If you go to http://www.macsyma.com/, you will
see this:
"Macsyma Inc. became a division of Symbolics Technology
in 1999. Symbolics Inc. is the producer of
state of the art object-oriented programs in LISP,
the original and vastly modernized development
platform for Macsyma. Symbolics Technology offers an
object-oriented Operating System (Open
Genera) and many other software products (languages,
expert systems, databases etc.)"
I thought Symbolics Technology was permanently on
the verge of bankruptcy, desperately looking for a
buyer.
Can anyone provide more information? I've seen nothing
in comp.lang.lisp about it.
--
Le Hibou
With regard to Mr Blair's "gut British instinct" --
would that be the same British gut, with "pussy-
hunter" tattooed on it, we saw being repatriated
from Charleroi recently? -- Peter Kenvyn Jones
In article <···············@enterprise.net.nospam>, Donald Fisk
<··········@enterprise.net.nospam> wrote:
> I thought Symbolics Technology was permanently on
> the verge of bankruptcy, desperately looking for a
> buyer.
You are thinking of the old "Symbolics, Inc.".
> Can anyone provide more information? I've seen nothing
> in comp.lang.lisp about it.
See www.symbolics.com:
"Symbolics Technology, Inc. is a private
company which has acquired the assets of the old
public company called Symbolics, Inc."
--
Rainer Joswig, Hamburg, Germany
Email: ·············@corporate-world.lisp.de
>> I thought Symbolics Technology was permanently on
>> the verge of bankruptcy, desperately looking for a
>> buyer.
>
>You are thinking of the old "Symbolics, Inc.".
From the symbolics site:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The purchase of assets and name of Symbolics, Inc., a computer company
that pioneered workstations and object-oriented
software development systems, was announced today by a private group
backed by a national financial institution. Terms of the purchase,
which was concluded
yesterday, were not disclosed.
The president and chief executive officer of the new company is
Russell Noftsker, 53, who had formed the original company in 1980.
Prior to starting Symbolics,
Inc., Noftsker had been involved in co-founding the MIT Artificial
Intelligence Laboratory where most of the technical co-founders of the
original Symbolics, Inc.
had worked. Noftsker said his motivation for returning to Symbolics is
his belief that its customers and the market for its products are best
served by management
that understands the benefits of Symbolics' technology.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
... according to an aggadah attributed to the Palestinian Merkavah
mystics of the early third century, "The Torah given by the Holy One,
blessed be He, to Moses was given to him in the form of white fire
inscribed upon black fire - fire mixed with fire, hewn out of fire
and given from fire."
In Midrash Konen, it states: "The Torah was written in black fire upon white fire."
Gershom Scholem
In article <··································@4ax.com>, israel raj
thomas <·······@optushome.com.au> wrote:
> >> I thought Symbolics Technology was permanently on
> >> the verge of bankruptcy, desperately looking for a
> >> buyer.
> >
> >You are thinking of the old "Symbolics, Inc.".
>
>
> From the symbolics site:
This was years ago.
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> The purchase of assets and name of Symbolics, Inc., a computer company
...
> that understands the benefits of Symbolics' technology.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Again, this was years ago. Visit the current Symbolics web site,
to see that the company now is called "Symbolics Technology, Inc".
--
Rainer Joswig, Hamburg, Germany
Email: ·············@corporate-world.lisp.de
Centuries ago, Nostradamus foresaw a time when Rainer Joswig would say:
>In article <··································@4ax.com>, israel raj
>thomas <·······@optushome.com.au> wrote:
>
>> >> I thought Symbolics Technology was permanently on
>> >> the verge of bankruptcy, desperately looking for a
>> >> buyer.
>> >
>> >You are thinking of the old "Symbolics, Inc.".
>>
>> From the symbolics site:
>
>This was years ago.
>
>>------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> The purchase of assets and name of Symbolics, Inc., a computer company
>...
>> that understands the benefits of Symbolics' technology.
>>------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Again, this was years ago. Visit the current Symbolics web site,
>to see that the company now is called "Symbolics Technology, Inc".
I guess that kind of begs the question of just who "Symbolics
Technology, Inc." actually _are_.
While it may be the case that...
> (eq symbolics-inc symbolics-technology-inc)
NIL
... The change of ownership has occurred fairly much transparently, at
least from the perspective that the "new guys," that apparently may
_not_ be perpetually on the verge of bankruptcy, are not readily
distinguished from the "old guys," that seemed to be...
(loop do
(format t "Perpetually on the verge of bankruptcy~%"))
--
(concatenate 'string "cbbrowne" ·@" "hex.net")
<http://www.ntlug.org/~cbbrowne/lisp.html>
"...In my phone conversation with Microsoft's lawyer I copped to the
fact that just maybe his client might see me as having been in the
past just a bit critical of their products and business
practices. This was too bad, he said with a sigh, because they were
having a very hard time finding a reporter who both knew the industry
well enough to be called an expert and who hadn't written a negative
article about Microsoft." -- Robert X. Cringely
In article <·······················@news6.giganews.com>,
········@hex.net wrote:
> ... The change of ownership has occurred fairly much transparently, at
> least from the perspective that the "new guys," that apparently may
> _not_ be perpetually on the verge of bankruptcy, are not readily
> distinguished from the "old guys," that seemed to be...
