Having been on this list from almost the beginning the current thread
surprised me a bit. I trust this list, as wild as it gets some times, does
not lose it's one characteristic that makes it so important to the RP
technology as a whole. That is its ability to afford discussions on many
related and none related threads which weave a broad quilt supporting a
technology that in many areas yet to be completely defined. Starting a
forum on RE would in my opinion take away a great opportunity for everyone
to push their knowledge and maybe their individual RP systems into other
areas as well. Ideas spaun other ideas while dreams and visions spaun
other technologies.
Recently I was asked why RP seems to be so flat. My response was PRICE. I
was an active part of the personal computer technology revolution. While
IBM, TI, Atari, and several others held the top end of the market.... few
people ever saw the need for a home based system. Few home owners could
afford the 10-15k per system. Software development lagged so badly that
few ever saw a need for a 30Mhz clock speed. It took well over 5 years for
the flatness to spiral upwards.... during which time a few of us
adventurous bought those ripoffs through Computer Shopper.
As I have surveyed the RP world for the past few weeks I can tell you that
I am more optimistic than every about the technology. Does the failing of
Plynetics and Compression forecast doom to the RP&M world? Only if you
have strung your dreams on rumors and unsound business practices. IBM and
TI both made judgment errors in the PC markets but both are still around
today and look what Atari means to kids.
Plynetics Express will no longer exists since it will file Chapter 7
today. That is really tough for me to hear since I have know Frost, Dave,
and Tom since 1989. They were willing to put their entire personal stake
on a very shaky technology. I salute their being one of the founding
pioneers who has helped shape a strong foundation. Good luck to them in
all their future endeavors and if anyone needs great employees I am sure
there maybe a few who need work.
Elaine
*******************************************************************
Opinions, suggestions, and other controversial matter VOID where prohibited.
******************************************************************
Elaine T. Hunt, Director
Clemson University Laboratory to Advance Industrial Prototyping
206 Fluor Daniel Bldg. Clemson, SC 29643-0925
864-656-0321 (voice) 864-656-4435 (fax)
elaine.hunt@ces.clemson.edu
http://chip.eng.clemson.edu/rp/persall/elaine.html
For more information about the rp-ml, see http://ltk.hut.fi/rp-ml/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.2 : Tue Jun 05 2001 - 22:47:26 EEST