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Where Are The Founders Of The Dial-Up Revolution?
RIMBoy writes "The Atlanta Journal-Constitution recently tracked down the founders behind the dial-up modem revolution. The founders of Hayes Micromodem set the standard with their AT Command set. While Dennis Hayes finds himself inducted into the Computer Industry Hall of Fame, at the same time he is broke (with a stop as a bar owner) and trying to find the next big thing. Dale Heatherington cashed out early and has dedicated himself to several projects, including ham radio."
what would our world be like this technology wouldn't of been explored and helped along the way. i highly doubt the internet would be where it is today let alone any other form of technology.
the revolutionaries never make any money. they care too much about their ideas to be hardassed enough to profit. its always the people who come around later that just see a business opportunity.
turn up the jukebox and tell me a lie
at least at first, but then we remember stories like this one and realize maybe it ain't as bad as it could be.
slashdot: where everyone yells sarcastic metaphors to themselves to understand the issue
Its ironic that people who have the motivation and ambition to earn $20 million will probably not stop there, but people who would stop at $20 million will never earn that much.
Your design to a real part online: Big Blue Saw
Hear, hear.
Don't get me wrong, they're both hackers, and I'd be honored to buy either of 'em a beer. But the most inspirational thing of that article was seeing that Heatherington didn't just get out with the cash -- but that because he took the money and ran, and lived within his means, he's still hacking hardware for the sheer fun of it.
Before I grow up, I wanna be like Heatherington.
After reading some of the pompous replies in the recent Linux Certification topic, it's worth pointing out that Heatherington was not a 4-year CS major:
The company was recruiting people with master's degrees and Ph.D.s. Heatherington had a two-year degree from a technical college. "I think he felt funny having that kind of horsepower looking to him for guidance," Hayes says.
Keep that in mind when you sit there complaining about all us 'pseudo-engineers' that didn't have the cash to get a degree, but had the brains to make a difference in computing.
In other words, the rich keep doing what made them rich, the poor keep doing what made them poor.
Slashdot: Failed Car Analogies. Amateur Lawyering. Anecdote Battles.
He's not a millionaire anymore with ex-wives taking most of his income. Kind of sad. No wonder people aren't getting married anymore.
I think that people who would stop at a certain level, and instead focus on activities rewarding in other ways than money are the more frugal and humble ones. The ones you never read about in Forbes, or watch on tv. The ones that never see a limit are the money-, power-hungry and attention-starved monsters that will do anything to prove they are better than you.
While Hayes dreamed of empire, Heatherington dreamed of quitting.
It's one of life's paradoxes that those who are most able to accumulate lots of $$ are those who are least able to enjoy it. It's nice to find someone who can enjoy it.
I live ze unknown. I love ze unknown. I am ze unknown.
The pioneers get the arrows, the settlers get the corn.
>but that because he took the money and ran, and lived within his means, he's still hacking hardware for the sheer fun of it.
Its not that hard to live within your means with $20 million.
The surprise isn't how often we make bad choices; the surprise is how seldom they defeat us.
The hayes command set is like the Windows API, an accidental and hardly optimal interface that succeeded out of sheer chance, and which used creative and new (at the time) interpretations of intellectual proprty law to try to skewer their opponents.
The Hayes patent was, eventually, rendered obsolete. It can't happen too soon for Microsoft either.