The Bellevue Galleria 11 (movie theatre) is under new management. As part of their renovation they purchased a $130,000.00 Christie 2 megapixel digital projector.
We watched Chicken Little on it last weekend. It was beautiful. I couldn't see a single pixel and we were somewhat close to the front of the theatre.
These latest projectors are much better than the old 1.3 megapixel projectors, such as the one that the Cinerama had (and which they stopped using about three years ago).
Now, if everyone else in the entire world would upgrade to these babies ...
© 2005 Stephen Clarke-Willson - All Rights Reserved.
2005-11-08
2005-11-01
iTunes Video
I'm finally watching the iTunes video I bought. It's the Nightstalker pilot. I can't tell if I'm bored because the video is small or the show just isn't that interesting. I think it is the latter, since I've watched little videos before and remained entertained.
You can blow the picture up to full-screen. It looks a little low-res but not so bad. But since the show is boring I put it in a little window on the side and surfed the Internet instead.
I might be willing to spend $1.99 to keep up on Lost if I missed an episode, but otherwise I think iTunes video earns a 'never mind it' recommendation.
(BTW, the Google spelling checker is AWESOME!)
© 2005 Stephen Clarke-Willson - All Rights Reserved.
You can blow the picture up to full-screen. It looks a little low-res but not so bad. But since the show is boring I put it in a little window on the side and surfed the Internet instead.
I might be willing to spend $1.99 to keep up on Lost if I missed an episode, but otherwise I think iTunes video earns a 'never mind it' recommendation.
(BTW, the Google spelling checker is AWESOME!)
© 2005 Stephen Clarke-Willson - All Rights Reserved.
2005-10-27
SNESMusic.org ~ Game profile: Jungle Book
SNESMusic.org ~ Game profile: Jungle Book
This site is cool! And probably violates a lot of copyrights!
The site hosts the actual musical performances from Super NES games. They downloaded the ROM data and run an emulator that generates the music. You can get a plug-in for WinAmp and then open their "RSN" files directly and hit play. Very nice. (Actually, you might need to associate "RSN" with WinAmp first.)
The piece I arranged and performed is the title track to The Jungle Book. This version is on SNES but it was also used on the Genesis. It's "The Bare Necessities Rag".
I have another game music credit, except uncredited, which is the two chords for the Adrenium Studios logo. The cool thing about that is that it was performed by the Prague Symphony Orchestra. It's played during the logo for all three Adrenium Games console games: Azurik, Samurai Jack, and Lemony Snicket.
This site is cool! And probably violates a lot of copyrights!
The site hosts the actual musical performances from Super NES games. They downloaded the ROM data and run an emulator that generates the music. You can get a plug-in for WinAmp and then open their "RSN" files directly and hit play. Very nice. (Actually, you might need to associate "RSN" with WinAmp first.)
The piece I arranged and performed is the title track to The Jungle Book. This version is on SNES but it was also used on the Genesis. It's "The Bare Necessities Rag".
I have another game music credit, except uncredited, which is the two chords for the Adrenium Studios logo. The cool thing about that is that it was performed by the Prague Symphony Orchestra. It's played during the logo for all three Adrenium Games console games: Azurik, Samurai Jack, and Lemony Snicket.
2005-10-21
Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD
Blu-ray to Win Format War, says Forrester Research:
[Edit January 14, 2006 - Ha! Blu-Ray machines at CES cost over $1,000 while HD-DVD was $500! Blu-Ray is dead.]
I am pro HD-DVD but the Hollywood people don't know anything and Sony can convince them to use Blu-Ray because of PS3 and Sony Picures etc. It holds more storage which sounds good to Hollywood studio types.
Gates said everyone better get this right since it's likely to be the last physical distribution format ever, as streaming downloads begin to take over. That's actually an argument FOR Blu-Ray because it's bigger! If this is the last format, then make it as big as possible!
I have a friend that says DVD is the last format that will matter. We already don't need a bigger disk format. With MPEG-4 a high-def movie can go on the current DVD format. But his real point is that it's all gonna be on-line anyway.
