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- TidBITS#280/05-Jun-95
- =====================
-
- Spending spree! News this week includes IBM's sudden attempt to
- buy Lotus, while in the background AOL seems to have purchased
- just about everybody else. In addition, we bring you
- information on updating your USR Sportster modem, a follow-up
- to Tonya's article on pesky ReadMe files, information on that
- (ahem) "viral" component in Windows 95, and finally a
- revealing essay from Dave Winer on why software companies just
- don't have a clue.
-
- This issue of TidBITS sponsored in part by:
- * APS Technologies -- 800/443-4199 -- <sales@apstech.com>
- Makers of hard drives, tape drives, and neat SCSI accessories.
- For APS price lists, email: <aps-prices@tidbits.com>
- * Northwest Nexus -- 206/455-3505 -- http://www.halcyon.com/
- Providing access to the global Internet. <info@halcyon.com>
- * Hayden Books, an imprint of Macmillan Computer Publishing
- Save 20% on all books via the Web -- http://www.mcp.com/
- Win free books! -- http://www.mcp.com/hayden/madness/
-
- Copyright 1990-1995 Adam & Tonya Engst. Details at end of issue.
- Information: <info@tidbits.com> Comments: <editors@tidbits.com>
- ---------------------------------------------------------------
-
- Topics:
- MailBITS/05-Jun-95
- Look, It's Windows - Can We Calm Down?
- AOL Buys Everyone
- ReadMe Files? Read This Follow-up!
- A Studio in Silicon Valley
- Reviews/05-Jun-95
-
- ftp://ftp.tidbits.com/pub/tidbits/issues/1995/TidBITS#280_05-Jun-95.etx
-
-
- MailBITS/05-Jun-95
- ------------------
- Last Saturday night marked an interesting point in the development
- of the Internet as a multimedia delivery system. We were invited
- to the offices of Point of Presence Company in Seattle to watch
- the first full-length feature film (called _Party_Girl_) played
- live over the Internet via CU-SeeMe. I doubt CU-SeeMe will become
- a major source of movies via the Internet (since it's more
- designed as a point-to-point system), but proving something can be
- done is important because it raises the bar for future attempts. A
- real-time technology for video that works like RealAudio is
- probably the next step, and then I'm sure we'll see some truly
- interesting uses of video on the Internet. [ACE]
-
- http://www.polis.com/firstlook/party/default.html
-
-
- **The Lotus-Eaters** -- Remember when the aborted Microsoft-Intuit
- merger - valued at over $2 billion - would have been the largest
- such deal in the history of the computing industry? No more! IBM
- today announced a $60 per share bid to take over Lotus Development
- Corporation. If the deal goes through it would be valued at
- approximately $3.3 billion, and IBM indicates it intends to pay
- for the purchase from "cash on hand." Lotus has resisted tight
- ties with IBM in the past, and this takeover bid has been
- characterized as "potentially hostile," with IBM pursuing legal
- action to prevent Lotus from using a "poison pill" anti-takeover
- strategy. As of mid-morning, Lotus stock was up more than 25
- points, with a volume over 10 million shares. [GD]
-
- http://www.ibm.com/News/June5/
-
-
- **Patrick T. Pruyne** <ppruyne@map.com> writes:
- Owners of U.S. Robotics v.34 Sportster modems should act fast to
- receive a free ROM chip upgrade. Until 12-Jun-95 users providing a
- proper serial number will receive the chip (manufacture date
- 18-Apr-95) at **no** charge. Following that date, USR's standard
- $15 shipping and handling fee will apply.
-
- The release is a response, in part, to widespread reports of
- "Spiral Death" syndrome. The phenomenon is described as a heat-
- related failure to fall forward to higher speeds resulting in
- ever-slower transmission rates. According to USR, the chip also
- incorporates the current v.34 code which should provide improved
- compatibility with different types of v.34 modems. In addition to
- USR's standard technical support phone lines, owners can use USR's
- bulletin board to order the replacement chip. The chip sets will
- not work in any non-U.S. Robotics modems nor U.S. Robotics modems
- that are not already v.FC or v.34 class. U.S. Robotics -- 800/543-
- 5844 -- 708/982-5151 (tech support) -- 708/933-552 (fax) --
- 708/982-5092 (BBS) -- <support@usr.com> (use the subject line: IOD
- LIVE).
