GE's Move To Boston Could Revive Local Tech Business Ambitions (networkworld.com) 86
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Networkworld: Two-hundred people will run General Electric from the company's new headquarters in the Fort Point part of the city and another 600 will work in its labs. According to Immelt's vision, the headquarters will be open for interacting with startups and academia in which GE is both convener and catalyst. In an interview with Boston's business and political elite yesterday, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of GE Jeff Immelt said GE moved to Boston for two reasons: to win the Internet of Things and rethink how companies work in this winner-take-all technology and innovation economy. If GE's top management can add the missing ingredient by transferring the know-how for growing businesses to billions of dollars in quarterly revenue, Boston could regain its preeminent position for technology business leadership equal to its reputation for leading-edge research and development.
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Newsflash, it's already doing about half of those things.
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Ever since Welch left GE the thing becomes sort of rudderless
If they think a move to Boston can get them their rudder back, welcome to the real world
As per what the AC said .. you do know why his nickname was "Neutron Jack" don't you?
He was famous for getting rid of people while leaving the buildings standing in the same vein as a neutron bomb.
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He was famous for getting rid of people while leaving the buildings standing in the same vein as a neutron bomb.
He was famous of people slavishly following his business philosophy (or lack thereof).
"I want you to bring me solutions," my boss told me one day. "Not problems."
"So you want me to do your job?" I replied back. "I'll add that to my to-do list."
Several months after that conversation, my boss gave me the "his way or the highway" speech. So I put in my resignation, went back to school, and got a better paying job.
As for my old boss, he rode the company all the way into bankruptcy.
Obligatory Dilbert Strip: http [dilbert.com]
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Welch was a pathological dick. He did nothing for GE of worth, and certainly wasn't looking for the future. His main claim to fame was cutting his employee roster and cutting back on basic research. That left GE getting into the mortgage markets which is only now recovering from by unwinding it. His had no foresight, no imagination, an android could have replaced him with no discernible difference in performance.
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What good has come out of Silicon Valley recently? (Score:2, Insightful)
I can't think of one good thing to have come out of Silicon Valley within the past decade.
Most of the "innovation" that happened there has revolved around advertising and making it more invasive.
Anything that might actually have some value (virtual reality, Internet of Things) ends up being hijacked to, you guessed it, subject people to advertising while invasively collecting data about them.
And then there are things like Android, which are basically just 1990s-era technology like Linux and Java.
We've also
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So, is there a good programming language aside Haskell?
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c
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It's hard to beat Silicon Valley when it comes to cutting edge consumer-facing stuff. That's why Zuckerberg moved FB out there first chance he got. Although Manhattan and LA will probably give SV a run for their money eventually.
But Boston is good for more staid engineering stuff, where advanced STEM degrees are highly relevant if not required. Think robots and stuff like that. GE might be a good fit.
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Hey - while you were out, Downtown Boston, as well as Routes 128 and 495 called. They all said you're full of shit.
The only way I can think of that Boston's tech sector isn't healthy is if you define "tech sector" as exclusively "marketing and advertising technology."
Seriously.
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Hey - while you were out, Downtown Boston, as well as Routes 128 and 495 called. They all said you're full of shit.
You must of heard the ghosts of DEC, Wang, Thinking Machines, Data General and Apollo computer. It gets lonely in the graveyard of computer companies.
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Must HAVE, god damn it, must HAVE. Seriously, I thought /. is the one place I wouldn't see this crap!
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"Must of" is a mistake usually made by native speakers.
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Reminds me of "a whole nother"...may as well scratch your nails on a chalkboard when you say that near me.
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In French when one says something like "The elephants" it is normal to attach the "S" sound of "Les" to the vowel of "elephants" -- "Les elephants is pronounced like "lay Zelephants".
Which leads to the childish joke -- when asked to name an animal with a name starting with a Z instead of replying "Zebra" as expected you reply "oh, there are lots -- les Zelephants, les Zautruches (ostriches), les Zhiboux (Hiboux, owls, the H is silent)..."
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Hey - while you were out, Downtown Boston, as well as Routes 128 and 495 called. They all said you're full of shit.
You must of heard the ghosts of DEC, Wang, Thinking Machines, Data General and Apollo computer. It gets lonely in the graveyard of computer companies.
What, because a bunch of companies went out of business there isn't a strong tech sector in Boston? How does that follow?
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Re:Boston won't be a tech leader again (Score:4, Informative)
Boston won't be a tech leader again. They're not culturally diverse enough to attract top talent and top companies. Silicon Valley is very welcoming to Asians, Hispanics, homosexuals
You mean Boston, in the first state that legalized gay marriage isn't welcoming to homosexuals? Massachusetts is in the top quintile of states for proportion of Asians too.