Gates is against Blu-Ray because he doesn't like the copy protection scheme - it doesn't allow making copies to laptops etc. very easy. HD-DVD does, and of course locks the copy to the computer, so it can't be further redistributed. (Gates seems to think that you can't even watch a Blu-Ray movie on your laptop - that the PC wouldn't be granted the rights to even read the disc in the first place. Maybe. I dunno.)
(Also - this is really amazing, BTW, and nobody talks about it - whatever is used will use something like MPEG-4 if not the actual MPEG-4. MPEG-4 is about 10 times better than MPEG-2. So these giant disks will hold an additional 10x more video than the current generation. The DivX people aren't kidding when they say "DivX - the MP3 of video!" I've seen DivX video at 1/10th the size of the original MPEG-2 and it looks terrific. So, if Blu-Ray storage is 25 gigabytes, then that would be about the same as a 250 gigabyte DVD because of the vastly superior encoding.)
From: http://www.blu-ray.com/faq/#1.5:
I read later that Sony is going to use MPEG-2 on Blu-Ray initially.
I don't understand that.
I don't understand $1,000.00 for a Blu-Ray DVD player.
Sony is a half-dead company. This might be the final straw.
"It will be a long, tedious war but Forrester Research is convinced that the Sony-led Blu-ray format will succeed in replacing DVD as the next-generation disc. The irony, however, is that by the time consumers are ready to switch digital media may be far more important than physical media. More within..."
[Edit January 14, 2006 - Ha! Blu-Ray machines at CES cost over $1,000 while HD-DVD was $500! Blu-Ray is dead.]
I am pro HD-DVD but the Hollywood people don't know anything and Sony can convince them to use Blu-Ray because of PS3 and Sony Picures etc. It holds more storage which sounds good to Hollywood studio types.
Gates said everyone better get this right since it's likely to be the last physical distribution format ever, as streaming downloads begin to take over. That's actually an argument FOR Blu-Ray because it's bigger! If this is the last format, then make it as big as possible!
I have a friend that says DVD is the last format that will matter. We already don't need a bigger disk format. With MPEG-4 a high-def movie can go on the current DVD format. But his real point is that it's all gonna be on-line anyway.
"The home activity of the future will be very digital, we actually call it the digital lifestyle," he said. "Your music, of course, is already moving away from being on a physical media to just being on a hard disk or streamed across the Internet. My daughter, who's 9, asked me as we went into a record store what a record was, and, of course, she's never seen a record, and five years from now people will say what's a CD, why did you have to go to the case and open something up and you couldn't sequence it your own playlist way; that will be a thing of the past."
Gates continued, "Likewise, even for videos that will happen. The format that's under discussion right now, HD versus Blu-ray, that's simply the last physical format we'll ever have. Even videos in the future will either be on a disk in your pocket or over the Internet and therefore far more convenient for you. You can organize things the way you want and it will show up on all these different devices."
Gates is against Blu-Ray because he doesn't like the copy protection scheme - it doesn't allow making copies to laptops etc. very easy. HD-DVD does, and of course locks the copy to the computer, so it can't be further redistributed. (Gates seems to think that you can't even watch a Blu-Ray movie on your laptop - that the PC wouldn't be granted the rights to even read the disc in the first place. Maybe. I dunno.)
(Also - this is really amazing, BTW, and nobody talks about it - whatever is used will use something like MPEG-4 if not the actual MPEG-4. MPEG-4 is about 10 times better than MPEG-2. So these giant disks will hold an additional 10x more video than the current generation. The DivX people aren't kidding when they say "DivX - the MP3 of video!" I've seen DivX video at 1/10th the size of the original MPEG-2 and it looks terrific. So, if Blu-Ray storage is 25 gigabytes, then that would be about the same as a 250 gigabyte DVD because of the vastly superior encoding.)
From: http://www.blu-ray.com/faq/#1.5:
1.5 How much data can you fit on a Blu-ray disc?
A single-layer disc can fit 23.3GB, 25GB or 27GB.
A dual-layer disc can fit 46.6GB, 50GB or 54GB.
