The Innovators' Ball

Babylon Rocker writes "Latest Cringely: The Innovators' Ball: Why Business Isn't as Fun as it Used to be. 'Sharp business is cheating and not getting caught.'"

Re:What?

[Usquebaugh]

RTFA, invent != innovate

Re:What?

[adrianbaugh]

I think you and Cringeley are making the same point. M$ has just repackaged and changed these ideas in a way they can profit from but which doesn't necessarily add much value. Cringeley is suggesting that had they created the first operating system it would have been an "invention", rather than an "innovation", which he regards as smaller and generally less worthwhile/reputable. Semantics, I know, but I think the two of you are coming from the same place on this one.

Re:Innovation vs. Invention

[aacool]

My mistake - in a rush, the microwaves fried my brain:)

Here's a good history of microwave ovens [gallawa.com]

Here's another article with info abt the electromagnetic spectrum [nasa.gov]

Fundamental flaw in collective decision making

[mc6809e]

I maybe stretching things, but I think part of the problem is with collective decision making itself. We tend to think that if everything is done democratically, we'll get the best results. So when a company is divided up amoung shareholders, as long as they get to vote, or have representatives to vote for them, we expect things to work out fine.

Unfortunately, it's been proven, under a few resonable assumptions, that there exists no fair voting system. This was proven by the economist Kenneth Arrow who won the Nobel prize for his work. A short discussion is here. [vill.edu]

So what ever system of democratic decision-making you might create, it has fundamental weaknesses that are exploitable by the unscrupulous.

The only way to stay out of trouble is to find other ways of raising capital.

Re:What?

[qmrq]

Also not true, the Apple Lisa was the first true GUI.

The first GUI was developed in 1979 at Xerox's Palo Alto lab, unless I'm mistaken.

Steve Jobs traded something like one million US$ for a tour of the labs where he first encountered the "Alto", a prototype machine with a graphical interface. This is what led to the Apple Lisa, which was released in 1983 or 1984, if memory serves.

Re:What?

[IM6100]

Fair enough, the later redhats have good PnP, but earlier versions were a nightmare.

The first version of Linux I ever ran, and actually the first version of Linux released commercially on CD-ROM was Yggdrasil, which billed itself as 'Plug and Play Linux.'

I booted it up in late 1993 on my 486 computer, which had a Sound Blaster Pro sound card and a 1x CD-ROM drive that plugged into the Sound Blaster pro card.

It played a complex melody (an .au file) at the login prompt, when you booted it to the CD-ROM based system image.

That was plug and play. As 'plug and play' as anything from Microsoft at the time.

Re:What?

[Derling Whirvish]

Did you know Clippy has a voice? Do you think it is a pleasant voice or an annoying stupid celebraty grate-in-the ears voice?

Go here [microsoft.com] to find out.

Really, did you think it would be anybody else?

Re:What?

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, "clippy" came from MS Bob, which was a project Bill Gate's wife directed if I recall correctly. It's inclusion into Office was something the developers who worked on it despised, but when Bill tells you "such and such feature WILL be in Office", the feature ends up in Office.

I've heard that the object which managed the assistant was called "tfa" -- The Fucking Assistant (or something along those lines anyway).

Sharp dealing

[Anonymous Coward]

Someone once told me that the greatest danger as a CEO of a small company was not when it was going under, but just before getting acquired or going public, because that's when the investors try to grab as much as they can from you, replace you with their golfing buddy, then sue you when he blows out the whole deal.

When you're about to go under, they just want to hide it from their investors and minimize the embarassing news.

Pick your CEO when you have the most leverage. This means NOT YOU, but someone that the VC's will approve of, and you can make sure isn't a drooling incompetent. Why? Because you still own 100% of your company when you're making the deal, not 20% of non-voting stock. Insist on checking out this guy's background as if he were about to marry your daughter. If his previous employees trash him, run from him and the VC. Don't even give them a second chance, since this is the guy that they would replace you with later.

VC's make their living fleecing CEO wannabes.

Option #2: Get financed with presales from *multiple companies* in different geographic locations, which makes it less likely that they've cross-breeded. You can keep your equity, you just risk all your technology if you can't deliver (which proves you weren't *the man* anyway). Don't do it with just one company, because they'll drive you under just to rip off your stuff.

Deal when you have the strongest advantage. If you're in a poor position, don't deal. Walk away.

Keep enough money off the balance sheet (i.e. personal cash reserves) to keep the company running for 3 months. VC's will offer you their terms at the last possible moment.

FYI Cringely

[ralphh]

Cringely had his name taken (legally) by Infoworld. Their "Robert X. Cringely (R) Infoworld" column is a mark of shame on their publications. I refuse to subscribe, visit their website or link their articles.

If I were Cringely, I'd be pretty pissed at the world too.

Re:Oh, for the love of...

[linzeal]

Oh please, the ghost in the machine argument is fucking ridiculous in this day and age. Human nature changes albeit slowly, but metaphysical justifications have no claim of exclusivity to explain moral behavior toward others if they can be used to explain anything! At least by studying cognitive psychology, and other observable human social dynamics in context of their evolutionary (selected-for) origins we can come to conclusions that are not equal to finding faith in the plentitude of ignorance beyond what science can know.

Watch this [mit.edu] lecture by Steven Pinker on Human Nature (vs): The blank slate, noble savage and the ghost in the machine. It is like 1 and a half hours and is hosted by MIT.