🚀 go-pugleaf

    Date: Thu, 1 Jul 1999 16:07 EDT
    From: Liam Healy <Liam.Healy@nrl.navy.mil>

    >>>>> "reti" == reti  <reti@wilson.ai.mit.edu> writes:

	reti>     Date: Thu, 1 Jul 1999 14:16 EDT
	reti>     From: Mike McDonald <mikemac@mikemac.com>


	>> Date: Thu, 1 Jul 1999 19:40:50 +0200
	>> To: slug@ai.sri.com
	>> From: Rainer Joswig <joswig@lavielle.com>
	>> Subject: Re: SYMBOLICS LISP MACHINE

	>> Now Harlequin seems to be in trouble...
	>> 
	>> Survival of the Lispm is more important than ever.

	reti>       Unfortunately, I don't think Lispms can survive as long as they
	reti>     depend entirely on one person. I'm not trying to pick on Reti
	reti>     personally. It just that Genera is too big of a system for just one
	reti>     person to give the kind of support and nurturing that it deserves.

	reti> I completely agree that as a one-person company Symbolics isn't viable.
	reti> We are trying (and have been for some time) to get the resources to
	reti> put Symbolics back as a real company (with more employees).  When there
	reti> is something definite to announce, you can be sure it will be announced
	reti> here.

	reti>       Mike McDonald
	reti>       mikemac@mikemac.com

    That would be odd, as almost nothing is announced here.
    I got an email back in March from David Schmidt saying that the
    company had been bought from bankruptcy by unknown parties; this
    message had a definite "it's all over, see ya later, thanks for the
    memories" tone to it.  Now it appears the company is alive.  Did I
    miss something?  It's really just curiousity, but does anyone in a
    position to know want to make a statement as to what the company
    status is *now*?  (I've inferred a lot from the recent traffic, e.g.,
    there's one technical employee, but that's not an announcement.)

The status is the same as it has been for several years, namely there is
still a company, but it has very limited resources and hence is doing
only a limited number of things.  Since the status hasn't substantially
changed, it didn't seem necessary to make an announcement.

The current incarnation of Symbolics can (and does):

  1) support old hardware (including maintenance contracts); Dave
     Schmidt is in charge of this
  2) sells and supports Open Genera 2.0 which runs on the DEC Alpha
  3) sells consulting services to customers

The hope is that resources will be found to hire more people and to
take on development projects which are less skeletal.

    -- 
    Liam Healy
    Liam.Healy@nrl.navy.mil