To ensure that the Blu-ray Disc format is easily extendable (future-proof) it also includes support for multi-layer discs, which should allow the storage capacity to be increased to 100GB-200GB (25GB per layer) in the future simply by adding more layers to the discs.
1.6 How much video can you record on a Blu-ray disc?
Over 2 hours of high-definition television (HDTV) on a 25GB disc.
About 13 hours of standard-definition television (SDTV) on a 25GB disc.
I read later that Sony is going to use MPEG-2 on Blu-Ray initially.
I don't understand that.
I don't understand $1,000.00 for a Blu-Ray DVD player.
Sony is a half-dead company. This might be the final straw.
2005-10-19
Based on Crap: The 10 Worst Ideas to Make Nintendo Games About - Seanbaby.com
Based on Crap: The 10 Worst Ideas to Make Nintendo Games About - Seanbaby.com
I produced #7. At the time, it was one of the best selling NES games our little company, Virgin Mastertronic, later renamed Virgin Games, later renamed Virgin Interactive, had ever made. Ahead of it was the original Spot by Graeme Devine et.al., but Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves was a close second.
We had 16 pages of coverage in Nintendo Power. I guess there wasn't much else going on that year at Christmas time.
We had the rights to use Kevin Costner's image, but then Dances With Wolves came out, and that was the end of that. We ended up using his profile.
We had a Robin Hood game already when the Prince of Thieves license became available. I read the script and it was very dark. The sherrif was having sex with his mother and other such type things.
After deleting all the dark bits, I made a game outline, on a single piece of paper, that used the existing game play bits we had, and laid them out in story order. I went on a trip to Salt Lake City to visit Sculptured Software and present the plan. They had 12 weeks to make the game.
They did a great job, actually.
Tommy Tallarico was the lead tester on it, before he started producing music, and then became a famous TV show personality.
All in all, it was a great experience. I'm not surprised in these days of Hollywood cross overs that the game would make a terrible ideas list, but it worked at the time.
I produced #7. At the time, it was one of the best selling NES games our little company, Virgin Mastertronic, later renamed Virgin Games, later renamed Virgin Interactive, had ever made. Ahead of it was the original Spot by Graeme Devine et.al., but Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves was a close second.
We had 16 pages of coverage in Nintendo Power. I guess there wasn't much else going on that year at Christmas time.
We had the rights to use Kevin Costner's image, but then Dances With Wolves came out, and that was the end of that. We ended up using his profile.
We had a Robin Hood game already when the Prince of Thieves license became available. I read the script and it was very dark. The sherrif was having sex with his mother and other such type things.
After deleting all the dark bits, I made a game outline, on a single piece of paper, that used the existing game play bits we had, and laid them out in story order. I went on a trip to Salt Lake City to visit Sculptured Software and present the plan. They had 12 weeks to make the game.
They did a great job, actually.
Tommy Tallarico was the lead tester on it, before he started producing music, and then became a famous TV show personality.
All in all, it was a great experience. I'm not surprised in these days of Hollywood cross overs that the game would make a terrible ideas list, but it worked at the time.
2005-10-14
Parents fear intelligent-design backlash - Science - MSNBC.com
Parents fear intelligent-design backlash - Science - MSNBC.com:
More like ... "that says its mission is to defend the religious freedom of Christians by cramming their stupid religious beliefs down the throats of everyone else."
I like what MC Hawking said:
The plaintiffs are represented by a team put together by the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for Separation of Church and State. The school district is being represented by the Thomas More Law Center, a public-interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Mich., that says its mission is to defend the religious freedom of Christians.
More like ... "that says its mission is to defend the religious freedom of Christians by cramming their stupid religious beliefs down the throats of everyone else."
I like what MC Hawking said:
Noah and his ark, Adam and his Eve,
straight up fairy stories even children don't believe.
I'm not saying there's no god, that's not for me to say,
all I'm saying is the Earth was not made in a day.
2005-10-13
Hands-On iPod Video
Well, I don't have a Video iPod, but like anyone I can get iTunes version 12,000 (actually version 6) and buy a video. Since I'm up-to-date with Lost I bought the Pilot episode of the Nightstalker.