The current owner is much different.
To sum the current state of affairs up:
- David Schmidt still provides maintenance of hardware for Symbolics.
- Symbolics sells and maintains Open Genera for DEC Alpha.
- Symbolics has bought Macsyma, Inc. and "Macsyma"
now is running on Open Genera (plus NT plus Unix).
See http://www.Macsyma.com/prod03.htm .
- http://www.symbolics.com is their current web site
- if you want to pay for another Open Genera port,
contact them ;-)
- slug @ ai . sri . com is the mailing list
for the Symbolics Lisp Users Group
Otherwise I'd say, there is not much visible activity.
The best overview about the history is:
http://kogs-www.informatik.uni-hamburg.de/~moeller/symbolics-info/symbolics.html
--
Rainer Joswig, Hamburg, Germany
Email: ·············@corporate-world.lisp.de
Rainer Joswig <······@corporate-world.lisp.de> wrote in message
·································@news.is-europe.net...
...
>
> The current owner is much different.
>
> To sum the current state of affairs up:
>
> - David Schmidt still provides maintenance of hardware for Symbolics.
> - Symbolics sells and maintains Open Genera for DEC Alpha.
> - Symbolics has bought Macsyma, Inc. and "Macsyma"
> now is running on Open Genera (plus NT plus Unix).
> See http://www.Macsyma.com/prod03.htm .
> - http://www.symbolics.com is their current web site
> - if you want to pay for another Open Genera port,
> contact them ;-)
> - slug @ ai . sri . com is the mailing list
> for the Symbolics Lisp Users Group
>
> Otherwise I'd say, there is not much visible activity.
> The best overview about the history is:
>
http://kogs-www.informatik.uni-hamburg.de/~moeller/symbolics-info/symbolics.
html
>
> --
> Rainer Joswig, Hamburg, Germany
> Email: ·············@corporate-world.lisp.de
If you did want to pay for an Open Genera port, you couldn't do it by phone.
Their phone number is disconnected. Anybody know why?
(Actually my interest is in Macsyma. They now both have the same
disconnected number.)
-- Greg
Greg Dermer wrote:
>
> Rainer Joswig <······@corporate-world.lisp.de> wrote in message
> ·································@news.is-europe.net...
>
> ...
>
> >
> > The current owner is much different.
> >
> > To sum the current state of affairs up:
> >
> > - David Schmidt still provides maintenance of hardware for Symbolics.
> > - Symbolics sells and maintains Open Genera for DEC Alpha.
> > - Symbolics has bought Macsyma, Inc. and "Macsyma"
> > now is running on Open Genera (plus NT plus Unix).
> > See http://www.Macsyma.com/prod03.htm .
> > - http://www.symbolics.com is their current web site
> > - if you want to pay for another Open Genera port,
> > contact them ;-)
> > - slug @ ai . sri . com is the mailing list
> > for the Symbolics Lisp Users Group
> >
> > Otherwise I'd say, there is not much visible activity.
I think I can agree with that last sentence.
I'm well aware of the differences between Symbolics and Symbolics Tech.
> > The best overview about the history is:
> >
> http://kogs-www.informatik.uni-hamburg.de/~moeller/symbolics-info/symbolics.
> html
> >
> > --
> > Rainer Joswig, Hamburg, Germany
> > Email: ·············@corporate-world.lisp.de
>
> If you did want to pay for an Open Genera port, you couldn't do it by phone.
> Their phone number is disconnected. Anybody know why?
>
> (Actually my interest is in Macsyma. They now both have the same
> disconnected number.)
I regard it as somewhat strange that the www.symbolics.com web site has
very little on it and has been unchanged for years.
How many people are employed by Symbolics Tech? What's the company's
turnover and their profit/loss? And why aren't any of their staff
posting here, either in an official or unofficial capacity?
Is the company active?
> -- Greg
--
Le "My other computer is a Symbolics 3630" Hibou
With regard to Mr Blair's "gut British instinct" --
would that be the same British gut, with "pussy-
hunter" tattooed on it, we saw being repatriated
from Charleroi recently? -- Peter Kenvyn Jones
In article <·················@enterprise.net.nospam>,
Donald Fisk <··········@enterprise.net.nospam> writes:
> How many people are employed by Symbolics Tech?
I only know of two: Schmidt and Reti. Assuming they're both still there.
Mike McDonald
·······@mikemac.com
In article <·················@enterprise.net.nospam>,
Donald Fisk <··········@enterprise.net.nospam> wrote:
> How many people are employed by Symbolics Tech? What's the company's
> turnover and their profit/loss?
I have no idea and it seems that they don't publish these numbers.
> And why aren't any of their staff
> posting here, either in an official or unofficial capacity?
Well, some people are not posting or even reading Usenet.
comp.lang.lisp is a great way to see Lisp veterans discussing
english language and related topics. ;-)
> Is the company active?
Sort of.
