Dutch Gateway store was kept udder wraps for centuries until refit dug up computing history
- Reference: 1596186913
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/07/31/gateway_shop_the_hague/
- Source link:
The (in retrospect hideous, but also iconic) Holstein cow-print design was spotted by Reg reader Tom Hill while on holiday in the Hague.
"We walked past this old shop during refurbishment and could see the builders were busy working. (Portaloo strategically placed near the doorway)," he told The Register .
[1]
Ruins of ancient Gateway shop unearthed in the Hague
"Me and [my] partner reminisced about the days we were 'allowed to use the internet'. Back in the days when we were 12 years old and had to put up with 56k dial-up connection to a white box."
Gateway (briefly known as Gateway 2000) played a small role in the personal computing revolution. It also has perhaps the most unlikely origin story of any tech company of the era – except perhaps for Apple.
It started life on a sleepy South Dakota farm, not far from the border with Iowa, but miles away from the tech hotspots of Texas (home of Dell) and California. Gateway machines were assembled in America after most manufacturers had started shipping jobs offshore. At the same time, its marketing was surprisingly charming for a company that largely shipped uninspiring beige boxes.
Unlike other vendors that hitched their wagon to retail, Gateway focused for a time on selling high-spec custom machines via phone and mail order. It subsequently switched towards cheaper mass-produced devices, such as the $799 all-in-one Astro.
It wasn't plain sailing. While Apple and Dell swallowed up market share outside the US, Gateway's business model made it difficult to scale overseas. The firm also made some questionable acquisitions, including Amiga in 1997. Meanwhile, its US-based assembly lines kept production costs high, leaving it at a disadvantage compared to other vendors who shifted jobs overseas.
In 2004, Gateway acquired eMachines and the latter's CEO, Wayne Inouye, took the reins. Inouye began a process of aggressive outsourcing that saw the firm's payroll shrink, but at a cost to its corn-fed Midwestern public image and general goodwill.
Acer absorbed Gateway just a few years later. Now all that remains of the once-popular computer vendor are a few loft-bound dusty towers. And the remnants of its brand clinging to signage of a shop in the Netherlands.
If you're tempted to pay it a visit, you can find it on a street called Spui, next to the junction of Kalvermarkt. We understand if you can't be bothered. ®
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[1] https://regmedia.co.uk/2020/07/30/gatewayshop.jpg
[2] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Relegated to the attic...
My Gateway MD2601u laptop from 2009 still chugs along, I mostly use it for testing OS installs.
Re: Relegated to the attic...
The above comment has been approved by Trigger's broom.
Re: Relegated to the attic...
new case, PSU, Video card, and CPU cooler?
Isn't that a bit like Trigger's broom?
Some Gateway stuff is still out there unopened
RetroManCave did an unboxing of a Gateway CRT last week (I'm a patron so saw it before the public release yesterday) on his channel so there are some unopened stuff out there - here's at the point showing the classic cow box with an unusual for them black crt https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCQuUwHH45w&t=969
I do remember Gateway back in the 90's - was working in local government back then & Gateway was out supplier for a few years so saw hundreds of those machines. Some of their tower cases had an interesting design where you could convert to a desktop simply by moving the logo - there was no difference in the design between the two other than the logo
Re: Some Gateway stuff is still out there unopened
I don't think Gateway were alone in designing PCs that could trivially rotate between desk & tower.
Cow boxes
They arrived one fine morning in Brum resplendent in their cowness. A Pentium P60 with 8 Mb RAM and a (huge) CRT. Unpacked, linked together and they ran Windows 95. Then a memory and hard drive upgrade and Windows 98. Briefly Sun Java Desktop (which was actually Linux and could not be got working with the Sportster modem). Replaced by an HP box, then an Apple iBook.
I spent (relatively speaking) huge amounts of money on those computers. Now it is a recycled Thinkpad and Slackware...