The video is 320x240 which is pretty small on my 1280x1024 screen. The audio sounds good. I've only watched about the first three minutes because I have been busy.
The iTunes stored crapped out on my first download and charged me for a machine license that I didn't successfully use.
The weird thing about this video is ... who really wants to keep it? I've used Movielink and once I watch something there, then I'm done!
Well, I guess with iTunes I can 'unauthorize' the viewing of a video clip and then just up and delete it, and let it live on the iTunes servers.
I'll probably watch the whole show this weekend...
© 2005 Stephen Clarke-Willson - All Rights Reserved.
The video is 320x240 which is pretty small on my 1280x1024 screen. The audio sounds good. I've only watched about the first three minutes because I have been busy.
The iTunes stored crapped out on my first download and charged me for a machine license that I didn't successfully use.
The weird thing about this video is ... who really wants to keep it? I've used Movielink and once I watch something there, then I'm done!
Well, I guess with iTunes I can 'unauthorize' the viewing of a video clip and then just up and delete it, and let it live on the iTunes servers.
I'll probably watch the whole show this weekend...
© 2005 Stephen Clarke-Willson - All Rights Reserved.
2005-10-10
Revolution Controller
Allard: Sony Should Be Nervous Right Now: "Allard then shared his thoughts on Nintendo's Revolution controller, saying that it's well intentioned, but he's not so sure about its implementation. 'I think it's great for them to say, 'We've got to make it more approachable.' It's the same reason our DVD remote, at the press conference I could have done our whole demo on the DVD remote because we put A, B, X, Y on the remote. We put the guide button on the remote. We put the media center button on the remote. You're going to be able to play casual games on Live Arcade with the remote control,' he told GI.
'I don't think that's the way you're going to play FIFA. I don't think it's the way you're going to play Madden. I don't think it's the way you're going to play racing games. I think the traditional controller for traditional categories is really going to be what drives that. I don't think most Electronic Arts games are going to be played with that thing. I think they're going to be designed for the classic controller.'"
This pretty well sums up my feelings about the Nintendo controller.
Back in The Seventh Guest days, Graeme Devine used to say that the real competition for computer and video games is the remote for your TV. It's super simple and by pressing a single button you get this incredible experience - channel surfing. So he designed Seventh Guest to have an incredibly simple interface.
So Nintendo has this super simple controller. I like it.
Except I think my arm will get tired waving it around. And my wrist will get strained. And I will be in pain. And that can't be good, can it?
'I don't think that's the way you're going to play FIFA. I don't think it's the way you're going to play Madden. I don't think it's the way you're going to play racing games. I think the traditional controller for traditional categories is really going to be what drives that. I don't think most Electronic Arts games are going to be played with that thing. I think they're going to be designed for the classic controller.'"
This pretty well sums up my feelings about the Nintendo controller.
Back in The Seventh Guest days, Graeme Devine used to say that the real competition for computer and video games is the remote for your TV. It's super simple and by pressing a single button you get this incredible experience - channel surfing. So he designed Seventh Guest to have an incredibly simple interface.
So Nintendo has this super simple controller. I like it.
Except I think my arm will get tired waving it around. And my wrist will get strained. And I will be in pain. And that can't be good, can it?
2005-10-03
Yahoo! Site Explorer
Yahoo! Site Explorer
Google has the new blog search tool. Now Yahoo has the 'site explorer' which lets you go to a site and then look at the links going into a site.
Of course, an ego search is required.
Typing in this blog results in 269 hits, but most of them are self-referential.
Still, I found a link in (from a guy named Preston Bannister), who I knew in college. That was fun.
Google has the new blog search tool. Now Yahoo has the 'site explorer' which lets you go to a site and then look at the links going into a site.
Of course, an ego search is required.
Typing in this blog results in 269 hits, but most of them are self-referential.
Still, I found a link in (from a guy named Preston Bannister), who I knew in college. That was fun.
2005-09-28
More Project Fun
Another graph from one of my current projects.
Click for the bigger view. Looks kind of like a DNA slide to me.
