Conference 7.286::digital

    It would be great if more people could use the network. Unfortunately
    some DECies have problems getting access to a system. Not many FSE's
    have access, we were lucky in that our support engineer
    used bribery and coercion to get us an account on this system as
    none of our managers would pay for CPU time (it's a software machine).
    So it would seem promoting internal communications is all very well
    but it is not just getting people aware of the net. it is also getting
    them onto it.
    
    .jim. a_microvax_under_every_desk
    

    The developers of our internal applications sure could use a dose
    of distributed processing concepts.  How many applications do you
    use by 'setting host' to another computer.  That is called distributed
    access, not distribuited processing.  VTX, NOTES, and VAXmail are
    very valid applications.  An internal communication education group
    not only could assist employees in finding interesting information
    in the vast sea of it, as well as promote better use of the network.
    
    bill

    	I've been thinking about some sort of NOTES Digest, which would
    be an electronic newsletter for those who don't have access to VAX
    Notes capable nodes, and for those who don't have time to keep up
    with the ever-growing number of conferences. 
    
    	I think it is time for DEC to start encouraging people to work
    in a more distributed fashion, living in remote locations (if they
    prefer) with a microVAX and connecting into the network somehow.
    DEC could probably get away with less office-space overhead, have
    better and more thorough testing of network software and hardware,
    and have extremely happy and productive employees.
    
    	The managers who are skeptical need to be shown with metrics
    and dollar amounts why the network is not just a toy, but a quantum
    leap in communications. Right now, my naive impression of upper
    management is a bunch of executives who understand the engineering
    use of computers as number crunchers, as test equipment monitors,
    as database machines, and as word processors. They seem to see the
    network as a way of these other functions exchanging information.
    
    	The most valuable device available on any computer network is
    alive, eats once in a while, and blows its nose from time to time.
    While computers might do any number of adjunctive mechanical functions,
    none are as useful or as powerful as allowing thousands or millions
    of people to communicate directly with one another. The E-Net and
    Notes spontaneously arose out of the fertile imaginations of people
    who had a desire to multiply the most precious resource on this
    planet, and certainly in this company...free, honest communication.
    We are at the very beginning of a new age. No company is in a better
    position to hasten this age in society. There is much to gain, nothing
    to lose. Anyone who works full time for Internal Communications
    will give back to the company much more than their salary.
    
    	Didier, would you like to see a resume of mine? I happen to
    be in the job market...There are committee's to apply to for things
    like this, right? Let's talk more about this, what can be done,
    what can we do now. Can we write a proposal together, iterating
    it until it is just right? I bet we can put together an awsome
    proposal, and get some impressive recommendations.
    
    	Ed

Unfortunately too few managers understand the wealth of information
available. For that reason, too few of them are willing to pay for
their people to access that information. Even people who have access
to the net often do not know what options they have.

Between VNS, the Week in OZ, VTX AP newswire, and others that I may
not know about there is news of the outside world. There are hundreds
(yes literally hundreds) of Notes Conferences. There is the USENET
and Arpanet redistributions. Now quick, where is the central place to
find out about these thing? Give up? Me too.

We need some internal communication person (group?) to track these
things. Not control but track and inform. We need to let funding managers
know what they are (or can) get. They need to understand the benefits for
their money. Only then will their people get the resources that can help
them become more productive.

We need a central place for people to go to for help. A clearinghouse
for network informations sources. We need a person (or persons) with a
net address and published pointers to them in the phone book and most
hardcopy newsletters. The informal 'net' works pretty good for engineers.
We need some formal help to make the next jump.

		Alfred

From:	FORTY2::ROBERTS  "DTN 830-4800  23-Apr-1986 1342" 23-APR-1986 06:45
To:	PRSIS3::DTL,ROBERTS     
Subj:	QRX

As of today, all temporary employees in our group have been informed that
they must not communicate with DEC employees outside the group by mail
or NOTES.

I hope you will understand that I can't reply to any mail you may send
me in the future.

Regards

Nigel.

        Aaw S**t, why not just pull the DEUNA's!!! What a
        counterproductive attitude.
        
        q
        

    The concept of NOTES, VTX, VNS News, and all the other methods of
    communication available to Digital employees is one of the greatest
    things about having EasyNet.  I EXPECT my technical people to use
    Notes files as a resource, just as they use the VMS documentation
    and their backup groups.  If they don't, then they aren't using
    the tools available to them.
    
    Alas, however, I commented recently to a fellow manager about something
    in NOTES.  His reply was "Yes, it figures that a bunch of techies
    would come up with some electronic way of communicating instead
    of using the good ol' telephone."  I couldn't think of anything
    to counter such a ridiculous remark, so I just let it go.
    
    If you ain't used it, folks, you just don't see the value of it.
    And unfortunately, most of those who don't see the value don't use
    it.  Chicken_and_egg, right?
    
    I don't know the answer, but I definitely see the problem.

