Walt Boyes' Blog

This is a great time to be an end-user. "Say what?" you ask. Think about it. Almost every one of the major vendors is in far better financial health, and absolutely none of them are fat, dumb, and happy like they were at the start of the 1990s. Even Emerson is waking up to the fact that it wasn't that they were so incredibly good that gave them the market position they hold … [Read more...] about Some final thoughts on Yokogawa and the User Groups

Last night's conversation with Ron Helson, President of the Hart Communications Foundation, and others on the Yokogawa Potomac cruise got me thinking. Now I understand that this may be a dangerous undertaking, and even a Really Bad Thing (tm). So what? ISA seems to have gotten lost between "serving the members and volunteers" and "running a business." At least five people last … [Read more...] about Saving ISA…some thoughts from the road

The entertainment for the evening was a Potomac dinner cruise (again no sushi, darn it!!!)on the Odyssey. The Odyssey appears to be a barge with a glass conservatory built on it. It barely clears some of the bridges over the river. In one case, an old and rusty railroad trestle, you could literally reach up and touch the bridge. Cruising past the monuments and being able to see … [Read more...] about A Potomac boatride

A senior Emerson staff member (name witheld by me) writes: "I’m enjoying your notes from the Yokogawa Users Group. "I noted they are promoting a 7.5% investment in R&D spend. You should note that the last time they claimed this level of R&D investment was in 2003. "The number they showed for themselves in 2003 was total R&D spend across all of Yokogawa and was … [Read more...] about Emerson responds…

For what seemed like an eternity this afternoon, Yokogawa made announcement after announcement of new products, new features, and new capabilities that would seem to position them with the ability to take on any size project, anywhere in the world. From a new InTools data exchange engine, so that you no longer need more than one database, to a TDC migration station, current or … [Read more...] about Busy Beavers, these Yokogawa folks…