© 2005 Stephen Clarke-Willson - All Rights Reserved.
Click for the bigger view. Looks kind of like a DNA slide to me.
© 2005 Stephen Clarke-Willson - All Rights Reserved.
2005-09-24
GPS Lady
Escape From Houston - How I fled Rita. By Mimi�Swartz:
These things are expensive - like $850.00 for one that talks to you - but it would be the only way to navigate the back roads in an emergency. Just get off the freeway, tell it where you want to go, and let it figure it out. If you see a crowd ahead, take off at an angle, and then let the GPS figure it out.
I used GPS navigation a lot a couple of years ago when I was travelling to California a lot. It was a life saver! Except the time it had THQ's address wrong. Then I called my wife and she guided me to THQ by using MapQuest from the PC at home.
One time I was going to meet someone at Warner Interactive, and this guy said, "It's on the west side near Santa Monica." Well, I put the address into the GPS and it took me to Burbank. This distressed me greatly, but it turned out the GPS was right.
One time I was in Burbank, taking the bus from the beautiful Burbank Airport to the nearby Hilton. My buddies and I were chatting about "GPS Lady", and how great she was at guiding us around LA. This lady in the bus (who claimed to be a computer programmer but I think she was a standup comic) said, "If I designed that thing, when you missed a turn, it would say, 'That was it! That was it!'". I wanted to hear more jokes but she ran off, probably scared of us game geeks.
One time I had GPS Man. He was a different brand. He was built-in to a Java based smart phone. He was stuck onto my windshield with a big giant suction cup. GPS Man actually gave better directions, but it was hard to operate. You had to make a phone call to some central place, tell them where you wanted to go, and then they would download the data into the phone. Overnight, GPS Man was left on, and his batteries died, which meant I had to figure out how to reinitialize him at least enough to get the central service to download something useful. That was interesting.
I have some friends with GPS Person built into their cars. It's pretty cool. I'm hoping my car lasts a long time, and that when I finally get a new car, instead of GPS Person I get GPS Driver, and I can just sit and surf the web while my car drives me to where I need to go.
(C) 2005 Stephen Clarke-Willson - All Rights Reserved.
"It took about three hours heading dead west on side-streets before I reached the approach to I-10. It was utterly jammed. Then I remembered my husband's Christmas present to me last year�a GPS device called the Magellan RoadMate. That may not sound like the most romantic gift, but I spend a lot of time in the car, and a lot of that time on strange roads on the verge of being very, very lost. 'Turn on the RoadMate,' I said to my son. "
These things are expensive - like $850.00 for one that talks to you - but it would be the only way to navigate the back roads in an emergency. Just get off the freeway, tell it where you want to go, and let it figure it out. If you see a crowd ahead, take off at an angle, and then let the GPS figure it out.
I used GPS navigation a lot a couple of years ago when I was travelling to California a lot. It was a life saver! Except the time it had THQ's address wrong. Then I called my wife and she guided me to THQ by using MapQuest from the PC at home.
One time I was going to meet someone at Warner Interactive, and this guy said, "It's on the west side near Santa Monica." Well, I put the address into the GPS and it took me to Burbank. This distressed me greatly, but it turned out the GPS was right.
One time I was in Burbank, taking the bus from the beautiful Burbank Airport to the nearby Hilton. My buddies and I were chatting about "GPS Lady", and how great she was at guiding us around LA. This lady in the bus (who claimed to be a computer programmer but I think she was a standup comic) said, "If I designed that thing, when you missed a turn, it would say, 'That was it! That was it!'". I wanted to hear more jokes but she ran off, probably scared of us game geeks.
One time I had GPS Man. He was a different brand. He was built-in to a Java based smart phone. He was stuck onto my windshield with a big giant suction cup. GPS Man actually gave better directions, but it was hard to operate. You had to make a phone call to some central place, tell them where you wanted to go, and then they would download the data into the phone. Overnight, GPS Man was left on, and his batteries died, which meant I had to figure out how to reinitialize him at least enough to get the central service to download something useful. That was interesting.