-
-
- **RAM Doubler 1.5.2 Patch** -- The last two issues of TidBITS -
- TidBITS-278_ and TidBITS-279_ - reported on Connectix's new RAM
- Doubler 1.5.2 and 1.5.2a. (To recap, the RAM Doubler 1.5.2a
- Updater has a higher memory allocation, thus correcting troubles
- some people had with updating to version 1.5.2; if you
- successfully updated to version 1.5.2, you don't need 1.5.2a.) If
- you recently downloaded either RAM Doubler updater, you may have
- noticed a RAM Doubler 1.5.2 patch. The patch is an extension, and
- it corrects a freezing problem that happens when you launch
- Symantec Project Manager 8.0 or 8.0.1 on a Power Macintosh running
- RAM Doubler 1.5.2. The patch does not correct any other problems.
- If you need the patch, here's the URL: [TJE]
-
- ftp://mirror.aol.com//pub/info-mac/cfg/ram-doubler-152-patch.hqx
-
-
- **Lower Royalties for VR** -- In mid-May, Apple announced it was
- reducing the royalties it charges developers to publish material
- using QuickTime VR. The company waives royalties for non-
- commercial use of QuickTime VR, as well as for internal
- distribution within companies or educational institutions.
- Developers who wish to distribute QuickTime VR run-time software
- outside their organizations may do so with no royalty charge for
- fewer than 25,000 CD-ROM titles or 50,000 enhanced audio CDs.
- Above those quantities, Apple charges a royalty of $400 per 5,000
- CD-ROM titles or $750 per 25,000 enhanced audio CDs. At the same
- time, the company has reduced the cost of the QuickTime VR
- Authoring Tools suite from $2,000 to $495 for the PAL and NTSC
- tools. (A bundle of both tools, plus MPW Pro, is $695.) Anyone who
- wishes to distribute Apple software must still execute a license
- agreement. The tools themselves are available from APDA at
- 800/282-2732. Apple Software Licensing --
- <sw.license@applelink.apple.com> -- 512/919-2645 [MHA]
-
-
- Look, It's Windows - Can We Calm Down?
- --------------------------------------
- by Geoff Duncan <geoff@tidbits.com>
-
- Reports are circulating on the nets and via "reputable" news
- sources that Windows 95 contains a "viral" feature called the
- Registration Wizard. This feature allegedly catalogs software and
- applications on a Windows 95 machine (and every system connected
- to it via a network), and then sends that information to Microsoft
- via Windows 95's online registration system.
-
- TidBITS is tired of hearing about this (we're a Mac publication,
- folks!), so here's the scoop. First, there's nothing "viral" about
- the Registration Wizard - that word is just some dolt's idea of
- sensational journalism. The Registration Wizard is an application
- that in no way propagates or spreads to other disks or machines.
-
- Second, the Registration Wizard isn't designed to sniff through
- your hard disk and find juicy letters or code snippets you may
- have written: it **is** designed as a technical support tool.
- Anyone who's ever tried to help a Windows user over the phone
- knows why such a tool (and the system information it provides)
- would be useful. Microsoft Network - a separate beastie from the
- Registration Wizard, mind you - does upload information about the
- Windows 95 build and language installed (English, German, Dutch,
- etc.) so that users can take advantage of online updates without
- becoming a Certified MSN Upgrade Engineer. But remember, that's a
- separate deal from the Registration Wizard.
-
- Third, yes, the Registration Wizard **can** scan the system's hard
- disk and compile information about the machine, including the
- installed software packages, but it does not look out onto any
- network the user might be connected to. To quote Russ Siegelman,
- General Manager of Microsoft Online Services, "this is done only
- with the user's consent and is not required to complete the
- registration." The complete text of what the Registration Wizard
- sends is supposed to be available in the file \WINDOWS\REGINFO.TXT
- - and **please** don't ask me to verify that.
-
- If all this makes you nervous, just use the snail mail
- registration card - or better yet, buy a Mac. And - for our
- paranoid readers - don't think other companies (Apple included)
- aren't thinking about similar online system profiling and
- reporting. Remember, you may not know what AOL, eWorld, or your
- Web browser is doing behind your back. Oh, one last thing, no more
- mail about this, OK? [GD]
-
-
- AOL Buys Everyone
- -----------------
- by Adam C. Engst <ace@tidbits.com>
-
- Actually AOL hasn't bought everyone just yet, but at the rate they
- are acquiring companies, they'll put even acquisition-hungry
- Symantec to shame. There have been a number of purchases, so sit
- down, catch your breath, and pay attention to the new list of
- AOL's wholly-owned subsidiaries.
