Those are the people with -failed- internet startups. Not everyone is so stupid.
I don't think that any experienced business person would buy what you just stated, either - no matter how net-newbie they were. 90% of internet startups fail because the people who start them are not-so-great-techies with no business experience and not enough money to get things off the ground --- they don't fail because they can't make money, but because they can't get capital to even start making money.
I am as well fairy surprised at the disregard for the Cassini protest displayed here.
I myself do not doubt the abilities of scientists and their system of differential equations which predict the path of the spacecraft, under the nearly-ideal conditions of space.
Here is what I have to mention: If this whole operation was really so completely safe that "nothing could possibly go wrong - and if it did, we could fix it", then why would NASA go to the trouble to manufacture the safety mechanisms? I mean, if there is a ZERO percent chance of re-entry, then why bother with the extensive protection of the plutonium for the condition of re-entry? To protect it from a malfunctioned lauch?? If this is a "SAFE" operation to launch plutonium, then I am assuming that the craft is -not- going to be exploding! The fact of the matter is, there was risk involved. No matter how small, it was enough to make these scientists take extra precautions. Furthermore, how can we really test those safety methods, short of recreating actual catastrophic explosions and re-entry conditions.
I don't see why it is necessary to put the lives of people at risk, no matter how small, for a largely trivial end. We have enough problems as it is, and encouraging people to make light of the work of scientists by not questioning their methods is only helping the blissful ignorance campaign of the Con. Hey-- plutonium in the sky is good! While we're at it, why not install Star Wars, and make the shuttle nuclear powered- now that we have conquored the solar system! And how would you like to sample some irradiated crops, while we unleash new untested strains of bacteria that wipe out entire species of "pesky" insects... so called "engineers" have been producing thousands of products for household use for decades that are now proven to cause insane cancer rates.
I love science and am a total techno-head, but I just don't see the point of indifferent behavior towards the people who objected strongly to Cassini. Even if this was the "viewpoint of an idiot who never learned newtonian physics", this attitude does nothing to help anyone.
According to what Michio Kaku wrote in "Visions", the theoretical "quantum computer" (which has "quantum dots" as the calculation medium - an electron trapped in a potential well - the electron can be set to an infinite number of different states by mixing probability of "spin up" and "spin down".) is capable of factoring a number of any size in an instant.
There is a big fat IF right here, in that a quantum computer would be so sensitive that nutrinos or gamma rays might disturb the state of the computer - and we all know just how easy it is to block a gamma ray... just a wall of lead as thick as the solar system.
Regardless, it is interesting -- and maybe a similar effect (base infinity??) could be done within an optical computer.... but then again, perhaps as you suggest, it would be a nightmare to actually extract the answer... maybe even a quantum impossibility.
Some of my relatives live and work in the Palo Alto & San Jose area.
The cost of living is pretty extreme.
In Palo Alto, the cost of a home runs between $400,000 and $1.5M. The 400k home is small, run down, old - needs work. The 1.5M home is pretty big - really nice interior, fireplace, marble, beveled glass windows - but the yard extends only about 1 meter from the house in each direction. Out the kitchen window you see your neighbor's roof.
In short, the valley is crowded, expensive, smoggy and just plain ugly.
Maybe the perks at Oracle HQ are worth it. I wouldn't mind playing the grand piano in the lobby or walking around the lake - but then again, I think Oracle in pretty much top of the line in this department.
It's not worth it unless, 1) you have stock options, 2) you work for an internet company and 3) your company is about to go public.
My understanding of the MS corporate operations was that Gates had a very large amount of involment in all areas of management, until the recent restructuring and splitting that happened a couple months ago... the problem was he was involving himself too much - to the point where he was making a bottleneck in the management - which is why some of his top execs left in frustration.
True, the success of Microsoft has little to do with Gates personally and more to do with the products and market domination.
The problem that I, and I think others, have with Gates is that his wealth is obscene. And by obscene, what I mean is that it is a disgusting portrayal of everything that is terrible about American captialism. This is not about the wealth of MS corp, but about his -personal- wealth. I read an article about Gates which pointed out that Gates alone has the personal wealth of about 10 million Americans in poverty. 10 freakin' million people!!! This single guy could probably eliminate poverty in the whole state of california if he was inclined!
By the time a single MAJC chip is powerful enough to render Toy Story in real time, computer animation will be so advanced that Toy Story will look like a relic of the 50s.
Red Hat should have given the whole offer a little bit more thought before sending out the emails.
Giving away stock options rather than IPO shares would have solved the whole problem.
I imagine that they may have thought giving the opportunity to buy shares is best because at least they do make some cash from the sale, regardless.
If the distribution was in the form of an options package, there is no problem if the company goes bankrupt. It also prevents the un-evening of the playing field on the basis of financial discrimination, since everyone gets an equal portion.
As a side benifit, the added value of the options since they are puchased at a negligible price, would mean that fewer total shares need be given away... leaving more shares for the open market IPO - thereby more money for Red Hat.
A potential negative of giving out options packages is that there is a fairly large paperwork obligation - perhaps this is why Red Hat did not do it.
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Those are the people with -failed- internet startups. Not everyone is so stupid.
