When you find someone in your organization is indispensable, fire him. It's counterintuitive but makes sense in the long run, based on much of what we're seeing in these threads. Of course, bad management won't know to do that, so if the management is as poor as the development practices, you've got a match made in heaven.
I see MSFT chained to Windows/Office to the tune of $275 billion, their current market cap.
Wall Street doesn't like earnings your earnings to go up and down, while you try something wacky in the hope that someday it'll be more lucrative than your current business model. Look at Microsoft's financial track record -- always meeting or slightly exceeding earnings expectations. The nice, steady growth rate. No big surprises, up or down.
It's the same with the music companies. They're afraid to go whole-hog with electronic music delivery in the hope that it might eventually make them more money than selling discs. (Of course, in their case, it won't. Oh darn.)
Their intractable problem is that they're chained to their Windows/Office franchise. Every new technology they consider must first be 100% guaranteed not to harm Windows and Office. It's a rear-guard action, one that will absolutely cause them to fail in the next five to ten years, assuming the network will eventually trump the desktop. In a world of fast wireless everywhere, it has to. And that world will be here within the decade.
The beauty of it (and horror, if you're Gates) is that a public corporation really has no choice but to protect its cash cows. If Bill were as smart as he thinks he is, he'd have split his company up a few years ago. Heck, he could have used the antitrust trial as cover and whined publicly while getting his company reshaped in a way where it could compete in a network-everywhere world. Maybe split into Windows, Office, and MSN companies, all free to compete the heck out of each other. Sure the stock would have taken a hit at first. But right now, the Office company would be selling bunches of Linux Office licenses. The Windows company would be coming out with a lean, mean Linux-based Windows. The MSN company would be neck and neck with Google in terms of web-based applications. And the combined stock prices of the three companies would be smoking the currect MSFT price. Gates would be so much richer than he is now, it would be astounding.
But Bill is shackled to Windows/Office. And he's not brave enough to radically remake his company in a form that can compete in the 21st century. And if he were, he'd probably face 1000 shareholder lawsuits when the stock price initially plummets.
Game over, it's just a matter of watching it unfold.
I've read several of his essays and here's one major point he leaves out: patents. I've discussed cool new software ideas with friends many times but the conversation typically ends with, "Yeah, and then we'll get sued and that'll be the end of the company."
He's saying the time has never been better to start a business
The best time to start a software business was in the late 90s, when the Internet was already there but the IP-craziness hadn't yet arrived.
You can still be successful today, just don't be too successful...unless you have a truckload of patents and the lawyers to lock them down for you.
This work has direct application to the development of a neural prosthesis, a brain-machine interface that will give paralyzed people the ability to move and communicate simply using their thoughts.
This will allow us to end our dependence on fossil fuels -- or any fuels, for that matter. We'll have to port the technology over to non-paralyzed people as well, but that should be doable.
What's amusing about all this is that ClearChannel has been seen as heavily pro-Bush. But it seems that Bush's "activist FCC" may not be good for business, as they reported a huge one-time loss. That same article reports that their radio business is stagnating. Frank Rich said it best: Basically, FCC regulation is on the upswing, but you get between the people and their "Desperate Housewives" at the risk of your business model.
Run ethernet everywhere. You may not need it if wireless eventually beceomes fast enough. But you can always use your wires to send DC power over the lines to run cameras, motion detectors, etc. And they'll send their data back over the wires. It's nice and clean, a lot less devices to plug in in each room.
Also, consider wiring for a whole-house speaker system. Great if you want to have parties and you can control the system from each room over ethernet cables.
You always hear the argument that the RIAA/MPAA companies should just go with the flow and embrace these great new opportunities.
Okay, here's a thought experiment. The premise: you're a hetero male. You've had a really nice girlfriend for a long time now (go with me on this...use your imagination). I come along and say, "Hey, I got this really hot chick I think you'll like. Want to start dating her? Oh yeah, the catch is you have to give up your current girlfriend. And no, you can't get any info on this new girl (picture, IQ, personality, etc.) Just trust me on this, you'll like her better."
That's the deal everyone wants to give the music and video industries. Give it all up, sight unseen, for some ill-defined "better" business model. It's pretty obvious why they'd rather try to hold onto their current, sure thing.
Not that that will make any difference in the long run...
On the January 27th 2005 Daily Show (Christine Todd Whitman as guest), they played Jeff Gannon's softball question and made fun of him for asking it. Little did they know that he'd be "outed" a few days later. Perhaps the bloggers started researching this guy when the Daily Show put the spotlight on him?