-
- The first purchase in recent history was AOL's acquisition of
- WAIS, Inc., the firm that spun off from Thinking Machines after
- the development of the WAIS (Wide Area Information Servers)
- technology. WAIS servers provide fast, full-text searching of
- massive databases and are widely used throughout the Internet as
- search engines. More recently, WAIS provided custom online
- services for publishers such as Encyclopedia Brittanica and Dow
- Jones. AOL paid for WAIS with 400,000 shares of AOL stock, which
- at the current price of about $37 per share works out to around
- $15 million. Not too shabby.
-
- But wait, it gets better. Last week, AOL announced that it has
- purchased GNN (Global Network Navigator) from O'Reilly &
- Associates for $11 million ($9 million in stock, $2 million in
- cash). And then, since GNN doesn't include any serious searching
- tools, AOL bought WebCrawler, one of the better Web full text
- search engines. Developed by Brian Pinkerton of the University of
- Washington, WebCrawler is used by more than 250,000 people each
- week, and it adds more than 2,000 new sites each month to its
- current 29,000 site index. AOL didn't say how much they paid Brian
- for WebCrawler, but I hope he made out well.
-
- Now, to look back, AOL has also purchased BookLink Technologies
- (makers of Internet client software for Windows) and NaviSoft, a
- company that's coming out with some interesting tools for creating
- Web pages. And of course, AOL's most important acquisition was ANS
- (Advanced Network & Services) in November of 1994, which has one
- of the largest and fastest public data networks (see
- TidBITS-254_).
-
- So let's put this together. AOL has a heavy-duty network from ANS,
- and alliances with Sprint greatly supplement that connectivity.
- AOL has its own client software (and version 2.6 - with Web access
- provided by code from InterCon's TCP/Connect II - is in testing;
- check the FTP URL below), and thanks to BookLink and NaviSoft, AOL
- has access to more code for both client applications and
- publishing programs. WAIS provides both server software and
- publishing deals.
-
- ftp://ftp.aol.com//mac/Preview/
- http://www.booklink.com/
- http://www.navisoft.com/index.htm
- http://www.wais.com/
-
- There's no question that AOL has a lot of content, much of which
- hasn't been available on the Internet. I'm curious to see how, or
- if, AOL merges its content with GNN, since although AOL talks up
- GNN pretty heavily, I'm not a big fan. Nonetheless, content isn't
- the issue for AOL right now - what's important to them is
- attention, and that's where GNN and WebCrawler stand to help.
-
- http://www.gnn.com/
- http://webcrawler.com/
-
- Overall, I can't think of any other company that's in such a
- strong position to compete directly with the impending (and well-
- funded) juggernaut of Microsoft Network. Although financial
- dealings aren't my strong point, I also wonder if AOL might be
- putting themselves in a weakened financial position through these
- acquisitions. Still, my bet is that in a few years it will be far
- more costly to assemble this sort of collection. As for how this
- will all shake out, only time will tell, being incapable of
- keeping a secret.
-
- One minor peeve: With all this Internet activity, why hasn't AOL
- put up a Web server with at least all of these press releases on
- it? Homilies about practicing what you preach come to mind.
-
-
- ReadMe Files? Read This Follow-up!
- ----------------------------------
- by Tonya Engst <tonya@tidbits.com>
-
- TidBITS readers sent in a number of helpful or amusing comments in
- response to my "ReadMe Files? Read This!" article last week in
- TidBITS-279_. The most common message concerned the file names
- given to ReadMe files. People pointed out that the Macintosh
- offers 31 characters for a file name and suggested that ReadMe
- files use those characters to take on meaningful names.
-
-
- **Wayne Morris** <morris@magic.mb.ca> pointed out that the number
- of files that comes with a program can add to the confusion, "many
- software authors include several text files with their program: a
- ReadMe file, revision history, user's manual, etc. Sometimes none
- of these files is called "ReadMe," making it difficult to find an
- "elevator statement" and other key information. Each file should
- be clearly named, and the number of text files should be kept to a
- minimum.
-
- Wayne also had this to say, "Many software authors put the
- documentation into the program and/or use online help, and think
- they don't need a separate ReadMe file. Think again! I might
- download a program simply because of the name - perhaps I'm
- looking for a utility for a certain task, and the name sounds
- promising. But once I've got it, I want to know what the program
- actually does _before_ I run it. I'm even more reluctant to throw
- a new extension or control panel into my System Folder if there's
- no ReadMe file."
-
-
- A few readers focused on my complaint about read-only TeachText
- and SimpleText documents, which do not allow copy and paste so you
- cannot copy information (such as URLs or snail mail addresses)
- from them.
