The richest man on the planet has got to be having some sleepless nights. We bless his soul for going charitable as the alternative, following in Andrew Carnegie's footsteps as he has done so well, but giving away money is a slow, relatively pedantic process, one which absolutely demands too many chicken dinners away from home.
And guess who is having all the fun? His buddy and confidant, Steve Jobs. Virtually waging war on the the world's wireless phone systems, and now declaring the demolition of Google's phone...he's having a blast! All the while, the internet is replacing traditional media as the people's voice, with exponentially larger selective audiences and less than tabloid journalism standards, leading to the type of virile reporting I'm practicing right here. No triple confirmations on this rumor.
Yes, Bill is contemplating a return. He sees chaos at the factory. The problem is most of that chaos is his legacy and unlike Jobs, his return won't fix it. Don't mistake my admiration for Mr. Gates' bottom line success; this is the Prime Mandate of a public company; return on investment. Who to say the hundreds of genius millionaires he graduated from Microsoft aren't an even bigger world blessing than the overly pernicious Windows itself?
More to follow. I'll try to talk it over with Bill, I know he's got some specific concerns before making the leap backwards.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
The Building of HomeBrew10
New iQuality project, a hands-on evaluation of building your own PC, versus purchasing Dell or HP.
This is titled "HomeBrew10". It is probably my 5th or 6th build, starting with small, early Z80 based-boards in the 60's, then a Heathkit H-89 computer, for which I'll add a link. This was built up from individual electronic components on up, including motherboard and printer. This unit was based on the CP/M Operating System ["OS"] battlefield, which required the builder to construct a portion of the Bios [Initial turning on sequence of a computer, specifying what's attached, etc.]. Fun.
I'm fundamentally friendly to any OS after it, although I do expect the same leap as from it...at least every decade. I won't even evoke Moore's "Law" on operating systems, although they are created purely from human gray matter and have no physical restraints.
Speaking of Moore silicon, did you hear this one: We might hit a computer Peak Silicon at the same time we hit Peak Oil. Intel, on the other hand claims 2029. Who knows?
Our basic criterion for HomeBrew10 is instant load, access, operation of day-to-day office and internet access programs, full Windows Media Center integration and performance, and -- after over 10 years of use -- peak perfect operation of my most uniquely useful software, Dragon Dictate. It makes the strongest computing demands of just about any program I use, save large imaging processes.
In addition to stringent evaluation, we'll list specs and explain at a semi-novice level what everything means; this is to open a door for the average PC user, and not leave you where Microsoft's obtuse, insulting "Contact your IP manager..." error solution message does. We also refer you to "Tom's Hardware" as one of the best resources for detailed, competitive technical reviews in the fast computing arena. We aim to impart how easy it is to assemble a computer, you need little more than a screwdriver and an afternoon. Your family will be impressed and you'll gain at least a 50% operating margin over a same-price built unit. We don't exclude built, but point out cutthroat competition has heightened with with the financial crisis, and you're getting less and less for your buck from the name brands.
Some products we use will be manufacturer supplied, this will be clearly indicated. Our first such product, and one still in the "unusual" category, is a Kingston SSD, a solid-state hard disk. When it and the other parts arrive, all will be given greater detail.
Here's an earlier interview we gave a few items: http://bit.ly/CNNdch.
Keep an eye out, "HomeBrew10" will soon be arriving. The pieces are drifting in on the daily boat. And my Win7 beta is slamming the lid down every 2 hours, no warning; make sure your fingers aren't in the way and that you saved whatever a good 10 minutes before! Nasty people when you don't have your credit card out!
This is titled "HomeBrew10". It is probably my 5th or 6th build, starting with small, early Z80 based-boards in the 60's, then a Heathkit H-89 computer, for which I'll add a link. This was built up from individual electronic components on up, including motherboard and printer. This unit was based on the CP/M Operating System ["OS"] battlefield, which required the builder to construct a portion of the Bios [Initial turning on sequence of a computer, specifying what's attached, etc.]. Fun.
I'm fundamentally friendly to any OS after it, although I do expect the same leap as from it...at least every decade. I won't even evoke Moore's "Law" on operating systems, although they are created purely from human gray matter and have no physical restraints.
Speaking of Moore silicon, did you hear this one: We might hit a computer Peak Silicon at the same time we hit Peak Oil. Intel, on the other hand claims 2029. Who knows?
Our basic criterion for HomeBrew10 is instant load, access, operation of day-to-day office and internet access programs, full Windows Media Center integration and performance, and -- after over 10 years of use -- peak perfect operation of my most uniquely useful software, Dragon Dictate. It makes the strongest computing demands of just about any program I use, save large imaging processes.
In addition to stringent evaluation, we'll list specs and explain at a semi-novice level what everything means; this is to open a door for the average PC user, and not leave you where Microsoft's obtuse, insulting "Contact your IP manager..." error solution message does. We also refer you to "Tom's Hardware" as one of the best resources for detailed, competitive technical reviews in the fast computing arena. We aim to impart how easy it is to assemble a computer, you need little more than a screwdriver and an afternoon. Your family will be impressed and you'll gain at least a 50% operating margin over a same-price built unit. We don't exclude built, but point out cutthroat competition has heightened with with the financial crisis, and you're getting less and less for your buck from the name brands.
Some products we use will be manufacturer supplied, this will be clearly indicated. Our first such product, and one still in the "unusual" category, is a Kingston SSD, a solid-state hard disk. When it and the other parts arrive, all will be given greater detail.
Here's an earlier interview we gave a few items: http://bit.ly/CNNdch.
Keep an eye out, "HomeBrew10" will soon be arriving. The pieces are drifting in on the daily boat. And my Win7 beta is slamming the lid down every 2 hours, no warning; make sure your fingers aren't in the way and that you saved whatever a good 10 minutes before! Nasty people when you don't have your credit card out!
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