I have some friends with GPS Person built into their cars. It's pretty cool. I'm hoping my car lasts a long time, and that when I finally get a new car, instead of GPS Person I get GPS Driver, and I can just sit and surf the web while my car drives me to where I need to go.
(C) 2005 Stephen Clarke-Willson - All Rights Reserved.
Palm Teams With Microsoft for Smart Phone: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance
Palm Teams With Microsoft for Smart Phone: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance:
As much as I've been a Palm fan for years, I think I'm looking forward to this. Ultimately the Palm OS is just too awkward when it comes to networking. I've had friends with Windows CE based PDA devices and they seem to be able to stream MP3s and do all kinds of cool things without any trouble. They have a way better browser than the crap that gets bundled in with Palm devices.
I have a Sony Clie that kicks ass - that is once I managed to get it configured properly. It has a huge screen (480x320), Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, plays MP3s (but not streaming), and one of the worst designed cameras in the history of the universe*. Sadly the battery life isn't too great. But feature wise it is amazing. But it's also discontinued (the entire Sony Clie line was discontinued in the US). And it's also got a highly customized version by Sony of the Palm OS. So once it dies, it's dead. Game over. And quite frankly, you have to be an incredible computer wiz to even make it work. What a mess.
Since Microsoft has spent years trying to get this phone business going, they probably have something decent by now. I'm hoping. I know there have been buggy releases in the past. Hopefully Palm put an end to that. Well, if I do get one of these, it won't be one of the first ones off the assembly line - that's for sure. Palm has had glitches on product rollouts too.
But longterm, I think this is good.
* The worst camera in the world: you can only take 2-5 pictures with the flash before you have totally drained the battery. Mind boggling. And since you need the battery for everything else, you're pretty screwed. Still, if there is something you really want a picture of (2 megapixels), and the Clie is all you have, then fire away! Just make sure every shot counts.
"In the third quarter of last year, devices running Microsoft's software outsold those with Palm OS for the first time, according to the research firm Gartner Inc.
'No question that Microsoft has made significant inroads compared to where they were just a couple of years ago -- which was no where,' said Charles Golvin, analyst for Forrester Research.
Rumors have circulated for months that Palm was ready to embrace a Windows platform. Palm spent years trying to fend off Microsoft's forays into the sector."
As much as I've been a Palm fan for years, I think I'm looking forward to this. Ultimately the Palm OS is just too awkward when it comes to networking. I've had friends with Windows CE based PDA devices and they seem to be able to stream MP3s and do all kinds of cool things without any trouble. They have a way better browser than the crap that gets bundled in with Palm devices.
I have a Sony Clie that kicks ass - that is once I managed to get it configured properly. It has a huge screen (480x320), Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, plays MP3s (but not streaming), and one of the worst designed cameras in the history of the universe*. Sadly the battery life isn't too great. But feature wise it is amazing. But it's also discontinued (the entire Sony Clie line was discontinued in the US). And it's also got a highly customized version by Sony of the Palm OS. So once it dies, it's dead. Game over. And quite frankly, you have to be an incredible computer wiz to even make it work. What a mess.
Since Microsoft has spent years trying to get this phone business going, they probably have something decent by now. I'm hoping. I know there have been buggy releases in the past. Hopefully Palm put an end to that. Well, if I do get one of these, it won't be one of the first ones off the assembly line - that's for sure. Palm has had glitches on product rollouts too.
But longterm, I think this is good.
* The worst camera in the world: you can only take 2-5 pictures with the flash before you have totally drained the battery. Mind boggling. And since you need the battery for everything else, you're pretty screwed. Still, if there is something you really want a picture of (2 megapixels), and the Clie is all you have, then fire away! Just make sure every shot counts.
Project Fun
This is a graphic I made while working on a project recently.
Exactly what it means will have to remain a mystery, but I think it looks cool, so I made a JPEG as a souvenir. (Click for bigger version.)
© 2005 Stephen Clarke-Willson - All Rights Reserved.
Exactly what it means will have to remain a mystery, but I think it looks cool, so I made a JPEG as a souvenir. (Click for bigger version.)