-
-
- **Steve Rothman** pointed out, "Part of my job is creating ReadMe
- files for commercial software. I wanted to explain at least one
- valid reason for making the ReadMe files read-only. If you embed
- PICTs in the ReadMe, they often screw up the scrolling and screen
- display - unless the ReadMe is read-only. Fortunately, it's easy
- to convert to read only and back via ResEdit or a thousand other
- utilities for changing type and creator [you'd change it from ttro
- to TEXT]."
-
-
- **Fabrizio Oddone** <gspnx@di.unito.it> pointed out that Tex-Edit
- Plus [a $5 shareware utility] by Tom Bender can open read-only
- SimpleText documents and let you copy information out of them.
-
- ftp://mirrors.aol.com//pub/info-mac/text/tex-edit-plus-132.hqx
-
- Fabrizio also noted:
- Internet awareness is now easy to implement, thanks to Internet
- Config 1.1. In my opinion, a given application should implement
- four standard menus:
-
- * Copy my/our email address
- * Copy my/our WWW home page URL
- * Send me/us email
- * Show my/our WWW home page
-
- 1 and 2 might always be active, and 3 and 4 might work via
- Internet Config. I think these should be "standard-spelled" menus,
- becoming, as the Internet grows more and more widespread, as
- pervasive as Cut/Copy/Paste. [I could see menus being overkill in
- some applications, but such functionality could certainly live in
- the About box. -Adam]
-
-
- And finally, <schmange@wbb.com> whose name (perhaps
- intentionally!) didn't come through, contributed this advice to
- ReadMe authors, "I'd like to add that in my rread me experiences
- the one thing that sticks out is grammmmatical and speellling
- errors.' I was al set to send in my money to a paritcular guy bu t
- his spellling errorz were so bAd athAT i figured no way mAn!!! So
- he go tno monsye get it??? anyeway when ou do yo read mne files
- check th espeleling."
-
-
- **Summing Up** -- So, in the end, if you write a ReadMe, try to
- follow these simple rules:
-
- * Make it easy for readers to figure out what your product is
- called, what it does, who you are, and how to contact you. If
- appropriate, explain what the product costs and how to pay for it.
-
- * Consider the pluses and minuses of a read-only TeachText or
- SimpleText file.
-
- * Give the ReadMe file a meaningful name. If you include other
- informative files (such as a revision history or directions)
- consider whether or not it makes the most sense for them to be
- part of the ReadMe file. If you keep them separate, give them
- appropriate names.
-
- * Make sure all of your files will be legible both onscreen and
- when printed. Keep in mind that screen size and font availability
- varies considerably from user to user.
-
- * Run a spelling check. You could run a grammar check, but it's
- probably faster and more effective to just read the file out loud
- to yourself (though I expect this advice won't necessarily work
- for those trying to write a ReadMe file in a foreign language). If
- something sounds funny, fix it. You could also ask a friend to
- proofread the file.
-
-
- A Studio in Silicon Valley
- --------------------------
- by Dave Winer <dwiner@well.com>
-
- [Dave Winer founded UserLand Software and in 1992, shipped
- Frontier, which he is in the process of releasing for free to the
- Internet (see TidBITS-279_). Dave is also a columnist for
- HotWired, contributing essays like the one below. Check out Dave's
- many and varied projects on the Web at:]
-
- http://www.hotwired.com/userland
-
-
- **Bill & Microsoft** -- I missed the NBC TV documentary about Bill
- Gates on NBC last week, but I'm getting lots of email about it.
- The most interesting message came from Caryn Shalita
- <caryn@sfm.com>. She says, "It may be silly, but I like having
- products made by companies that don't just fake a good vibe!"
-
- Yeah! Caryn comes from Los Angeles; not Seattle or Silicon Valley.
- She's an actress and webmaster and music nut.
-
- And I have lots to say about this. Right on. I hear a lot of
- dissonant notes from Bill's customers, which include some of his
- competitors. And Microsoft hasn't been able to muster an
- acceptable response to any of the claims that have been rattling
- around the corridors in the groups-of-ten of DaveNet mailings.
-
- I get a mixture of negative and positive vibes from Microsoft. For
- the second time I've had the accusatory finger pointed back at me.
- This time I was just the messenger, relaying a thoughtful flame,
- this time from a competitor - last time it was from a customer.
