The $45 million dollar loss that people keep linking to comes from one-time charges, mostly Apple writing off investments--and when you have over $4 billion in the bank, losing $45 million is nothing. Had they not taken the write downs, they would have had an expected profit this last quarter.
This has NOTHING to do with hissy fits and everything to do with:
a)Not looking like they are abandoning NYC.
b)Apple knows that when they are in NYC, they have the ear of the media. Moving to Boston is not in their interest as they will get less ink.
c)When those costs are figured, suddenly it seems like an excuse to get out of/cut down on the Expos.
d)Wean people off of the Expo release/disappointment death cycle, which screws up their product flow.
e)Concentrate their money not on the Mac Geek Faithful but instead on Regular Folks Who Might Switch.
You look at all this, and it's a slam dunk...it's too good an opportunity to pass up.
Possibility: maybe Apple will take the money it saves and instead go to PCExpo, and make a stand for the Mac there. I can imagine this happening, as they'd get lots of press for showing up and would strengthen their committment to expanding the base.
A terrible blow to the Russian program, which has been plagued by awful cost overruns and low operating capital.
(Tempting to insert a joke about how it's unfortunate that this wasn't Lance Bass' ship, but I'll let that ride.)
Without Soyuz craft the ISS can only be run at a maintenance level--i wonder how long before they'll be back in full operation, or if the Russians don't suspend their programs the way we do when we lose an orbiter b/c of an O-ring.
Altivec was developed by the AIM alliance (Apple, IBM and Motorola). There are some IP issues, but the basic gist is that any of the three partners can develop Altivec-compatible architectures...so this should be a non-issue.
This is just confirmation of threads folks on appleinsider.com and other mac websites have been following for quite some time.
Based on all the rumor and innuendo that is swirling around for the last 3 months, it is highly likely that this is indeed the chip Apple will be migrating to, and that it will be out at some point in 2003...probably the fall, though opinions on that vary.
At the Microprocessor Forum on the 15th (Tuesday) IBM will be giving a long talk on the nature of this chip, and that's the talk Mac enthusiasts have been waiting for to see what's what with the particulars...so stay tund for that to receive more information than the Forbes article had.
That is some excellent thinking, and sounds similar to a lot of the questions I pose in the book. I'll say it until I'm horse, but it is true--it's a more complex situation than a simple black and white.
It takes a certain kind of art and skill to write a book that uses the landscape of office culture to tell a story. C|Net's rumor mill is their own, and they can have their opinions, but it is a full and complete book that tells a real story.
The culture was a combination of those two kinds of quirky, though there was a lot more bondage and nerf guns than the useful items you mention in the second category. It was really a quite complex place.
I am not responsible for other people's summaries, but I loved Amazon, and I loved Jeff--and the book traces the arc of the love affair. So I think resentment is too simple...if I just resented Amazon, I would have left more easily and forgotten them.
Agreed, it makes him a great entrepeneur...I just don't know if it makes him a very humane boss or human being. And I agree, with the massive debt saddling it but with ever increasing efficiency, it will be very interesting to see what happens next.
The misrepresentation was to the media and to investors, not to the folks buying books...the selling of books, the actual physical act of it, is one of the things that Amazon does best.
I am not a businessman, nor was anyone working at Amazon--we were all cut from a very different cloth, and that changed over time as the culture shifted.
I think that telling stories is my job. And no, I do not know Mr. Katz.
Re:But Amazon serves THIS customer WELL...
on
Amazon.Heartbreak
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· Score: 1
I agree...I think one of the things that makes Amazon an interesting subject is the intense loyalty they generate by doing their jobs with a lot of calculated personal attention.
Thanks...and I believe that it is a common, uniting thread through most of our culture...we are allwaiting for something to happen to us. In many ways the book is a study in how to put down the PS2 controller and get up off the sofa...though funnier, and w/o some lame-ass moral message.
Right on. This is the kind of corporate culture programming that I was most interested in exploring with the work, and I think your characterization are broad, funny and heartbreakingly accurate. It is all very funny until they day you realize that the corporations run the world, and then it is both funny and sad at the same time. It's a good topic, and I'm glad I got a chance to take a crack at it, both from inside and from without.
Re:If Amazon is so ephemeral . . .
on
Amazon.Heartbreak
·
· Score: 1
I think Katz means ephemeral because he is referencing the parts of the book where I describe how Amazon was expert at changing its definition constantly to stay ahead of normal, earthly valuations. You can look at that as a strength, and it has always been one of Amazon's best ones.
Thanks! I've added the "Quenten Tarantino meets Eddie Haskell" to my.sig collection, and it's rare that I run into someone who dislikes me so thoroughly--it's refreshing.
I agree there are far more stories to be told, and better ones--and I will be doing my job, telling them. I appreciate your support.
