Hesh Wiener
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Mad Dog 21/21: Missing Inaction
June 4, 2007 Hesh Wiener
… Read moreIBM, which is neck-and-neck in the server trade with Hewlett-Packard, formerly made typewriters, disk drives, printers, and personal computers. Over the past two decades it shed many of the products it used to manufacture, by continued to grow by creating a huge services group and absorbing a number of software companies. Except for its typewriters, none of the products IBM dropped have disappeared, the way DB Cooper, Jimmy Hoffa, or Judge Crater vanished. Today, IBM still manufactures some servers and storage devices, and perhaps it doesn’t have to manufacture anything at all.
IBM acts as if
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Mad Dog 21/21: Missing Inaction
June 4, 2007 Hesh Wiener
… Read moreIBM, which is neck-and-neck in the server trade with Hewlett-Packard, formerly made typewriters, disk drives, printers, and personal computers. Over the past two decades it shed many of the products it used to manufacture, by continued to grow by creating a huge services group and absorbing a number of software companies. Except for its typewriters, none of the products IBM dropped have disappeared, the way DB Cooper, Jimmy Hoffa, or Judge Crater vanished. Today, IBM still manufactures some servers and storage devices, and perhaps it doesn’t have to manufacture anything at all.
IBM acts as if
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Mad Dog 21/21: Hearts and Minds
April 30, 2007 Hesh Wiener
… Read moreIn 1991, Richard Stallman‘s great project, the GNU operating system, was made whole when Linus Torvalds developed the kernel, Linux, that it had lacked. The next year, there was a marriage. Henceforth, Linux, like GNU before it, was to be distributed under the General Public License (GPL), the legal arrangement that defines Free Software. Today, GNU/Linux is arguably the most popular server operating system, and the GPL is the dominant license for revealed source code software. Yet it is still not certain that there is safe place for both hearts and minds in the unfolding world of software development.
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Mad Dog 21/21: Hearts and Minds
April 30, 2007 Hesh Wiener
… Read moreIn 1991, Richard Stallman‘s great project, the GNU operating system, was made whole when Linus Torvalds developed the kernel, Linux, that it had lacked. The next year, there was a marriage. Henceforth, Linux, like GNU before it, was to be distributed under the General Public License (GPL), the legal arrangement that defines Free Software. Today, GNU/Linux is arguably the most popular server operating system, and the GPL is the dominant license for revealed source code software. Yet it is still not certain that there is safe place for both hearts and minds in the unfolding world of software development.
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Mad Dog 21/21: Hearts and Minds
April 30, 2007 Hesh Wiener
… Read moreIn 1991, Richard Stallman‘s great project, the GNU operating system, was made whole when Linus Torvalds developed the kernel, Linux, that it had lacked. The next year, there was a marriage. Henceforth, Linux, like GNU before it, was to be distributed under the General Public License (GPL), the legal arrangement that defines Free Software. Today, GNU/Linux is arguably the most popular server operating system, and the GPL is the dominant license for revealed source code software. Yet it is still not certain that there is safe place for both hearts and minds in the unfolding world of software development.
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Mad Dog 21/21: The China Spin Drone
March 19, 2007 Hesh Wiener
… Read moreAt 3 p.m. on February 27, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which was falling in sympathy with a meltdown on the Shanghai exchange, seemed to drop off a cliff. What actually happened is that the computer behind the average was falling behind, so Dow switched to a backup system, which caught up very quickly, bringing the day to a miserable end. The Dow incident is an example of the Roadrunner Effect, where the Coyote runs past the edge of the cliff but doesn’t fall until he looks down. A similar thing might be happening in the computer industry right
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Mad Dog 21/21: The China Spin Drone
March 19, 2007 Hesh Wiener
… Read moreAt 3 p.m. on February 27, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which was falling in sympathy with a meltdown on the Shanghai exchange, seemed to drop off a cliff. What actually happened is that the computer behind the average was falling behind, so Dow switched to a backup system, which caught up very quickly, bringing the day to a miserable end. The Dow incident is an example of the Roadrunner Effect, where the Coyote runs past the edge of the cliff but doesn’t fall until he looks down. A similar thing might be happening in the computer industry right
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Mad Dog 21/21: The China Spin Drone
March 19, 2007 Hesh Wiener
… Read moreAt 3 p.m. on February 27, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which was falling in sympathy with a meltdown on the Shanghai exchange, seemed to drop off a cliff. What actually happened is that the computer behind the average was falling behind, so Dow switched to a backup system, which caught up very quickly, bringing the day to a miserable end. The Dow incident is an example of the Roadrunner Effect, where the Coyote runs past the edge of the cliff but doesn’t fall until he looks down. A similar thing might be happening in the computer industry right
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Mad Dog 21/21: Paved With Good Intentions
February 19, 2007 Hesh Wiener
… Read moreIt’s a milestone. By midyear, Seagate Technology and Hitachi will offer 3.5-inch disk drives that store a terabyte of data. Other disk makers are right on their heels. Processor makers with multicore offerings will reach other technology milestones, as will network gear providers whose products will foster ever-faster communications. It’s hard to think of so many metaphorical milestones without recalling the originals, stone pillars that marked thousand-pace distances on the vast web of Roman Empire roads. These highways linked Rome to the rest of Europe, spanned Britain, and even crossed Asia Minor, producing dramatic consequences, both intended and unintended.
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Mad Dog 21/21: Paved With Good Intentions
February 19, 2007 Hesh Wiener
… Read moreIt’s a milestone. By midyear, Seagate Technology and Hitachi will offer 3.5-inch disk drives that store a terabyte of data. Other disk makers are right on their heels. Processor makers with multicore offerings will reach other technology milestones, as will network gear providers whose products will foster ever-faster communications. It’s hard to think of so many metaphorical milestones without recalling the originals, stone pillars that marked thousand-pace distances on the vast web of Roman Empire roads. These highways linked Rome to the rest of Europe, spanned Britain, and even crossed Asia Minor, producing dramatic consequences, both intended and unintended.