One of the greatest errors companies make is mistaking who their real competitors are. I first encountered this when I was working for Digital Equipment Corporation (1979 to 1983). At that time, Digital thought the Data General, another mini computer company founded by former Digital employees, was its main competitor. While in reality, it was Intel and … Continue reading
Category Archives: Technology
Factory of broken dreams: Will the Googleplex be next
Intel just announced that it would close the Hudson Manufacturing Facility it acquired from Digital Equipment Corp in 1997. The press release from Intel said “the Hudson plant has been used to make a variety of low-end chips found in many electronic devices.” The closure of this plant will not mean much to people other than the thousand or so people directly affected. The exception to this are the few pioneers who vision and drive created it in the first place. They dared to dreamed big and lost. While they understood the potential of semi-conductor technology and large scale integration, like all of us at that time, they did not understand that the computer industry was about to be turned sideway and that companies that were vertically integrated would fail like Digital would fail.
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The First Bank of Amazon or the End of Advertising as we Know it.
Twenty years ago, I proclaimed that Advertising would be the Killer App of the Internet. Now I am pronouncing the end of Advertising. What will replace it as a source of revenue for media companies. It will be the First Bank of Amazon. Read more! Continue reading
Will the Killer App of the Internet Get Killed
Sometime around 1993, I gave a keynote speech about the Internet to the National Association of Broadcasters in Las Vegas (where else?). There I stated that the killer App for the Internet would be Advertising. I guess I was right. The internet has not only been fueled by advertising revenues but it has challenged the … Continue reading
The Mouse that Roared: Doug Engelbart
A lot of people are writing about Doug Engelbart one of the true pioneers of computer technology. Many of them are recounting their interactions and friendships. I only met him once. It was about 1967 or 1968 and I was around 22 years old and working with Joe Kamiya at the Langley Porter Institute (UC Medical Center) doing the first work in brain wave bio feedback. Continue reading
Alta Vista RIP
Evidently, Yahoo will close down Alta Vista on July 8th, the Internet search company it acquired in 2003. This is the second time Yahoo has killed Alta Vista. Let me explain.
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The Resurrection of Wintel Part 1.
I never imagined I would be writing this post. I was planing on writing what I thought would be my last post about Intel. It was to deal with the departure of Paul Otellini the former CEO and a recent article about him published by the Atlantic. I will do an abbreviated comment on that and then begin to get into the meat of the Wintel Resurrection.
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To my subscribers
I started this blog almost eight years ago when I turned sixty years old. My average number of visits per day has gone from ten to fourty during that time. The total number of views is now over 45,000. This does not count those that subscribe to this blog. Since the way I set up … Continue reading
Time to Channel Steve
As a reader of this blog, you probably know that Apple stock has lost almost 40% of it value from a high of $705 to low of $409, as of this morning. In just seven short months Apple has gone from the “wonder company” which might have become the first company with a trillion dollar … Continue reading
Rejected by Wikipedia
If you are a regular reader of this blog you will realized that at the age of 68, I am beginning to be concerned about legacy issues. It was been concerning to me that I have no Wikipedia entry about me because Wikipedia will have a long self live (certainly longer than I will have). So I asked a friend who is also a write to submit an entry for me on Wikipedia. We worked on a draft which he actually toned down. My first draft was actually in my opinion the most interesting because it was written more like a story then an encyclopedia. I wanted the entry to focus on what I think are my three major achievements, playing a principle role in laying the foundation for today’s consumer internet, founding Intel Capital which became the most successful Corp. Venture group and one of the must successful venture activities in the world and having accomplished this an more without ever having gone to University.
If you are a regular reader of this blog you will realized that at the age of 68, I am beginning to be concerned about legacy issues. It was been concerning to me that I have no Wikipedia entry about me because Wikipedia will have a long self live (certainly longer than I will have). So I asked a friend who is also a write to submit an entry for me on Wikipedia. We worked on a draft which he actually toned down. My first draft was actually in my opinion the most interesting because it was written more like a story then an encyclopedia. I wanted the entry to focus on what I think are my three major achievements, playing a principle role in laying the foundation for today’s consumer internet, founding Intel Capital which became the most successful Corp. Venture group and one of the must successful venture activities in the world and having accomplished this an more without ever having gone to University.
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