Did anyone else read the headline more cynically? This is what I was expecting as I clicked through:
In a hotel confernce room in downtown New York, an audience of technology executives watches the big screen in rapt attention.
"Now watch closely. With this one click, I've ordered a copy of the book. That click... [dramatic pause]... is patented. No other web site can do that without paying Amazon money."
A hushed murmer washes over the crowd. This group now gets it. The demonstration, put on by Dewer and Cheetham Associates, has opened another set of eyes to the potential of software patents. And the law firm stands to have rounded up several new clients for its intellectual property work.
Guess I need to take those dark-colored glasses off every once in a while...
So, if my competitor is running Google ads, why don't I write a script to click on those ads on a regular basis? That might cost 'em a pretty penny. Is the billing smart enough to recognize repeated clicks from the same IP?
If so, it might be another business opportunity for the spam-meisters: paid Google ad-clicking from multiple unique IPs, to run up huge advertising bills against a specific company.
While Microsoft moves more and more application functionality into the OS, Phoenix moves more and more OS functionality into the BIOS.
Combine With Pay-At-Pump Gas
on
Shop Till It Drops
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
Pay-at-the-pump gas stations are clearly in the majority now. But in comparison to the convenience of the gas tank fill-up, picking up a quick hit of caffeine is much more complicated. Park the car, go in the store, select the bottle of liquid, get in line, pay a second time. Positively horse-and-buggy.
So...put one of these monster vending machines next to the pump. While gas flows into the tank my already-approved credit card lets me punch up a storm on the vending machine and have it all added to the same transaction. No fuss, no muss, they get more dollars and I get my buzz.
102. "Here at Business 2.0, we're the absolute authorities on how to properly do anything related to new technology." -- Joe Hiperboli, VP of Marketing, just before the Business 2.0 web site was Slashdotted.
Batteries don't do well in cold weather. More importantly, the colder it gets (and the more you want your jacket to be warm), the worse the jacket's battery will perform.
It should be easy to convince the propane-toting crowd that a fuel cell is a sensible way to supply heat to a jacket.
And you'd never again have to face that sinking feeling, high on an alpine ridge, that what you thought was a jacket battery was actually the battery you used to complete that chunk of code during the flight out...
An unnamed source stated this research was funded by Enron Corporation. When questioned as to how Enron plans to make money selling free energy, a spokesperson said "volume."
The professors aren't real bright if they're traveling 150-200k miles per year in coach. At that mileage rate, most frequent flyer programs will upgrade them for free to First Class the majority of the time.
Slashdot Mirror
When you find someone in your organization is indispensable, fire him. It's counterintuitive but makes sense in the long run, based on much of what we're seeing in these threads. Of course, bad management won't know to do that, so if the management is as poor as the development practices, you've got a match made in heaven.
Slashdot ran this story 1.5 years ago about this gigantic custom sub-woofer. I think it goes to 11.
I see MSFT chained to Windows/Office to the tune of $275 billion, their current market cap.
Wall Street doesn't like earnings your earnings to go up and down, while you try something wacky in the hope that someday it'll be more lucrative than your current business model. Look at Microsoft's financial track record -- always meeting or slightly exceeding earnings expectations. The nice, steady growth rate. No big surprises, up or down.
It's the same with the music companies. They're afraid to go whole-hog with electronic music delivery in the hope that it might eventually make them more money than selling discs. (Of course, in their case, it won't. Oh darn.)
Microsoft's paranoia will not be enough.
Their intractable problem is that they're chained to their Windows/Office franchise. Every new technology they consider must first be 100% guaranteed not to harm Windows and Office. It's a rear-guard action, one that will absolutely cause them to fail in the next five to ten years, assuming the network will eventually trump the desktop. In a world of fast wireless everywhere, it has to. And that world will be here within the decade.
The beauty of it (and horror, if you're Gates) is that a public corporation really has no choice but to protect its cash cows. If Bill were as smart as he thinks he is, he'd have split his company up a few years ago. Heck, he could have used the antitrust trial as cover and whined publicly while getting his company reshaped in a way where it could compete in a network-everywhere world. Maybe split into Windows, Office, and MSN companies, all free to compete the heck out of each other. Sure the stock would have taken a hit at first. But right now, the Office company would be selling bunches of Linux Office licenses. The Windows company would be coming out with a lean, mean Linux-based Windows. The MSN company would be neck and neck with Google in terms of web-based applications. And the combined stock prices of the three companies would be smoking the currect MSFT price. Gates would be so much richer than he is now, it would be astounding.
But Bill is shackled to Windows/Office. And he's not brave enough to radically remake his company in a form that can compete in the 21st century. And if he were, he'd probably face 1000 shareholder lawsuits when the stock price initially plummets.