I don't think that any experienced business person would buy what you just stated, either - no matter how net-newbie they were. 90% of internet startups fail because the people who start them are not-so-great-techies with no business experience and not enough money to get things off the ground --- they don't fail because they can't make money, but because they can't get capital to even start making money.
I am as well fairy surprised at the disregard for the Cassini protest displayed here.
I myself do not doubt the abilities of scientists and their system of differential equations which predict the path of the spacecraft, under the nearly-ideal conditions of space.
Here is what I have to mention: If this whole operation was really so completely safe that "nothing could possibly go wrong - and if it did, we could fix it", then why would NASA go to the trouble to manufacture the safety mechanisms? I mean, if there is a ZERO percent chance of re-entry, then why bother with the extensive protection of the plutonium for the condition of re-entry? To protect it from a malfunctioned lauch?? If this is a "SAFE" operation to launch plutonium, then I am assuming that the craft is -not- going to be exploding! The fact of the matter is, there was risk involved. No matter how small, it was enough to make these scientists take extra precautions. Furthermore, how can we really test those safety methods, short of recreating actual catastrophic explosions and re-entry conditions.
I don't see why it is necessary to put the lives of people at risk, no matter how small, for a largely trivial end. We have enough problems as it is, and encouraging people to make light of the work of scientists by not questioning their methods is only helping the blissful ignorance campaign of the Con. Hey-- plutonium in the sky is good! While we're at it, why not install Star Wars, and make the shuttle nuclear powered- now that we have conquored the solar system! And how would you like to sample some irradiated crops, while we unleash new untested strains of bacteria that wipe out entire species of "pesky" insects... so called "engineers" have been producing thousands of products for household use for decades that are now proven to cause insane cancer rates.
I love science and am a total techno-head, but I just don't see the point of indifferent behavior towards the people who objected strongly to Cassini. Even if this was the "viewpoint of an idiot who never learned newtonian physics", this attitude does nothing to help anyone.
According to what Michio Kaku wrote in "Visions", the theoretical "quantum computer" (which has "quantum dots" as the calculation medium - an electron trapped in a potential well - the electron can be set to an infinite number of different states by mixing probability of "spin up" and "spin down".) is capable of factoring a number of any size in an instant.
There is a big fat IF right here, in that a quantum computer would be so sensitive that nutrinos or gamma rays might disturb the state of the computer - and we all know just how easy it is to block a gamma ray... just a wall of lead as thick as the solar system.
Regardless, it is interesting -- and maybe a similar effect (base infinity??) could be done within an optical computer.... but then again, perhaps as you suggest, it would be a nightmare to actually extract the answer... maybe even a quantum impossibility.
It probably isn't real, but it is true that the website does not work correctly in Netscape. It looks like screwy CSS or something to me.
Some of my relatives live and work in the Palo Alto & San Jose area.
The cost of living is pretty extreme.
In Palo Alto, the cost of a home runs between $400,000 and $1.5M. The 400k home is small, run down, old - needs work. The 1.5M home is pretty big - really nice interior, fireplace, marble, beveled glass windows - but the yard extends only about 1 meter from the house in each direction. Out the kitchen window you see your neighbor's roof.
In short, the valley is crowded, expensive, smoggy and just plain ugly.
Maybe the perks at Oracle HQ are worth it. I wouldn't mind playing the grand piano in the lobby or walking around the lake - but then again, I think Oracle in pretty much top of the line in this department.
It's not worth it unless, 1) you have stock options, 2) you work for an internet company and 3) your company is about to go public.
Does VA Research have a public SEC registration yet? Can't really have an IPO without one...
My understanding of the MS corporate operations was that Gates had a very large amount of involment in all areas of management, until the recent restructuring and splitting that happened a couple months ago... the problem was he was involving himself too much - to the point where he was making a bottleneck in the management - which is why some of his top execs left in frustration.
True, the success of Microsoft has little to do with Gates personally and more to do with the products and market domination.
The problem that I, and I think others, have with Gates is that his wealth is obscene. And by obscene, what I mean is that it is a disgusting portrayal of everything that is terrible about American captialism. This is not about the wealth of MS corp, but about his -personal- wealth. I read an article about Gates which pointed out that Gates alone has the personal wealth of about 10 million Americans in poverty. 10 freakin' million people!!! This single guy could probably eliminate poverty in the whole state of california if he was inclined!
Java performance is already quite good on the Solaris SPARC. Nearly as good as native. It still hurts pretty bad on the PC, tho...
IMHO - the best application for a java chip would be in the handheld market.
By the time a single MAJC chip is powerful enough to render Toy Story in real time, computer animation will be so advanced that Toy Story will look like a relic of the 50s.
Sorry, but that is just -too- much hype.
Red Hat should have given the whole offer a little bit more thought before sending out the emails.
Giving away stock options rather than IPO shares would have solved the whole problem.
I imagine that they may have thought giving the opportunity to buy shares is best because at least they do make some cash from the sale, regardless.
If the distribution was in the form of an options package, there is no problem if the company goes bankrupt. It also prevents the un-evening of the playing field on the basis of financial discrimination, since everyone gets an equal portion.
As a side benifit, the added value of the options since they are puchased at a negligible price, would mean that fewer total shares need be given away... leaving more shares for the open market IPO - thereby more money for Red Hat.
A potential negative of giving out options packages is that there is a fairly large paperwork obligation - perhaps this is why Red Hat did not do it.