The main reason the Boston area is a better incubator of tech is the same reason it lost the pre-eminence it enjoyed among American cities in the colonial era: it's too cramped and expensive for industry to grow. So it usually makes sense once your company is a going concern to move it elsewhere.
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You need to remember that Massachusetts was founded by Puritans and Boston is predominantly Catholic. Neither of those groups are particularly friendly to those who live outside the norm. (And, yes, Massachusetts is still littered with churches that trace their roots directly to the Puritans. They're slowly dying out but they still exist!) There's a reason people refer to people from the state as "Massholes" and it isn't because they have a friendly, welcoming personality.
But you also need to remember that Massachusetts has a shitload of colleges. That means people come to the state from all over the country. So while there is a strong Catholic base in Massachusetts, it is also very cosmopolitan.
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This. They won't be able to make hiring quotas so they won't be able to hire the good engineers even if they can find them. At my company, we have to hire two female engineers for every male and two nonwhite engineers for every white engineer so even when we do find a good candidate, we almost always lose them since it usually takes more than six months before we can make them an offer.
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AT&T in Bothell, WA
I recently quit AT&T and worked in Bothell. For the single guys, it was "Seattle hundreds" (16 hours a day Mon-Thu and 12 hours a day Fri-Sun). For the married guys and the women, it was corporate thirties. For the over three years I worked there, I didn't turn on my TV a single time. Also, other than work, I didn't ride my motorcycle a single time other than commuting. It consumed my life. The women and the guys with a family got vacation time, but I don't know any single guys that got time off o
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Boston's pretty welcoming. You've just got to understand that "Fuck you, ya fuckin' faggot!" is how they greet everyone, it's even what they say to the priest as they're leaving Sunday mass. It's a term of endearment in Boston. "You fuckin' fag townie. Fuck you and your fuckin' mother you fucking cheap ass whore. That was an excellent service Father and yes, I'll be here next Sunday and I'll tell my mother you said hello." To which, the kindly priest responds, "Well fuck you too, ya fucking cock-sucka."
I'm
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/. needs a Like button.
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I take it that you've been to Boston, then? Ramming you with their car is just an excuse so that they can stop you and have a neighborly chat. Remember, in Mass, if it happens behind the 'B-Pillar' (front doors of the car) then it didn't happen. Dents are just character, the more dents - the more character.
God, I love Boston. I could never live in the area again but I do have a place there that currently has a relative in it. It's up near Highland and Fort Ave - Beech Glen St. I've got family all over the p
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Indeed I have been there several times but only to visit relatives (aunt taught at Mass General, and uncle worked at BBN, and MIT Lincon Labs) who've since retired to Oregon. Love the town, and attitude, but my conservative side wouldn't fit well there. We're also likely moving to NC to retire in the next few years...visited several times to check out Asheville, Hickory and Lake Norman.
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The outskirts of Winston-Salem are my favorite areas w/regards to NC. Lovely place, good people. I spent quite a while there, it's where our home office was. Well, I guess the office is still there - I just no longer own it. It does get a bit chilly there (for some people) but I retired to Maine so it's not like cold bothers me - but, I did spend the winter in Florida this year. I'm getting ready to go home again. Florida's getting too warm.
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Studio apartments in San Francisco are going for what... $4,000 a month now? I think that I'd be willing to put up with a little snow to avoid writing a rent check that big.
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Boston won't be a tech leader again. They're not culturally diverse enough to attract top talent and top companies. Silicon Valley is very welcoming to Asians, Hispanics, homosexuals, and any other diverse group you can think of. Boston simply doesn't have that diversity, which is necessary to attract good innovators and the top talent. The culture of east coast firms is also far more on productivity and working hard during the workday than on the playful workdays in places like Silicon Valley. I just don't see how Boston can have a thriving tech sector. They're just not able to compete with Silicon Valley, and GE's move there probably won't be a good decision.
Boston never stopped being a tech leader. There are a lot of smart people in Boston. There is a huge concentration of colleges, including a couple of small schools you may have heard of like Harvard and MIT. I think they do a bit of tech stuff at MIT, but I'm not sure.
It may not be a leader on par with Silicon Valley (thank goodness, the cost of living is high enough already), but Boston and the surrounding area does have a strong tech sector.
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They're not culturally diverse enough to attract top talent and top companies.
Hey, come on, they've got Mass Fusion, Cambridge Polymer labs, Hallucigen Inc, Med-Tek Research, ArcJet Systems...
Pretty cutting edge stuff.
