The Worst Decisions In Computer History

Here is my list of the worst decisions in computer history.

Digital Equipment Corporation failure - Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) was exceptional at creating hardware (the PDP line, the VAX and Alpha systems) and operating systems (OpenVMS). The company was extraordinarily lame at marketing, which sealed it's fate. DEC created the best chip in the world (the alpha), the best operating system (OpenVMS) and the best hardware (the Alpha box). The clustering on OpenVMS is still head above heals over anything produced in Redmond or anywhere else. DEC's equipment was so good that many old VAX's and PDP-11's from the 80s and early 90s are still running today.

Yet the company could not market itself out of a paper bag. Thus the number 2 computer manufacturer (behind IBM) fell over the years until it was finally purchased by Compaq. Now the Alpha chip has been dropped and the technology has been ripped apart by Compaq. It's too bad ... the alpha running OpenVMS was one of the greats and could have made DEC number 1.

Apple Computer Systems blunders - In the world of the personal computer for many years it was plain to see that the MacIntosh was the industry leader. There was little question that the PC was just a toy while anything produced by Apple was for professionals.

Yes the PC won the war. Why? Because Apple kept the price of their equipment too high. The so-called leaders of that company decided to put short-term profits over long-term common sense and kept the price of the MacIntosh system so high as to make it inevitable that the PC would win out.

Microsoft decision to add scripting to email - Giving email the ability to execute a script was one of the most bone-headed, silly, thoughtless decisions that has ever been made. Not only was it inherently dangerous, but there was little need for the feature. The result of this decision was the proliferation of super-viruses such as Melissa and Iloveyou.

 

---