Reasons for accepting delay
The delay in delivery from August to November is indeed painful.
Stafford claims that going from 128K to 256K requires a new back
plane that won't be ready until then, and frankly this claim is
puzzling.  RPO6s are also only available in November.  We were
offered delivery with 128K and an RPO4 in August with the possibility
of trade-in in November with an $8000 loss.  This might be acceptable
if the money existed, but we are constrained by the $400,000 limit on
purchase order.  In my opinion, RPO6s are an absolute necessity; the
AI Lab now has 800 megabytes in its file system, and I think LOTS
will eventually need even more.  The 100 megabyte 3330 type disk is
now a technological orphan, whereas 200 megabyte disks will soon be
available on the 2040 at much lower cost than D.E.C. now charges.
One can speculate that D.E.C. could do better on delivery if they
were so motivated, but I don't know any way to motivate them right
now.