Those Guys Are Still Alive? (Score:3)
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Boston's Underwater District
OMG, like Rapture?!
(They're planning on building on reclaimed ground that conservative estimates give maybe 50 years to remain above water.)
Oh. :(
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I did some contracting work for them in the '90's
Same here; GE and GE Capital... all I can remember is fridges full of free Snapples and all the bagels and cream cheese a glutton like me could handle...
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GE Capital's been mostly spun off into its own company (Synchrony Financial) after the financial mess of 2008, GE Appliances sold to the Chinese. "Unlimited" vacation time for all salaried employees. At the very least they're trying to be hip.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-03-17/how-ge-exorcised-the-ghost-of-jack-welch-to-become-a-124-year-old-startup
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Looks likely to stay that way.
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Not exactly. Those 8,000 jobs will be in Boston, but they'll be H1B jobs. It actually makes sense because there isn't really a skilled tech workforce in Boston.
Is that why Microsoft, Google, EMC, Care and Amazon have offices there?
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
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I personally stay away from companies who practice the GE way. Jack Welch left a terrible legacy as an enemy of innovation...
I wonder what source or experience you're citing when you say that. Here's mine, take it for what you will.
My dad worked at the GE Global Research headquarters in Niskayuna for most of my childhood. He was in a couple of different research departments, and eventually became a Program Manager. He met Jack Welch on a few occasions, and has a lot of admiration for him. I have never heard him say anything that indicates he was an "enemy of innovation". Apparently I even met him once, my dad says I "cost him a r
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Not what I heard (Score:3, Informative)
As someone with relatives 2 streets away from their old headquarters in Fairfield, CT, the move to Boston is predicated on two things:
1) the college labor pool in MA is more plentiful, the cost of living is lower, and thus it's a cheaper labor cost to GE for entry level college intern and recent grad talent
2) CT state government significantly raised corporate taxes last year, and GE said they would move if they did. This is just following through on that promise.
And surprisingly, Taxachusttes is actually 25/50 in income taxes, while CT is top 5/50 for income and top 2/50 for estate taxes.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-28/why-ge-spurned-connecticut-for-massachusetts
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Huge GE/Walsh plan to centralize power, tax scam (Score:3)
I work a few blocks from the proposed HQ site and there are construction cranes in all directions, & there is plenty of demand for office space in Fort Point and excellent freeway access due to Big Dig exit at convention center. We already have enough Internet of Things [meetup.com] meetups believe it or not.
Muckrock and the Boston Institute of Nonprofit Journalism tried to raise $1700 demanded by the mayor's office [muckrock.com] for reproducing the GE emails. But who needs emails when the charm offensive has begun [streetwise.co]? BINJ did a five-part series on the scheme [medium.com].
These crony style one-off deals are always terrible economics. The "free market" certainly will fill that space very soon. There is no lack of demand, instead tons of local money already develops this area. In Jan 2015 a parking ramp in Fort Point sold for $56 million or $106,500 per spot [bostonglobe.com]!
As noted above many in the population are furious #MakeGEpay [twitter.com] protesting in the freeze of last weekend's clipper. (Mayor Walsh was elected with 52% on 38% turnout). The schools are facing a $50 million shortfall [bostonglobe.com], students walked out just a few days ago partially protesting this [uft.org].
In this deal they don't have to pay regular taxes, instead they get to muck around in the local school system with all the purse strings attached as the press release makes clear. Instead of letting the city get normal tax revenue and the School Board allocate money for programs GE gets to basically do what it likes, as the press release clearly specifies [streetwise.co].
Sen. Sanders said they are "destroying the moral fabric [bostonmagazine.com]" of the USA. Boston Magazine reported in January [bostonmagazine.com]:
Do you really think that some of these Beacon Hill luminaries haven't been looking forward to a taste of that offshore $119,000,000,000?? The centralization of decisionmaking in the schools, by withholding program revenue, is unfolding in parallel to this incredible offshore tax scam. Maybe they want Ft Point Channel access to float in barges of cash, why not? I am disappointed none of this important info is in the story summary.
who wants this crap? (Score:1)
I wonder what they're going to do with all the IoTs crap no one really wants...
A whole economic sector based upon corporate spying, in your home, with government spying sneaking in on top....
Every word you say.. every private moment recorded... well, just more of cell phones I guess.
Baawston (Score:1)
Baawston. Baawston.
I like saying "Baawston".
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Nawlun. Nawlun.
I like saying "Nawlun" too.
Winner-take-all? (Score:2)
You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
IoT, is going to foster disruptive startups. GE hasn't got what it takes to play in that sandbox.