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
······@corporate-world.lisp.de wrote:
>
> In article <·················@enterprise.net.nospam>,
> Donald Fisk <··········@enterprise.net.nospam> wrote:
>
> > How many people are employed by Symbolics Tech? What's the company's
> > turnover and their profit/loss?
>
> I have no idea and it seems that they don't publish these numbers.
>
> > And why aren't any of their staff
> > posting here, either in an official or unofficial capacity?
>
> Well, some people are not posting or even reading Usenet.
> comp.lang.lisp is a great way to see Lisp veterans discussing
> english language and related topics. ;-)
It's got a higher S/N ratio than certain other ngs I frequent.
I think the time wasters are frightened off by Erik.
--
Le Hibou
With regard to Mr Blair's "gut British instinct" --
would that be the same British gut, with "pussy-
hunter" tattooed on it, we saw being repatriated
from Charleroi recently? -- Peter Kenvyn Jones
> It's got a higher S/N ratio than certain other ngs I frequent.
> I think the time wasters are frightened off by Erik.
I've come to think of Erik as a kind of `immune system' for the
newsgroup. :-)
Now if only we could avoid some of the autoimmune reactions we get
sometimes....
(Just for the record, I'd be really unhappy if Erik stopped posting to
comp.lang.lisp. I'd also be really unhappy if, say, Barry Margolin
stopped posting....)
--
Fred Gilham ······@csl.sri.com
Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity. It
is like the precious oil upon the head, running down upon the beard,
upon the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes. It
is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion. For
there the LORD has commanded the blessing, life for evermore. -Ps 133
Centuries ago, Nostradamus foresaw a time when
······@corporate-world.lisp.de would say:
>In article <·················@enterprise.net.nospam>,
> Donald Fisk <··········@enterprise.net.nospam> wrote:
>
>> How many people are employed by Symbolics Tech? What's the
>> company's turnover and their profit/loss?
>
>I have no idea and it seems that they don't publish these numbers.
As a private company, they are not required to disclose that sort of
thing publicly.
[The taxation authorities, shareholders, and anyone that loans them
money, are all likely to expect disclosure, but none of us here are in
that capacity...]
>> And why aren't any of their staff
>> posting here, either in an official or unofficial capacity?
>
>Well, some people are not posting or even reading Usenet.
>comp.lang.lisp is a great way to see Lisp veterans discussing
>english language and related topics. ;-)
I thought the basic point was to see Lisp veterans flaming one another
over abuses of the English language, and related psychoanalysis. Or
at least the recent traffic might lead one to believe that this is the
basic purpose...
--
(concatenate 'string "cbbrowne" ·@" "hex.net")
<http://www.hex.net/~cbbrowne/lsf.html>
Rules of the Evil Overlord #49. "If I learn the whereabouts of the
one artifact which can destroy me, I will not send all my troops out
to seize it. Instead I will send them out to seize something else and
quietly put a Want-Ad in the local paper."
<http://www.eviloverlord.com/>
Let me just add a data point. Symbolics/Macsyma's offices are a short walk
from my house. I went to their offices last Thursday (8/24) at 4 p.m. to
check their status. While there was still office furniture and computer
monitors, it was clear it wasn't a working office. There was no one in the
office, there were several packed boxes on the floor and the calander on the
wall was for Feburary 2000.
If anyone is looking to use macsyma there is a gpl'd version over at
http://www.ma.utexas.edu/users/wfs/maxima.html - although it does not have
macsyma inc's nice notebook interface and I don't think it is actively
maintained.
From: Clinton Hyde
Subject: Re: Symbolics makes corporate acquisition?
Date:
Message-ID: <39ABAFDB.B30EE943@bbn.com>
nonya wrote:
> If anyone is looking to use macsyma there is a gpl'd version over at
> http://www.ma.utexas.edu/users/wfs/maxima.html - although it does not have
> macsyma inc's nice notebook interface and I don't think it is actively
> maintained.
you'd want to be careful with this--this version (which I haven't seen) is Bill
Schelter's, probably derived from the really crappy version I had from him in
1985, was full of errors, simply would not run on the TI Explorer. WFS is/was a
math prof, had made a self-test interface which worked nicely, except that he
included wrong answers in the test, and had a comment by one or two that said
the wrong answer wasn't. gak! I don't know whether this version continues to
have any of those older problems...I lost interest in his really fast, and once
I had my own version...
I ended up porting DOE-Macsyma to the TI Explorer by myself in 1986,
incorporating the self-test mechanism and correcting the answers, creating a
much more extensive test-suite, blah blah blah. in 1987 I ported it forward to
Rel 3, which was almost like starting over...had to run/trace/debug two machines
in parallel. if I still needed to do any math like that--I'd wonder whether it
would be worth trying to port to ACL/CLIM. you could buy a copy of Mathematica
easier.
and it was painful--that is the worst lisp code I've ever seen in my life :)
nary a comment anywhere, extremely abbreviated variables ("p" for example, was
used *everywhere* -- what the heck is "p" ? eventually I figured it must be
"polynomial")
it's kinda sad that that's all that's left of Symbolics...
it's also kinda sad that there still isn't any LispM-comparable software
environment anywhere else...
-- clint