D              <<< SPCVXA::DUA2:[NOTES$LIBRARY]X-INFO-PDP11.NOTE;3 >>>1                                -< X-Info-PDP11 >- P ================================================================================P Note 7.35              Info-PDP11 Postings for July, 1990               35 of 37P SPCVXA::INFOPDP11 "Anthony A. Datri <convex!datri@u" 72 lines  20-JUL-1990 21:310                                  -< Re: 11/60 >-P --------------------------------------------------------------------------------F At the risk of going off on a tangent, I submit this, which I found on the net long ago.    A TO: GORDON BELL                DATE: TUE 18 NOV 1980  8:30 AM EST +     DICK CLAYTON            FROM: KEN OLSEN 0     JACK SHIELDS            DEPT: ADMINISTRATION,     JACK SMITH                EXT:  223-2301-                     LOC/MAIL STOP: ML10-2/A50      SUBJECT: 11/23 AND RX02 FLOPPIES   F   I had an 11/23, a pair of RX02 floppies and a letter quality printerJ delivered to my home.  I'm terribly embarrassed by these.  I've never seen: such poor mechanical design and such poor system thinking.   $   Will you send a note to me saying:   !     1.  Who designed these units?         2.  Who packaged them?   ,     3.  Who approved them for Manufacturing?   ,     4.  Who approved them for Field Service?   M   I think it's time we identify who does poor design and make sure they don't K do design for us again.  For years we've been doing poor design, keep doing K it, and I think we're embarrassed to find out who does the poor design and,  therefore, we never stop it.   N   I'd like to know who looks over the whole system to say that it is a product we'd be proud of.    K   The LQP came in a box which must be five feet tall and so big it won't go G through most of the doors in my house.  Two people have a terrible time M carrying the empty box without the table and printer in it.  Inside there's a K printer which is just the size of an IBM typewriter and probably lighter in N weight.  We probably had good reasons originally to put the printer on a tableK and then the box so it wouldn't get damaged, but no one stopped to think of L how much space we wasted, how much warehouse space we wasted, how hard it is to ship, and the overall cost.   L   The 11/23 is a micro-processor on four dual boards which takes very littleK space but they're put in a huge steel box which is very heavy, very hard to K carry, and quite vulnerable in shipping.  I don't know why we bother making M large scale integrated circuits when we put them in boxes like this.  All our M work in integrated circuits is a waste and our packaging is so dumb.  We even M do things like not taking advantage of the metal covers for shielding because  we don't ground the covers.    M   The dual floppies are put in a huge metal box which the automobile industry L would be embarrassed to ever ship.  It's "fit and trin" is terrible.  No wayL can you make the trim look good.  The floppies take up approximately a thirdL of the volume of this box and the rest is empty air or poor design.  We wentN to new small floppies because this box is so big.  Anybody in their right mindN would have made a box to fit the floppies rather than make small floppies.  We> could put small floppies in the same big box and gain nothing.   J   This equipment is filled with loose screws, each of which has a serarateI washer and a separate lock washer.  I am not completely unhandy in taking K things apart and putting them together, but I have a terrible time with all J these loose screws and washers.  I've lost one washer inside the equipmentM which I'm afraid might cause trouble later on when we turn it on.  Many, many ? years ago people learn[ed] not to put things together this way.    I   Gordon Bell says the Japanese are coming because of their financing and J better manufacturing.  They're going to kill us by better design.  This isG absolutely atrocious and I want to know who did it and who approved it.     KHO/em 13.10  ----- 