The VAX served DEC well throughout the ’80s and into the ’90s, but as the latter decade went on, DEC began to face stiff competition from UNIX vendors, particularly Sun Microsystems. DEC struggled to change with the times, and the company ultimately failed. In 1998, DEC was acquired by Compaq, and in 2001, Compaq was acquired by Hewlett-Packard. The DEC line, including the VAX/VMS system, was discontinued and faded from the market.
And yet it lives on today. Here’s how.
Getting a DEC Alpha machine has been on my list for a long time, but they’re in very high demand, and extremely expensive. It’s quite impressive to see DEC’s continuing legacy laid out like this.
@Thom
https://www.marktplaats.nl/v/computers-en-software/vintage-computers/m1997015725-dec-microvax-2000?correlationId=212b923c-3be4-4e5b-9ca3-14120e64e26b
I used to have one (DEC Alpha) out in the garage that I would have let you have.
Have zero idea why someone would want one. They weren’t rare.
In the 1990’s I went from working on a VAX to working at Microsoft. I remember all of this happening. But none of it resulted in DEC powering the world, that’s insane. It takes someone with schizophrenia, or a QAnon follower, to make these conspiracy theory style connections. Oh, it’s Ars Technica. I rest my case.
You can’t deny that DEC has had a pretty significant impact on the computing landscape.
The article is just about the influence DEC had on computing. I don’t think anyone who understands the history of computing over the last 30-40 years well would argue that.