Re: Cow boxes
My first ever PC was a P60, overclocked to 66 (jumper on the board) from Escom. I got both OS/2 Warp and NT4.0 included: None of that 95 junk :-)
Re: Cow boxes
My first PC was a Gateway, I seem to remember the adverts dominating the inside cover of my magazine of choice at the time (Practical PC??) a spot previously occupied by Fountain Highmead, they were a value choice tho' for sure, a DAN of similar spec would have cost more. A P75 with a 15"? Vivitron monitor, IIRC the monitor was an upgrade from the default unit on what was otherwise a pretty basic model at a pretty fair price. Of course this was still the era of computers coming with bundles of slightly shitty free software. I think we got Works rather than Lotus but I forget what else. The ~£800 price tag was probably less shocking than the sums spent later on what are now standard items. £130 on a sound card, £50 on pretty crap magnetically shielded speakers, another £100+ on doubling the RAM to actually handle running a soundcard
They were "Gateway 2000" for quite a long time (1985-1998 according to Wikipedia) but as Y2K approached they dropped the "2000" as it no longer sounded futuristic.
They started to experiment with physical stores in ~1999 - I was working in silicon valley at the time and they opened the first store at the end of the road where I lived in Cupertino ... they were still resolutely "mail/online order" as while you good look at and try out machines in the store all purchases just ordered online in the store (this wasn't too much of an issue as at that time I remember ordering a laptop 8:55pm on a friday night from an East Coast company 5 mins before their "next day delivery" deadline assuming that meant monday and then being stunned to find it was delivered (air freight from warehouse collacted at a Fedex airport in Indiana) at around 11am on Saturday!)
N.b. disappointed that an article about Gateway in theReg fails to mention its role in the rise of the "everywhere girl"
Sounds like a fitting location
Kalvermarkt = calves market aka the place were young cows were sold in the (sometimes very) old days.
Gateway servers running Citrix in Scotland
We had a contract, maybe around 1997, to supply Citrix WinFrame to the Scottish Health Service and they ran it on big (I mean 3ft cubed) Gateway servers.
IIRC, these top of the range twin Pentium IIs!
Sadly, they were later replaced by Dell servers :(
Re: Gateway servers running Citrix in Scotland
I used to use winframe in a school. Head thought it was the best thing since sliced bread being able to run modern software on 486 machines! Problem was, on 10mb hubs they ran like crap.
Found out the lease was up as the server was sat in the disposal pile. Nobody knew it was leased!
't was in 1996; I (dutchie) read a PC magazine and applied for a job in Dublin....with Gateway 2000. My entry in the ICT business as a tech-suport guy.
some memories!
I've been there! 1998?
I don't know if the shop was open, but I saw the Cow pattern on the marquee. It's on the Spui if I'm not mistaken, there used to be a KFC across the street? And a Burger King on the same side of the street. It was over 20 years ago, so some details maybe colored by time...
Re: I've been there! 1998?
Yep! Our tipster said it's on the Spui. Any idea when it closed?
Re: I've been there! 1998?
Didn't get to the end of the article, soz... I saw the photo and read about half!
When I first saw the headline I thought it was a reference to Gateway supermarkets, for whom I worked in the 80s (it was a Fine Fare when I started work there).
"Dutch Gateway store was kept udder wraps for centuries until refit dug up computing history"
Hasn't this story been milked enough already?
Udderly brilliant :-)
Ha! you had me going for a moooment there, but clearly, you were just being cheesy!
Reminds me...
...of the long closed computer store in Northampton, not far from the train station, which was still displaying an Apricot Computers 1996 calendar well into the 2010s, until it was converted into a convenience store.
Re: Reminds me...
I remember that one. I used to work on Mitsubishi Apricots as well.
Always thought it was "Fine Fair" as a kid
Not to be confused with the only-vaguely-remembered Gateway supermarket chain that took over Fine Fare, then soon after [1]changed its name to Somerfield ...
[1] https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/gateway-plans-to-lose-its-name-1407279.html
Relegated to the attic...
Not all (Acer) Gateways have been relegated to the attic. I am currently typing this on a heavily reworked (new case, PSU, Video card, and CPU cooler) Gateway FX Gaming machine of 2011 vintage. Just to my side, in working condition (but waiting for a project) is a 2010-vintage Gateway DX series machine. Both, while a little long in the tooth, are still capable of providing the necessary grunt when needed.
Missed the chance to own a Gateway during their heyday, but under Acer they produced reliable machines.