© 2005 Stephen Clarke-Willson - All Rights Reserved.
2005-09-21
Mini-Microsoft
Mini-Microsoft
This "Mini-Microsoft" blog is a strange blog. If I were younger I would agree with everything he says. But since I am older and wiser I don't.
I agree that the Microsoft review system is bad.
I don't agree that executives at Microsoft shouldn't get paid a million dollars a year. I think they should.
I agree that Microsoft used to have a different culture. It was smaller.
As things get big, the abstractions that managers use to manage change radically. In fact, one might argue, the difference between a successful manager and an unsuccessful manager (besides people skills) is his or her ability to grab on to the right abstract representation of the business. Clearly, in a business like Microsoft, it is impossible for the execs to know all the details. It's just impossible!
What matters is that they understand the control points. And those control points might not be obvious to the underlings.
A really good manager will explain those control points in a way the troops can understand. But the number of managers that can do that is about five. And they aren't going to work at a really big company.
It's funny, because I'm more of a fan of Microsoft now than I was in the old days. I find the software less buggy and easier to use than it used to be. And the compatibility problems Microsoft faces are huge! And yet they create this eco-system for PC development that continues to thrive. That's amazing.
This "Mini-Microsoft" blog is a strange blog. If I were younger I would agree with everything he says. But since I am older and wiser I don't.
I agree that the Microsoft review system is bad.
I don't agree that executives at Microsoft shouldn't get paid a million dollars a year. I think they should.
I agree that Microsoft used to have a different culture. It was smaller.
As things get big, the abstractions that managers use to manage change radically. In fact, one might argue, the difference between a successful manager and an unsuccessful manager (besides people skills) is his or her ability to grab on to the right abstract representation of the business. Clearly, in a business like Microsoft, it is impossible for the execs to know all the details. It's just impossible!
What matters is that they understand the control points. And those control points might not be obvious to the underlings.
A really good manager will explain those control points in a way the troops can understand. But the number of managers that can do that is about five. And they aren't going to work at a really big company.
It's funny, because I'm more of a fan of Microsoft now than I was in the old days. I find the software less buggy and easier to use than it used to be. And the compatibility problems Microsoft faces are huge! And yet they create this eco-system for PC development that continues to thrive. That's amazing.
BozoBit
BozoBit:
I had never heard of the Bozo Bit until a manager told me he thought I flipped it on people 'too soon.' (I thought a couple of years of evidence of uselessness was adequate but he basically never wanted me to flip it on this one particular person. Everyone knew this person was a Bozo except the manager.)
So, upon learning of this great concept of the Bozo Bit from the manager, I promptly flipped it on him, since he clearly had no idea who was doing what in the company.
"BozoBit
When you flip the Bozo Bit on someone, it means that you put them in the Bozo (the clown) category so you never take anything from them seriously again. This is a major step, not easily reversed. "
I had never heard of the Bozo Bit until a manager told me he thought I flipped it on people 'too soon.' (I thought a couple of years of evidence of uselessness was adequate but he basically never wanted me to flip it on this one particular person. Everyone knew this person was a Bozo except the manager.)
So, upon learning of this great concept of the Bozo Bit from the manager, I promptly flipped it on him, since he clearly had no idea who was doing what in the company.
2005-09-14
DDJ>PDC 2005: Opening Day
DDJ>PDC 2005: Opening Day:
This is so true ... so few people internalize what Moore's law really means for product development. Some people (including me from time to time) luck out because their project is late ... but by then computers are fast enough to run the project. (7th Guest, which I produced, was a year late, thank God! Because there weren't any very many CD drives sold when it was supposed to be finished. But a year later there were boatloads of them.)
My favorite quote from either Bill or the Intel guy is, "People over estimate what will be possible in five years and underestimate what will be possible in ten years."
I'll say now: In ten years cars will be driving themselves (again, Thank God!). Because you can just see it might be possible in five years - so ten years is a good shot. I would love it if the next car I bought drove itself. I've had my current car 12 years, so if I can get it to last another 12 years, I'll be in fat city.
