Getronics, founded 1887 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands,
Wow, those Dutch were really ahead of the game, they had electronics in 1887!
Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC), the UK tax collector, has issued a winding-up order against tech services outfit Getronics over unpaid VAT, an issue the company said will be "resolved today". The petition to wind up the company was filed by "creditor" HMRC on 2 September, and made public on 20 September in government …
"Actually, they started in the text messaging business, in the days when text messages were inscribed on sheets of paper. Yes, they were a paper manufacturer.
Then they moved in to rubber, including as insulation for cables, and they moved from that into other telecoms equipment."
Bog rolls and gumboots - I've seen photos of both with an old but easily recognizable version of the company logo on them.
The company name comes about from the fact that the the founder built his second paper factory near the village of Nokia - where the local museum has examples of said bog rolls.
And I bet that bog roll was much nicer to use than the repurposed sandpaper we had to use at primary school Jeez, that was rough stuff!
I didn't mind slightly rough as much as the 'grease proof paper' I dreaded encountering in public lavvys up until the mid eighties - maybe it took Andrex to fully encapsulate the idea that more absorbant was better than less - but I fail to grasp the logic that concluded shiny and all but waterproof was a good material for toilet paper.
Didn't so much as clean it off as spread it around more.
... in Spain when I was a kid. The brand was "El Elefante" and, from my memory and from pictures and descriptions of the products involved they were much the same thing. We even had a joke about this product being washable and re-usable.*
But it came with an unexpected upside: Often you could find antique paper coinage (most of them from the extinct Spanish Republic) pressed into the paper.
Note*: I hope it was just a joke!
"Wow, those Dutch were really ahead of the game, they had electronics in 1887!"
Yes, they did. As did many other countries. Not in the sense of integrated circuits, obviously, but electricity and control systems have been around for quite a while now.
I do have to admit I had the same immediate "That must be a typo" reaction. But fortunately the wonders of modern electronics means it only takes a few seconds to do a basic bit of research on the matter before making snarky comments about it.
I worked for Getronics briefly in the early noughties, having started my job working for Alcatel in the mid 90s, then our unit was sold to Computeraid, a spin-off from Thorn EMI. After losing their shirt on Autonomy they were bought out by PinkRoccade, which was the privatised Dutch Civil Service IT and one of the largest employers in Holland, behind Phillips. Then Getronics bought out PinkRoccade.
Each move brought further disconnect from the business so I took a sideways step elsewhere...
I couldn't agree with you more. The rot really set in with the KPN acquisition and the first off-shoring attempts. Since then, it feels like the place has been run into the ground by clueless owners obsessed with growth and not nurturing or caring for the existing customers. With "Operation: Move Everything Off Shore MK2 "in full swing, who knows what the future holds. :(
For me, the rot had set in during the Computeraid days - I was in an office outside Glasgow and head office/sales was Farnborough. Sales didn't have a clue about using our product ( till software) as a way in to then sell other nicely profitable services off the back of it. They were only interested in stuff you could throw over the wall and forget about
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After the 3rd time being told this won’t happen again. Once again not paid as contracted, instead paid the day later.
Each time breaking each and every employees contract who was not paid on time.
You need to consider resigning due to “Constructive Dismissal” and don’t just sit back and accept this!