EB went through 10 inferior iterations before it reached its 'best' version in version 11, almost a hundred years ago. A century of revisions has been met with general disappointment, and now the current online version is sadly missing critical content.
Let's give Wikipedia a few decades, internet-style, to right itself, and by then let's see who's besting who. I'll bet at some point Wikipedia crosses some line in the sand where it makes economic sense to have moderators involved, and to help it better link-match more professional source materials.
It's nice that Bill will leave 98% behind. But what I am really interested in is how he plans to keep the other 2%. Is this a secret form of Angel Investing that we haven't heard much about yet?
Also, isn't it true that any obscenely large number divided by any countable scalar is still a really obscenely large number?
It really makes you wonder how much he expects to have at the point of death. Let's assume modern medicine keeps him alive till 100. And let's assume he manages to keep his investments clocking along around 10%, which is far less than his twenty year average. His principal will double about every 7 years, and that would make it double about 7 times before he dies. 2^7*$40 billion*2%. I suspect that Bill is expecting to keep more than $102 billion, even after giving away 98%!!
Working as I do at [Big Oil Company], I find it strange to see how people react to this H-car plan. Excuse me, but did everyone sleep thru chemistry? What do you think gasoline is? It's hydrogen, stabilized by carbon and other agents. The issue is not horse power or infrastructure, S.O. solved that problem a long time ago, but safety in both storage and in loading. Also, the underlying economics, what we have now is very cost efficient, especially from an energy cycle perspective.
For sure, the H-economy will come from fossil resources, but the great advantage is location location. Most likely, h-fuel would be made from natural gas, which is much more abundant here at home, ie, both US and Canada have abundant stores.
The economics of pruducing h-fuel any other way are not likely to pan out for a very long time. Likely not until we have vastly superior technology all around.
Point in short, let's get over the hype, realize that we have been using a dirty H-fuel system for decades plus, and that nothing really dramatic will happen.
In today's world, skills are resources. The marginal utility of adding another laguage is less than the adoption of a completely new skill set. Become a lawyer, or get your MBA. Add value by geting out of the hacker box into someone who can bring the programming skills into another environment, where computer skills have not been as completely utilized as in the pure programming market.
This whole DVD/CD/Video editing thing began back when Apple made a deal with CNN to provide all of their field reporters with a metal encased notebook computer that could edit high quality video in the field.
Apple is very sensitive to both its own copyrights and such, remember the recycle/trash bin discussion and the lawsuits of the 1980s, but Apple was started by hardware freaks, and not software freaks. Steve knows the work-arounds are too easy, that's why Apple never really bothered with copy protected software in the first place.
Bill Gates is focused on software, and since the mid 1970s he has been obsessed with preventing programmers, uh, oops, consumers from copying his programs bootleg style.
This is a very old difference between these two camps. DVDs, CDs, digital media, whatever, for Steve it's all the same. Hardware has a much greater profit margin, and he wants to sell primarily hardware. See how much of the current i-Suite is bundled or downloadable free of charge?
It's to drive the sales of hardware units.
Sony and BMG have their own problems. BMG bought Napster to try to outrun this problem. But it's not Steve's problem.
Even for his Pixar films, he controls the rights to the lucrative movie theatre sales. Again, to really see a movie, you have to have a large screen and a popcorn machine. Bill doesn't work that angle, Steve does. Steve makes his money without worrying if some kid is going to copy his digital wares, because he has already turned his profits.
Let's not see Steve as an altruist, but simply someone who knows how to pick profitable models, that don't require unnatural market protections.
Remember, DRM is not only a pain in the @$$, but they will also have to raise taxes to reinforce it with police and the courts. FUN.;-(
Slashdot Mirror
is there any waay to roll back the clock?
Spooky, fun, the cyberwars have begun.
Let's give Wikipedia a few decades, internet-style, to right itself, and by then let's see who's besting who. I'll bet at some point Wikipedia crosses some line in the sand where it makes economic sense to have moderators involved, and to help it better link-match more professional source materials.
Also, isn't it true that any obscenely large number divided by any countable scalar is still a really obscenely large number?
It really makes you wonder how much he expects to have at the point of death. Let's assume modern medicine keeps him alive till 100. And let's assume he manages to keep his investments clocking along around 10%, which is far less than his twenty year average. His principal will double about every 7 years, and that would make it double about 7 times before he dies. 2^7*$40 billion*2%. I suspect that Bill is expecting to keep more than $102 billion, even after giving away 98%!!
Cheers!
For sure, the H-economy will come from fossil resources, but the great advantage is location location. Most likely, h-fuel would be made from natural gas, which is much more abundant here at home, ie, both US and Canada have abundant stores.
The economics of pruducing h-fuel any other way are not likely to pan out for a very long time. Likely not until we have vastly superior technology all around.
Point in short, let's get over the hype, realize that we have been using a dirty H-fuel system for decades plus, and that nothing really dramatic will happen.
At least, not just from h-cars.
body yeah.
In today's world, skills are resources. The marginal utility of adding another laguage is less than the adoption of a completely new skill set. Become a lawyer, or get your MBA. Add value by geting out of the hacker box into someone who can bring the programming skills into another environment, where computer skills have not been as completely utilized as in the pure programming market.
Apple is very sensitive to both its own copyrights and such, remember the recycle/trash bin discussion and the lawsuits of the 1980s, but Apple was started by hardware freaks, and not software freaks. Steve knows the work-arounds are too easy, that's why Apple never really bothered with copy protected software in the first place.
Bill Gates is focused on software, and since the mid 1970s he has been obsessed with preventing programmers, uh, oops, consumers from copying his programs bootleg style.
This is a very old difference between these two camps. DVDs, CDs, digital media, whatever, for Steve it's all the same. Hardware has a much greater profit margin, and he wants to sell primarily hardware. See how much of the current i-Suite is bundled or downloadable free of charge?
It's to drive the sales of hardware units.
Sony and BMG have their own problems. BMG bought Napster to try to outrun this problem. But it's not Steve's problem.
Even for his Pixar films, he controls the rights to the lucrative movie theatre sales. Again, to really see a movie, you have to have a large screen and a popcorn machine. Bill doesn't work that angle, Steve does. Steve makes his money without worrying if some kid is going to copy his digital wares, because he has already turned his profits.
Let's not see Steve as an altruist, but simply someone who knows how to pick profitable models, that don't require unnatural market protections.
Remember, DRM is not only a pain in the @$$, but they will also have to raise taxes to reinforce it with police and the courts. FUN. ;-(