From: Tim Vetter (uwe_at_odb.rhein-main.de)
Date: Wed Nov 02 1994 - 03:42:22 EST
>>> How about the Thinkpad User's Group Company (THUGCO).
>
>Interesting idea. Change the name. THUGCO sounds like a pack of hoodlums,
>cutthroats, and muggers.
It was meant in jest, perhaps some smiley detectors need tuning :-))))
>Actually, all I'd envisoned was putting together a deal to get a bunch of
>these cables made, signing up enough people from this group to finance the
>order, and disbanding after it was all over. But I suppose most of the
>organizational work would coincide with setting up a more permanent
>business arrangement.
Especially when you consider that on the technical side the accessory game
ALL follows the pattern of trivial or off-the-shelf electronics + custom
housing + one or more obscure connectors. Witness:
hard drive ass'y = small IDE drive + injection-moulded case
+ some obscure connectors
memory card = surface-mounted DRAM + alu (?) sheet case
+ an obscure connector
expansion dock = ISA bus and slots + power supply + inj-mould case
+ an obscure connector
The point is that if someone's gone to the trouble of establishing relations
with a connector supplier and a plastics/sheet-metal facility, it's not that
much incrementally to extend the product line.
Note also that since small-job plastics/sheet fabricators are dime-a-dozen,
and the electronic stuff is all grade-school level reverse engineering,
sourcing the connectors is really the key to a venture like this. I wonder
whether IBM and Toshiba haven't built a shark-filled moat around their
connector suppliers to forestall just such an attack ?!?
Best,
Tim Vetter
uwe_at_odb.rhein-main.de
vetter_at_hookup.net
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