Morgan, actually DEC was both ethnocentric and egotistical. But it was more ethnocentric - the DEC way was the best way. Period! Why? Because DEC was successful; therefore, it must be the best way.
Here's a silly example...
One fellow spent five minutes during a presentation expounding on the fact that DEC's keyboards were better than IBM's keyboards because DEC's key tops were "cup" shaped and IBM's were "U" shaped. So, being the pushy devil that I am, I said, "Why?". "Well, DEC users liked them." Frustrated, I said, "Did you talk to any IBM users?". "No", he said. "Well", said I, "if you showed them to an IBM user, which would they prefer?". After thinking a minute, he slowly said (with a look of revelation on his face), "I guess they might prefer IBM's." Duh! It never occurred to him to ask for NON-DEC feedback.
I could give you plenty of examples of arrogance and egotism too. But I've probably bored you and others enough.
Regards,
Dan. |
