Although there has been a general welcome for the rapid appointment of Richard Miller as president and chief operating officer at Wang Laboratories Inc, a move seen as lessening the likelihood that Wang will be acquired in the immediate future, there is concern over the fact that Miller has no experience of the computer industry, which is extremely unforgiving to those who act as if it was little different from any other industry: soda pop salesman John Sculley at Apple Computer Inc is frequently cited as an example of an executive who has successfully made the switch, but Sculley put exceptional effort into learning the industry in his early years at Apple, and the company succeeded while flouting most of the rules of the computer industry by offering a unique product that turned out to be so attractive to key sectors of the market that usual issues of compatibility, standards and so forth could be ignored.