Well, where were you in 1998 to tell us at Amazon that there's no room for personality in this business? That would have been helpful!
As a matter of fact, Amazon was very cool and quirky, not based on site design but the culture of the people who worked and lived there--and this book tries to track the changes in that culture as it grew at a catastrophic rate. My concern was not for the end-user experience--many more people than I are intimately familiar with what Amazon has been like as a store over the years, and that doesn't really interest me.
i am still trying to get over THE LONE GUNMEN ARE DEAD spoiler, so I may not be a good person to ask about Mr. Katz...butI'm glad when anybody enjoys my work. I don't think the book is trying to ring as many political and social bells as Mr. Katz does, but I'm just the writer. I will say that I was amazed that he wrote so much.
I would tend to agree with the idea that the truth is somewhere in the middle. I suspect you haven't read the book, as actually I have deep-seated love for Amazon--the situation is more complex than a smear campaign, as that would be shallow and, basically, uninteresting. I never claimed to be a good worker--in fact, the book exists as a kind of document of my own search for meaning in the corporate world.
So once again, I never said they would never succeed...I am simply illustrating my experiences there, and pointing a finger at corporate culture.
There's actually a breakdown of how the dog years thing works at the FAQ section of my site. It's rather annoyingly geeky, so I'll let you read it there yourself rather than breaking it all down here.
I'll take my chances with the PC police, and somehow I suspect that people will still be able to figure out that slavery is a bad thing. Give people some credit, for God's sake.
Re:Physician heal thyself
on
Amazon.Heartbreak
·
· Score: 4, Informative
"Jeff Bezos built the business he wanted to build, not the one Mike Daisey wanted."
But Jeff Bezos misrepresented his business to investors, workers and the world--he led people to believe that they were participating in a dream of changing commerce forever when the reality was that he needed their faith to build up scale in order to survive the die-off when the bubble burst.
Were I a businessman, maybe building a company would be a good idea...but I am not. Instead I'm a much better writer and performer, so rather than "bitching" I've just discovered that I should do my job.
I wrote the book, and as an ardent/. reader I thought I'd take a moment and post. I've addressed a couple of issues in other postings, and it can be difficult to give clear answers to people who haven't read the book but are working off a review (or less in some cases) but if anyone has any questions I'll give them a shot.
Re:oh god this guy had it coming....
on
Amazon.Heartbreak
·
· Score: 4, Funny
I know that kind of guy--man, I hate that guy. He sucks. I hope he never amounts to anything, the bastard.
Slashdot Mirror
The $45 million dollar loss that people keep linking to comes from one-time charges, mostly Apple writing off investments--and when you have over $4 billion in the bank, losing $45 million is nothing. Had they not taken the write downs, they would have had an expected profit this last quarter.
This has NOTHING to do with hissy fits and everything to do with:
a)Not looking like they are abandoning NYC.
b)Apple knows that when they are in NYC, they have the ear of the media. Moving to Boston is not in their interest as they will get less ink.
c)When those costs are figured, suddenly it seems like an excuse to get out of/cut down on the Expos.
d)Wean people off of the Expo release/disappointment death cycle, which screws up their product flow.
e)Concentrate their money not on the Mac Geek Faithful but instead on Regular Folks Who Might Switch.
You look at all this, and it's a slam dunk...it's too good an opportunity to pass up.
Possibility: maybe Apple will take the money it saves and instead go to PCExpo, and make a stand for the Mac there. I can imagine this happening, as they'd get lots of press for showing up and would strengthen their committment to expanding the base.
Or maybe you should lay off the conspiracy crack pipe, at least until some facts make an appearence.
i could be wrong, but NASA isn't generally known for their cutthroat international sabotage.
A terrible blow to the Russian program, which has been plagued by awful cost overruns and low operating capital.
(Tempting to insert a joke about how it's unfortunate that this wasn't Lance Bass' ship, but I'll let that ride.)
Without Soyuz craft the ISS can only be run at a maintenance level--i wonder how long before they'll be back in full operation, or if the Russians don't suspend their programs the way we do when we lose an orbiter b/c of an O-ring.
Altivec was developed by the AIM alliance (Apple, IBM and Motorola). There are some IP issues, but the basic gist is that any of the three partners can develop Altivec-compatible architectures...so this should be a non-issue.
This is just confirmation of threads folks on appleinsider.com and other mac websites have been following for quite some time.
Based on all the rumor and innuendo that is swirling around for the last 3 months, it is highly likely that this is indeed the chip Apple will be migrating to, and that it will be out at some point in 2003...probably the fall, though opinions on that vary.
At the Microprocessor Forum on the 15th (Tuesday) IBM will be giving a long talk on the nature of this chip, and that's the talk Mac enthusiasts have been waiting for to see what's what with the particulars...so stay tund for that to receive more information than the Forbes article had.
