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Michael A. Terrell wrote:
"David G. Nagel" wrote: No. They were very succussful until another company who's name starts with a "Z" bought them out so that they could get a foothold in the home computer business. They ("Z") left Heathkit to flounder without proper finances until Heath closed. With proper finance and control a company could succeed with out much trouble. There are several "kit" companies out there that seem to be doing very well. Dave WD9BDZ According to trade journals at the time Zenith wanted to bid on a large computer contract with the US government, but they were not building computers yet. So, they bought Heathkit to get their existing government business, and to get the contract. I've scrapped some of the "XT clones" from that contract and they were a joke. Both the regular and the "Tempest" hardware. I still have some of their "Z DOS" manuals and the printed source code for the BIOS used in the computers. Zenith put the non Tempest version in the Heathkit stores, and a board was sold by a third party to let you run MSDOS software on the system. The I/O ports were in different locations from the standard "XT" design and some of the BIOS calls were different so that the software written for regular "XT" computers wouldn't run on their design. But it wasn't Zenith that killed Heathkit. Zenith liked the computer business, and also liked selling TV's, both kit and non kit through the Heath distribution system. For them, the kit division was like a stock that pays dividends... money for no effort. The death knell for Heath was sounded when Group Bull, a french conglomerate, proffered a takeover bid for Zenith. Bull was interested in the highly regarded Zenith laptop computers. Bull had absolutely no interest in the kit company, so they stripped it of everything that wasn't bolted to the floor, and sold it to itself, and mere shell without any solid assets... Lots of IP, but no money, or stock, or supplies, or fixtures to use in manufacturing. Given that Heath was essentially gutted, fileted, and hung from a hook in the meat locker, it is pretty amazing what they have done with themselves. They still sell manuals for all of the gear that was sold before, and they are making kits and educational trainers. Plus they have a fairly highly regarded business in the home security and lighting industry. You can even buy their products at Home Depot.... it takes more than a little bit of "juice" to get shelf space in Home Depot. -Chuck |
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