To most US users, this image might not ring a bell. But it sure does to many of the European customers. This building (at least what is left of it) has been for many many years known as the Xyvision European Headquarters.
It was located in one of the most uncharming parts of the UK: Sunny Slough as we used to call it. I believe it was Marcel Kreisberger that was responsible for finding this gem of post-war industrial design. When I see the image, my brains immediately can reproduce the smell of the nearby chocolate plant.
The lease on the building was started at a time when XyEnterprise was still building and maintaining its own hardware. But over the years it became obviously too big and finally (when the unbreakable leasecontract was over), the European HQ of XyEnterprise moved over to a shared officespace in Slough.
Anyhow all stories come to end.
PS: if you zoom in into the rubble on the right side of the image, you might still recognise some of the old 300 MB CMD disks and XPS85 blue power supplies that are still waiting for a repair job by the capable hands of Bob Allen
Members Only
2 users commented on " The end of an era "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackLike you Bart I remember this well – we went to see this amazing hi-tech XPP software back in early 1989 – albeit in a low tech building – there were people everywhere. As the years went by, the numbers decreased as it became software only and the few people that remained had acres of space. I know they had games of football in the back office where the manufacturing had been.
The end of an era but thankfully the software lives on and just gets better and better!
I also have fond memories of the old Slough office. We also used to say “Slough, rhymes with ow!” (as in pain). And that photo really looks like John Betjeman’s poem “Slough”:
Come, friendly bombs, and fall on Slough!
It isn’t fit for humans now…
It certainly is changed times in the software industry. I’m glad to have been part of the old days, but am also thankful not to drive around Europe with a DEC server in the boot (trunk) of the car.
I also miss the many great colleagues who passed through the Slough office over the years. Maybe we should start a “Then and Now” entry on this blog to immortalise some of the people and events from the past.
Here is one I remember. Carroll Walters and I had just come into the office one day at Slough and Mike McNamara was busy trying to do what ever he could to spruce up the office a bit. He very cheerily was talking about colours of paint and wanted our input. We suggested a bulldozer might be better. I guess we got our wish.
Looking forward to the next 25 years of working with XyEnterprise and their excellent products!