    Re: 107.7
    
    I would tell your manager that the "good 'ol telephone" costs this
    company a great deal more money than the data network.  Voice
    communications is an incredibly inefficient means of doing business,
    economically speaking.  [To think otherwise would be succumbing to Ma
    Bell's brainwashing scheme on television. Television - another fine
    example of engineers misusing technology - after all we have theater
    and newspapers right?]  Voice certainly has its place, but many
    people use it very inefficiently in light of newer technological
    developments.
    
    Call the Corp. TeleCom people and ask them what percentage of our
    "telecommunications" traffic is voice vs. data...  Despite the old
    saying, data is cheap, talk is not. 
    
    [Disclaimer: I do no base the above on any studies, etc. - just gut
    hunch.  If someone can verify the above - please feel free. (I guess
    that's what the Internal Communications group would do, eh?)] 
    
    - dave
    

    Different communications media have different costs, but they consist
    of both users' time and media cost.  Save me time and you've saved
    money.  Setting that aside (where the Easynet is a HUGE win), the
    cost of a phone call is pretty discrete.  Local calls cost diddly;
    toll calls cost 10c-30c/minute domestically (via DTN), and much
    more internationally.  (DTN saves vs. residential toll, but there's
    not much you can do to save on most off-net calls beyond the usual
    WATS discount, which is about what DTN costs.)
    
    DECnet applications are scads cheaper.  When you figure the gigabytes
    of traffic flowing, the cost per byte must be tiny.  Anyone do any
    metrics there?  Of course, it's possible to be inefficient -- ship
    lots of big .LNO files around, etc., but in general this type of
    comm seems to be terribly efficient.

        Just imagine the expense said manager would invoke to call
        me here in Australia. apart from the fact that he would have
        to stay back late at work.
        
        q
        

    	Another way to look at it, the E-Net consists of dedicated lines
    that just sit there, waiting for data to flow through them, so the
    more they are used, the more efficient they are. So while you're
    making that phone call, the company is still paying for a network
    connection that isn't going to use. 
    
    	Ed
    

    
    Big Blue estimate that your typical corporation spends over 80%
    of its communication budget on voice communications. Data 
    communications costs are peanuts by in comparison to voice.
    
    
    Mark

    Comparisons between communications media are *very* difficult to
    make.  Consider that the media in question do different things and
    are, therefore, not really comparable (NOTES are not too good for
    private conversations in real time, for instance).  We don't really
    know how much Easynet costs because DEC doesn't have a cost accounting
    system sufficiently sophisticated to track ALL of the associated
    costs including hardware, software, system management, system overhead,
    etc., etc., etc.  It isn't all free, friends.
    
    Easynet IS unique, even if it isn't free.  I believe that what Didier
    is getting at is that we (DEC) have this enormously valuable tool
    that much of the company's management seem to be totally unaware
    of.  We've built one of the marvels of the technological world,
    and few people really know----not even the ones who *should*.
    
    Something new is being created.  We need to focus on that--not worry
    about how it compares to other means of communicating, which have
    their own place.  Use the proper tool for the job at hand; a chisel
    is not a screwdriver :^)
    
    Bill

re: .14
The typical technologist's point of view.  I'm a technologist myself, but I
can no longer believe that sort of stuff.

There is very little really new around.  Technology is used by people, and
people change very, very slowly.  People's problems are pretty much as they've
always been.  Conflicts arise not between technologies but between people, and
the methods for resolving conflicts between people don't change very fast
either.

The questions we are dealing with here - privacy, ownership - have been asked
for thousands of years.  We have various formal systems for dealing with these
questions, but at the base of all of them are various deep-seated cultural
assumptions.  Consider:  Would it bother you if your bank statement were
mailed to you on a postcard?  Could you name any LEGAL reason why a bank
couldn't do this?  Did you know that it's the usual practice in Japan?

People deal with new things in their world by relating them to old things.
Just look at the names we've chosen for various things in NOTES - conferences.
Directories.  When it comes to "gut feel" issues, there's really nothing else
for people to go on - it takes a LOT of experience with something to build
up a new kind of "gut feel".

When it comes to the legal aspects of things, the situation is even plainer.
Our entire legal system is built on precedent; "legal reasoning" consists,
for the most part, in establishing what precedents are most applicable to
some unfamiliar situation.  Really new things in law are EXTEREMELY rare.
While I'm not a lawyer, I have several close friends who are, and I've become
quite familiar with their approach to problems.  Believe me, the arguments I
gave would be a LOT closer to the way a court would see things - if it came
to that - than the theory that "this is a whole new medium, and has all new
rules of its own".
							-- Jerry

    The way I see it is that many people are concerned with privacy
    and accountability.  And, relating to new technology in old ways
    can be a tremendious problem.

    This has got to be better that mailing you all or contacting you
    over the tele.

	Even the most radical change can happen in one generation.
    
    	Ed
    

    Another problem is lack of knowledge regarding use of the applications.
    As a secretary I have seen a lot of this in my travels, i.e., managers
    for whom I have had to "pull their mail"  then make hard copies
    for distribution.  Maybe we should _try_ to train these people,
    realizing of course that people are slow to change.  The reason
    I have learned as much as I have is because for me it's fun.  Just
    another reason for trying to get into a career having more to do
    with computers and less with "routine" things.