- I've seen Microsoft folks swarm all over a user and now a
- developer. It would be nice if they took us at face value. They
- could learn and grow. Be a better company. And deserve our support
- because their vibes could be seen as a positive thing, not a
- dangerous thing.
-
- Yes, Microsoft is dangerous. But so is a lot of life. We may be
- outraged, but we have to be careful. They do have a right to
- exist. Bill is right, there were risks involved. I remember back
- when Windows 3.0 shipped, it wasn't a slam-dunk. Should Microsoft
- be deprived of the harvest now? No way! It's still not a slam-
- dunk. Read InfoWorld. Windows 95 is in trouble.
-
-
- **It's Not Easy Being Bill** -- Dave Carlick <dsc@poppe.com> sends
- the Bill Gates Joke of the Week:
-
- God calls Boris Yeltsin, Bill Clinton and Bill Gates into his
- office and says, "The world will end in 30 days. Go back and tell
- your people." So, Boris Yeltsin goes to the Russian people and
- says, "I have bad news and I have worse news. The bad news is that
- we were wrong, there is a God. The worse news is that the world
- will end in 30 days." Bill Clinton goes on TV and tells the
- American people, "I have good news and I have bad news. The good
- news is that the basic family values upon which we have based our
- lives on are right - there is a God. The bad news is that the
- world will end in 30 days." Bill Gates goes to his executive
- committee and says, "I have great news and I have fabulous news.
- The great news is that God thinks I'm important. The fabulous news
- is that we don't have to ship Windows 95!"
-
- It's not easy being Bill. He's the focal point of a lot of
- negative energy. I get a small taste of that every time one of my
- pieces appears in Wired or HotWired. Negative energy in my inbox,
- from people who are angry with their mothers or fathers or life in
- general, and decide to let me have it! It's getting easier to push
- it back, and it makes me a better, stronger person to learn to let
- go of _their_ pain. I'm not here to make these strangers happy.
-
- Bill must get a mountain of negative energy. I glimpsed this back
- in an earlier round of email with Bill, a few months ago, when
- Word 6.0 for the Mac was The Big Problem. Bill said "I'm getting
- ten times more flames on this than anything else." Yes, Bill reads
- his email. And he's affected by it. Good for him and good for
- Microsoft. It's an amazing thing that he soaks up all that
- negative energy, processes it, and deals with it. It's hard to
- make these things positive. Because sometimes people must think
- Bill is their mother, just as some people think I am! The numbers
- must be much higher for Bill.
-
- But it goes the other way. Sometimes Microsoft people unleash
- their personal anger and direct it at the wrong place. I've seen
- it happen.
-
-
- **A Microsoft Story** -- At a party thrown by Microsoft at last
- year's System Design Review (an annual assembly of the top
- developers from the leading software companies), I made the
- mistake of getting on the wrong bus.
-
- I was supposed to be on the bus for other-company developers.
- Instead, by accident, I got on a bus for Microsoft employees. It
- was dark. I was quiet. I listened to the sounds of Microsoft
- internal people talking about the developers attending the
- conference.
-
- Oh, the personal side of Microsoft - not a pretty sight! These
- people are not Bill Gates clones. Petty personal comments,
- disrespect, childish arrogance. It reminded me of the Apple of the
- 1980s, elitist and insulated. I felt ashamed to be at this
- conference. I thought it was a sign of respect from Microsoft to
- be included, and I'm sure it was - from the top of the company.
- They saw me as an important developer, even though there were no
- revenues at UserLand to support that belief. They believed in me,
- personally. And that was before DaveNet happened, my public
- presence was almost nil at the time. The respect came from the top
- of the company. From the troops I was just another hopeless bozo
- that was going to be crushed by the new Big Blue Machine of
- Redmond. I heard them saying that in the dark quiet of Microsoft's
- corporate bus.
-
- I realized then that Microsoft is just another company. They hire
- from the general talent pool created by the American education
- system and get young people who mistakenly believe that they have
- extra insight into the world just because they work at a
- successful company. You can see Bill fighting against this,
- reminding his troops over and over that the competition has to be
- taken seriously, to be respected, to be feared. They require
- energy, intelligence, and creativity to be dispensed with. You
- can't just roll over them with mediocrity. But it must be a losing
- battle, even for a man of Gates's intensity and intelligence.
- Microsoft, with 17,000 people, is less and less Gates, and more
- and more average. It has to be that way.
-
- I believe Bill's epitaph will be a slightly above-average company,
- as long as he is willing to be this intense. If he ever lets go,
- and lets Microsoft run itself, it will revert to the norm - an
- American company with all its weaknesses and self-serving agendas.
