and
Digital’s efforts to manage the challenges. Plus, the trials and
tribulations of relocating from Oregon to south of the border and the
transfer back north to Acton. If you enjoy tequila, mañana, music,
cerveza and a good war story, be sure to join us for this Tech Talk!
Viva Mexico! Viva DEC! LINK TO VIDEO RECORDING OF JAKE'S TALK on YouTube.
Link
to Jake's presentation slides on our website. |
Tech Talk #5: December 6, 2022 - Avram Miller
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Link to amazon.com,
to get Avram's book.
Avram speaking to his project team, c. 1980. |
Avram Miller gave a fascinating
presentation on Tuesday, December 6. Avram was the
Program Manager for Digital's Professional Series of PCs in the early
1980s. He worked directly with Ken, Gordon, and other industry
icons to accomplish this challenge. He recently published a
book on his personal experiences in technology and one of the chapters
features Digital. You can read more about Avram's career on his blog,
https://www.twothirdsdone.com,
and his website
http://www.avrammiller.com.
Avram refers us to a 36-min. video
posted on You Tube by the Computer History Museum called DEC:
Personal Challenge, 25th Anniversary Video, which can be found
at this link.
This documentary was produced by DEC and chronicles the
2-year odyssey to bring three personal computers, the Professional
Series (PRO-325 and PRO-350) and the Rainbow 100 to market a year after
IBM launched their PC. The narrative follows the challenges of the
CT Program Group - Avram Miller (project manager), Michael Weinstein
(merchandising), Ron Ham (software), Art Williams (hardware), and Vah
Erdekian (manufacturing), as they race to develop a personal computer to
show at the June 1982 National Computer Conference in Houston.
LINK TO VIDEO RECORDING OF
AVRAM'S TALK. A few slides Avram used in his intro.
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Tech Talk #4: October 19, 2022 - Nick
Pappas
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Our #4 Tech Talk was given by DEC
Connection member Nick Pappas, who contributed at Digital both in
Engineering and Services. Nick described his talk:
I started work at Digital in June, 1967 and left
in 1994. My talk will cover the period from 1967 to 1975. For most of
that time I worked in the Programming Department where I managed
language development projects for the PDP-10 and PDP-11. I also
implemented the unbundling and licensing of software late in that
period. And finally, I worked for Tom Stockebrand as a product manager
for a video terminal. My talk on October 19 is about the projects,
the people, and the DEC environment that I experienced in those days.
LINK TO VIDEO RECORDING
OF NICK's TALK.
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Tech Talk #3: August 31, 2022 - Bob Nusbaum
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Our #3 DEC Tech Talk was delivered by DEC Connection member Bob Nusbaum,
another of our super-duper utility fielders - a great product manager. He
spoke about "High-Tech Darwinism" -- his experiences and
observations of Digital from his FMS and ALL-IN-1 product manager roles.
Bob worked at Digital for 18 years (plus 4 at CPQ). Discussion continues
as long as everyone wants afterwards.
LINK TO VIDEO RECORDING
OF BOB's TALK.
Link to Bob's
presentation slides. |
Tech Talk #2: July 12, 2022 - Nathan Brookwood
Tech Talk #1:
February 19, 2022 - Bob Anundson
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Bob
Anundson, a DEC Connection member from Washington state, proposed that
we organize short presentations about Digital products, engineering
culture, and whatever else interests you, with Q&A/discussion time
afterwards. In the time-honored tradition of Digital, he who proposes
does, and Bob has graciously kicked off this series with a prototype
session. He focused mostly on his Maynard experiences in Product
Marketing using the PDP-11/10, 11/40, RK05, VT50/VT52, and software
licensing as examples between 1969 and 1975, in the context of Digital
culture.
LINK TO VIDEO RECORDING OF BOB's TECH TALK.
Link to write-up of Bob's experience at Digital he shared with
Maynard Public Library for their Digital collection. |
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