Game over, it's just a matter of watching it unfold.
How could they leave out the world's most powerful popcorn popper in Real Genius?
"See, Dad, it's coherent light."
"It talks?!?"
I've read several of his essays and here's one major point he leaves out: patents. I've discussed cool new software ideas with friends many times but the conversation typically ends with, "Yeah, and then we'll get sued and that'll be the end of the company."
He's saying the time has never been better to start a business
The best time to start a software business was in the late 90s, when the Internet was already there but the IP-craziness hadn't yet arrived.
You can still be successful today, just don't be too successful...unless you have a truckload of patents and the lawyers to lock them down for you.
What's amusing about all this is that ClearChannel has been seen as heavily pro-Bush. But it seems that Bush's "activist FCC" may not be good for business, as they reported a huge one-time loss. That same article reports that their radio business is stagnating. Frank Rich said it best: Basically, FCC regulation is on the upswing, but you get between the people and their "Desperate Housewives" at the risk of your business model.
Run ethernet everywhere. You may not need it if wireless eventually beceomes fast enough. But you can always use your wires to send DC power over the lines to run cameras, motion detectors, etc. And they'll send their data back over the wires. It's nice and clean, a lot less devices to plug in in each room.
Also, consider wiring for a whole-house speaker system. Great if you want to have parties and you can control the system from each room over ethernet cables.
You always hear the argument that the RIAA/MPAA companies should just go with the flow and embrace these great new opportunities.
Okay, here's a thought experiment. The premise: you're a hetero male. You've had a really nice girlfriend for a long time now (go with me on this...use your imagination). I come along and say, "Hey, I got this really hot chick I think you'll like. Want to start dating her? Oh yeah, the catch is you have to give up your current girlfriend. And no, you can't get any info on this new girl (picture, IQ, personality, etc.) Just trust me on this, you'll like her better."
That's the deal everyone wants to give the music and video industries. Give it all up, sight unseen, for some ill-defined "better" business model. It's pretty obvious why they'd rather try to hold onto their current, sure thing.
Not that that will make any difference in the long run...
On the January 27th 2005 Daily Show (Christine Todd Whitman as guest), they played Jeff Gannon's softball question and made fun of him for asking it. Little did they know that he'd be "outed" a few days later. Perhaps the bloggers started researching this guy when the Daily Show put the spotlight on him?
Here's the famous, early take on PowerPoint being bad.
Guess I need to take those dark-colored glasses off every once in a while...
In case the site gets too much traffic, here's a mirror.
So, if my competitor is running Google ads, why don't I write a script to click on those ads on a regular basis? That might cost 'em a pretty penny. Is the billing smart enough to recognize repeated clicks from the same IP?
If so, it might be another business opportunity for the spam-meisters: paid Google ad-clicking from multiple unique IPs, to run up huge advertising bills against a specific company.
While Microsoft moves more and more application functionality into the OS, Phoenix moves more and more OS functionality into the BIOS.
Pay-at-the-pump gas stations are clearly in the majority now. But in comparison to the convenience of the gas tank fill-up, picking up a quick hit of caffeine is much more complicated. Park the car, go in the store, select the bottle of liquid, get in line, pay a second time. Positively horse-and-buggy.
So...put one of these monster vending machines next to the pump. While gas flows into the tank my already-approved credit card lets me punch up a storm on the vending machine and have it all added to the same transaction. No fuss, no muss, they get more dollars and I get my buzz.
...the Fire Department of New York just signed Roger Clemens to a five-year contract.
You can read about the Nestle can here.
102. "Here at Business 2.0, we're the absolute authorities on how to properly do anything related to new technology." -- Joe Hiperboli, VP of Marketing, just before the Business 2.0 web site was Slashdotted.
Batteries don't do well in cold weather. More importantly, the colder it gets (and the more you want your jacket to be warm), the worse the jacket's battery will perform.
Some form of fuel cell would be just the ticket:
Laptop Methanol Fuel Cells Promised This Week
It should be easy to convince the propane-toting crowd that a fuel cell is a sensible way to supply heat to a jacket.
And you'd never again have to face that sinking feeling, high on an alpine ridge, that what you thought was a jacket battery was actually the battery you used to complete that chunk of code during the flight out...
An unnamed source stated this research was funded by Enron Corporation. When questioned as to how Enron plans to make money selling free energy, a spokesperson said "volume."
The professors aren't real bright if they're traveling 150-200k miles per year in coach. At that mileage rate, most frequent flyer programs will upgrade them for free to First Class the majority of the time.