That is some excellent thinking, and sounds similar to a lot of the questions I pose in the book. I'll say it until I'm horse, but it is true--it's a more complex situation than a simple black and white.
It takes a certain kind of art and skill to write a book that uses the landscape of office culture to tell a story. C|Net's rumor mill is their own, and they can have their opinions, but it is a full and complete book that tells a real story.
The culture was a combination of those two kinds of quirky, though there was a lot more bondage and nerf guns than the useful items you mention in the second category. It was really a quite complex place.
I am not responsible for other people's summaries, but I loved Amazon, and I loved Jeff--and the book traces the arc of the love affair. So I think resentment is too simple...if I just resented Amazon, I would have left more easily and forgotten them.
Agreed, it makes him a great entrepeneur...I just don't know if it makes him a very humane boss or human being. And I agree, with the massive debt saddling it but with ever increasing efficiency, it will be very interesting to see what happens next.
The misrepresentation was to the media and to investors, not to the folks buying books...the selling of books, the actual physical act of it, is one of the things that Amazon does best.
I am not a businessman, nor was anyone working at Amazon--we were all cut from a very different cloth, and that changed over time as the culture shifted.
I think that telling stories is my job. And no, I do not know Mr. Katz.
I agree...I think one of the things that makes Amazon an interesting subject is the intense loyalty they generate by doing their jobs with a lot of calculated personal attention.
Thanks...and I believe that it is a common, uniting thread through most of our culture...we are allwaiting for something to happen to us. In many ways the book is a study in how to put down the PS2 controller and get up off the sofa...though funnier, and w/o some lame-ass moral message.
Right on. This is the kind of corporate culture programming that I was most interested in exploring with the work, and I think your characterization are broad, funny and heartbreakingly accurate. It is all very funny until they day you realize that the corporations run the world, and then it is both funny and sad at the same time. It's a good topic, and I'm glad I got a chance to take a crack at it, both from inside and from without.
I think Katz means ephemeral because he is referencing the parts of the book where I describe how Amazon was expert at changing its definition constantly to stay ahead of normal, earthly valuations. You can look at that as a strength, and it has always been one of Amazon's best ones.
Thanks! I've added the "Quenten Tarantino meets Eddie Haskell" to my .sig collection, and it's rare that I run into someone who dislikes me so thoroughly--it's refreshing.
I agree there are far more stories to be told, and better ones--and I will be doing my job, telling them. I appreciate your support.
Well, where were you in 1998 to tell us at Amazon that there's no room for personality in this business? That would have been helpful!
As a matter of fact, Amazon was very cool and quirky, not based on site design but the culture of the people who worked and lived there--and this book tries to track the changes in that culture as it grew at a catastrophic rate. My concern was not for the end-user experience--many more people than I are intimately familiar with what Amazon has been like as a store over the years, and that doesn't really interest me.
i am still trying to get over THE LONE GUNMEN ARE DEAD spoiler, so I may not be a good person to ask about Mr. Katz...butI'm glad when anybody enjoys my work. I don't think the book is trying to ring as many political and social bells as Mr. Katz does, but I'm just the writer. I will say that I was amazed that he wrote so much.
I would tend to agree with the idea that the truth is somewhere in the middle. I suspect you haven't read the book, as actually I have deep-seated love for Amazon--the situation is more complex than a smear campaign, as that would be shallow and, basically, uninteresting. I never claimed to be a good worker--in fact, the book exists as a kind of document of my own search for meaning in the corporate world.
So once again, I never said they would never succeed...I am simply illustrating my experiences there, and pointing a finger at corporate culture.
You know what--I agree.
Yeah, what a jerk! Stupid jerky face poo poo man!
There's actually a breakdown of how the dog years thing works at the FAQ section of my site. It's rather annoyingly geeky, so I'll let you read it there yourself rather than breaking it all down here.
I'll take my chances with the PC police, and somehow I suspect that people will still be able to figure out that slavery is a bad thing. Give people some credit, for God's sake.
"Jeff Bezos built the business he wanted to build, not the one Mike Daisey wanted."
But Jeff Bezos misrepresented his business to investors, workers and the world--he led people to believe that they were participating in a dream of changing commerce forever when the reality was that he needed their faith to build up scale in order to survive the die-off when the bubble burst.
Were I a businessman, maybe building a company would be a good idea...but I am not. Instead I'm a much better writer and performer, so rather than "bitching" I've just discovered that I should do my job.
I wrote the book, and as an ardent /. reader I thought I'd take a moment and post. I've addressed a couple of issues in other postings, and it can be difficult to give clear answers to people who haven't read the book but are working off a review (or less in some cases) but if anyone has any questions I'll give them a shot.
I know that kind of guy--man, I hate that guy. He sucks. I hope he never amounts to anything, the bastard.