-
-
- **Why Companies?** -- All this leads me to the real question - why
- does Caryn expect great software to come from companies? What
- evidence is there that companies are the ideal organizational
- structure for creative, timely, and interesting software products?
- Is any other creative business structured this way? Can you
- imagine the Indigo Girls singing in three-piece suits? Making
- their bosses happy? And their boss's boss? And on and on. Add
- enough CYA and you drown inspiration and good vibes in corporate
- agendas, petty egos, and ass-kissing. I'm not questioning the
- premise of Microsoft specifically; just the mistaken idea that
- software is vastly different from other forms of creativity. It
- isn't.
-
- It's always frustrated to me to have my products evaluated based
- on the size of the company they come from. I've never met a
- company that could host my software without interfering. I've
- tried to compromise with the corporate model. But to hit the mark,
- I have to zig and zag, try out new ideas, learn and tweak, and go
- back and do it again. Most corporations have real problems with
- that approach. The Board of Directors wants detailed plans, head
- trips that predict exactly how a song will turn out. They want to
- see the numbers. I gave them the numbers they wanted, but they
- were lies. Eventually I had to divorce myself from the corporate
- scene. You can't build software out of lies.
-
- I've even seen software CEOs ask analysts to tell them what kinds
- of products they should make! What exactly is their contribution?
- Why be a software CEO if you don't trust your own intuition to
- tell you what kinds of products to make? Most analysts don't use
- the stuff. Same with CEOs.
-
- Of course, Hollywood is no panacea. They have fat, sweaty,
- mindless executives posturing and pretending they understand
- what's going on. Remember the Dogs Watching TV. But at least in
- L.A. they celebrate the individual - a movie makes a personal
- statement, not a corporate one. I've seen movies with fat, sweaty,
- mindless executives playing supporting roles to screenplay writers
- and actors who hate them. Who backed those movies? Cute!
-
- Corporations may appear to be devoid of emotions. Actually they
- are emotional breweries, but they are in denial. "Dave, you're
- being emotional again," I've heard it over and over. So what! My
- software comes from the heart. But the software industry wants to
- deny that. They want a sterile lab environment that spits out
- products that get four stars from PC Week Labs. Untouched by human
- hands. Good luck! That's Bill's game. You can't win by zigging
- when he zigs. You have to zag to beat Gates. He must know that.
- When will you guys figure it out?
-
- I see this unrealistic trust in the corporate system everywhere I
- go. John Doerr trusts Macromedia, but forgets Marc Canter, the
- genius who made Director happen. The world buys into Doerr's deals
- because they think Marc is still there. He isn't. No doubt
- Macromedia has smarts, but the blood of the company's creativity
- flows through Marc's veins, not Bud Colligan's.
-
-
- **We Need Help** -- It's time for minds to bend. Let people with
- talent and passion experiment with new ideas. Bet on people with
- track records, like the entertainment industry does, and accept
- the probability that you can't pick the next _Forrest_Gump_ or
- _Pulp_Fiction_. Sheryl Crow appeared to be washed up, so did
- Bonnie Raitt. Look who's on top of the heap now!
-
- We miss many dynamics in the software business. The venture
- capitalists _are_ greedy, as I've said before. They trust people
- they can own. If you have an opinion, they don't want to deal with
- you. But that's not how you make money. Freedom of expression is
- the raw material from which great software is built. You can't
- control that freedom or you lose it. You get what you pay for.
- Control the people and you get predictable, boring, bloated, late
- software.
-
- Great passionate ideas make money. Lucky great passionate ideas
- make lots of money. To the money people, some advice: relax,
- spread it around, and hope you get lucky!
-
- We need help here in Silicon Valley. We're stuck playing the same
- old songs over and over. Head trips everywhere. Creative people
- need to be set free and given the resources they need, so products
- can be great and timely. Money is _not_ the most precious thing.
- Passion and talent are. I don't care if the money comes from
- Steven Spielberg or Bill Gates or John Doerr. We'll know when the
- dam is ready to burst, a studio in Silicon Valley that really
- celebrated the individual creator would be a huge win.
-
-
- Reviews/05-Jun-95
- -----------------
-
- * MacWEEK -- 29-May-95, Vol. 9, #22
- HP ScanJet 3c 30-bit scanner -- pg. 28
- SoftArc FirstClass 2.6 -- pg. 28
- Strata MediaPaint -- pg. 30
- Cadmover 4.0 -- pg. 31
-
-
- $$
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