Halt & Catch Fire. TI to feature in new series!

[kl99]

Hm, if they do just one episode that plays on some 80's CES or similar thing, and they show some TI exhibition stand, then they would not need the stuff for 6 months, right?

[+Ksarul]

Prices at the beginning were within the normal range for such items--and there was no guarantee that there was more than one or two of some of the items (and that has been the case for some of the more difficult items). There was even a full, original TI display stand (with cartridges attached to the wires) that he was wanting to sell (for something like 2K). Dhein's was one of the largest TI retailers in the country--so the amount of stuff in this hoard would have been huge. The problem is that a lot of it would be relatively common items that you can only sell for a few dollars a pop--and he hasn't tried unloading any of those items yet. . .and the prices keep rising due to the perceived rarity of the lot as a whole (mostly misplaced, but not in all cases). The bigest problem he'll encounter is that it is just too large a lot for the community to absorb--especially at his current prices.

[Omega-TI]

Every time he sells something, and then raises the price, quantity sold is reflective of the total quantity, not just the number sold at that price. To someone not following what is going on, it's deceptive and a person might think, "Hey, he's sold _______ of these at this price and only has ______ left. I better buy now". Either that, or some other person thinks that's the market price, so they list their item in the stratosphere to cash in. For example this dude: << HERE >> At least has a 'make offer', but who knows what he'll accept.

[Gary from OPA]

 

 

TI was a semiconductor company, they were never going to have the creative engineering or marketing prowess to be an Apple. Had they remained in the PC business, they would have likely gone on to create non-distinct and boring IBM-Clones.

From there they could have become a Compaq or an HP, or simply have done as they did, and returned to their successful business model.

 

TI did produce an IBM clone near the end, the TI Professional Computer. - Keyboard was nice and big and so was the machine, but it was very underpowered and costly too little, too late in the new growing PC era.

Where do you think Compaq started? -- TI? a bunch of top executives secretly meeting in the dark corner unused lunch room trading ideas and plans for PC, then one day all getting together signing paperwork to get a big fat severance package from TI, and then using it to startup Compaq and went ahead producing their plans they were thinking up while collecting a weekly paycheque from TI.

These days now there is 'legal agreements' that employees have to sign to prevent things like that happening after leaving a company. Most of people leaving Apple have to wait 5 to 10 years before they can start up something similar.

TI was a semiconductor company, they were never going to have the creative engineering or marketing prowess to be an Apple. Had they remained in the PC business, they would have likely gone on to create non-distinct and boring IBM-Clones.

From there they could have become a Compaq or an HP, or simply have done as they did, and returned to their successful business model.

Edited January 23, 2015 by Gary from OPA

[PeBo]

 

These days now there is 'legal agreements' that employees have to sign to prevent things like that happening after leaving a company. Most of people leaving Apple have to wait 5 to 10 years before they can start up something similar.

 

 

A few years ago I worked for a software company who made me sign an agreement that I would not work for another related software company for 5 years (can't remember the exact wording). Now, I certainly would never claim to know ANYTHING about American law (which it seems (from here) usually favours corporations over taxpayers), but I learned from experience on this side of the border, that such contracts are not worth the paper they're printed on (even though I received a $1 payment for signing it).

 

A company can claim ownership over anything you create (using their resources) while employed with them. They also have several legal recourses should you use any proprietary knowledge acquired during your employment in a future job (and yes, that IS nearly impossible...does knowledge gained from McDonalds not relate to your next burger flipping gig?). But future employmenty clauses in a contract are pretty meaningless

 

The trick my lawyer taught me was to simply take a temporary unrelated position (I think it was something like 2 days) between this company and the next one that hired me...With that employment buffer in place, there was nothing that the first company could do when I went to work for company 2 (well, technically company 3 if you followed the trick). As far as the 5 years clause, it was simply not legally binding from the get-go, as it restricted my personal freedoms after I no longer had a business relationship with the company in question.

 

I'd be surprised if similar loopholes don't exist stateside

Edited January 23, 2015 by PeBo

[+OLD CS1]

The good thing is a good number of non-compete contracts lose when challenged in court. There is legal precedent which prevents a prior employer from depriving a person of his or her livelihood based upon a single occupation. That is, if you are a programmer by trade and training and that is how you make your livelihood, a former employer cannot keep you from exercising your talents irrespective of whether you work for a competitor or otherwise. There are few cases where this has faltered, in almost all of them it has been due to the expatriation of trade secrets or clients, and the claim of potential of either was ruled insufficient.

 

That said, the biggest problem is getting a person to fight. Many people will not fight because they either lack funds or an attorney "in the know" advises them not to. Buddy of mine fought a non-compete after the employer pursued action -- also another key, pre-emptive strikes sometimes work out well but not always -- and was able to get the former employer to pay his attorneys fees. Another buddy just laid low under the radar until his expired. Two different approaches.

 

The US system allows anyone to defend themselves or take actions against others. It does not always lean toward corporations or employers, especially in cases of employment discrimination (or perceived, which is a big bugaboo for me) and wrongful termination, amongst others. In general you just hear about the bad ones where the employee loses. I often researched those as they made profile and found a good many in which there were aggravating circumstances which were certainly not in favor of the employee (harassment of others, disruption of work environment, theft, etc.) but popular press would gloss over those or down-play them.

[+Schmitzi]

I bought a PEB and a floppy drive and some other NOS from Zach. I'm not too price sensitive (shorting Tesla this month covered my eBay purchases lol ), so I wasn't concerned about market value. And it was a bit of a thrill to open all the NOS stuff up like it was 1982-1983 all over again. Like PeBo, I too was somehow bit by the TI bug recently and brought my system out of storage/retirement... With the exception of the p-Code card, I have all the hardware (including Thermal Printer and Coupler Modem) that I had when I was a kid... I even picked up a NOS STX-80 printer mainly to print out Assembly and BASIC listings. It now smells faintly like a new system lol. Anyhow, waiting on a couple more pieces and setting up a corner of the home office with the fully operational TI in the next week, photos forthcoming.

 

Oh yes, I bought 2 new PEBs from Zach last year, and i can tell you it was an amazing pre-Xmas for me when they arrived