Manny Otero

AT&T "You Will"

Thank you for the interesting perspective and article. While you may be right that AT&T as a company did not manufacture, sell, commercialize, or distribute much of the technology you are referring too, I'm afraid that this is very different from "developed". I am a research engineer by training from MIT, and virtually every device you have mentioned on this list has technology (verifiable by patent inquiries) that in some form or another was derived from the pioneering work of early AT&T electrical engineers, scientists, and technologists. In fact, the contribution that AT&T, not to mention the many companies that it has merged with, derived from, or morphed in one way or another, is often underestimated.

So, while I agree with you that AT&T perhaps was not able to transform scientific achievement into products that they sell to the masses, one should be careful to simply disregard their contribution. Unfortunately, this is true with many corporate research centers of excellence....

Thanks again,
Manny