"As always, Gates runs scared. That's perhaps an oversimplification, but just as Gates is one of the few people to really understand and take advantage of the deeper implications of Moore's Law, he's also one of the few to understand that if the hardware capability doubles every 18 months or so, in three years any company can be obsolete and in five can be out of business--and it gets harder to keep up with the hardware advances every cycle. "
This is so true ... so few people internalize what Moore's law really means for product development. Some people (including me from time to time) luck out because their project is late ... but by then computers are fast enough to run the project. (7th Guest, which I produced, was a year late, thank God! Because there weren't any very many CD drives sold when it was supposed to be finished. But a year later there were boatloads of them.)
My favorite quote from either Bill or the Intel guy is, "People over estimate what will be possible in five years and underestimate what will be possible in ten years."
I'll say now: In ten years cars will be driving themselves (again, Thank God!). Because you can just see it might be possible in five years - so ten years is a good shot. I would love it if the next car I bought drove itself. I've had my current car 12 years, so if I can get it to last another 12 years, I'll be in fat city.
2005-09-13
Blogger: Download Blogger for Word (and Puppy)
Blogger: Download Blogger for Word
Wow. I'm going to check it out. It has to be much nicer than typing in this little window.
Okay, I downloaded it, and now I’m doing an edit in Word.
One nice thing: you can type in a link, for instance, http://www.directsong.com/, and it is automatically converted into a hyper link.
I wonder if I can insert a picture of a cute puppy:
(image placeholder)
Well, the answer is no. Tables and pictures are not supported, but it didn't tell me that until I went to post. Too bad. (I inserted the puppy picture later by hand.)
He’s wearing something called a “Gentle Leader”. It’s not a muzzle. It’s just arranged so that when he pulls against the leash he gets guided back on to the straight and narrow rather than pulling your arm out of its socket.
Wow. I'm going to check it out. It has to be much nicer than typing in this little window.
Okay, I downloaded it, and now I’m doing an edit in Word.
One nice thing: you can type in a link, for instance, http://www.directsong.com/, and it is automatically converted into a hyper link.
I wonder if I can insert a picture of a cute puppy:
(image placeholder)
Well, the answer is no. Tables and pictures are not supported, but it didn't tell me that until I went to post. Too bad. (I inserted the puppy picture later by hand.)
He’s wearing something called a “Gentle Leader”. It’s not a muzzle. It’s just arranged so that when he pulls against the leash he gets guided back on to the straight and narrow rather than pulling your arm out of its socket.
Apple Hard Disk Based Camcorder
TIME.com: Stevie's Little Wonder -- Sep. 19, 2005 -- Page 1
Is Apple going to become the new Sony? After all, Sony become the ultra-cool 'Sony' that we know and love with the Walkman. The iPod could be the launching pad for a huge range of digital consumer products. I especially like the idea of an ultra-cool Apple camcorder. Think how cool it would be - and of course it would work seamlessly with the Mac. And set a new standard. Yes, I like that idea.
I have a Sony camcorder. It's almost really cool. It takes 2 megapixel stills - nice. It takes 30 fps full-frame progressive movies. It can take movies in widescreen. It has bluetooth - except the bluetooth doesn't work with anything. It has a web browser and a picture upload system - except it is too hard to work. It's got a really cool touch panel interface - pretty good, except too many menus to search up and down for the function I want.
I imagine if Apple had designed this thing. Wow. Everything would work and be simple.
Yes, I like the idea of an Apple camcorder.
Apple's stock price has almost quintupled over the past two years, revenues have doubled during that time, and Jobs is sitting on a war chest of $8 billion. He has a company with an almost freakishly diverse skill set--computer hardware, operating systems, applications, consumer electronics, Internet services. Will Jobs try to leverage Apple's dominance in the digital-music space to get its PC line back in the running? Or is the iPod the first in a full suite of Apple-flavored, network-enabled media appliances--TV, digital camera, camcorder, digital video recorder, video-game player?
Is Apple going to become the new Sony? After all, Sony become the ultra-cool 'Sony' that we know and love with the Walkman. The iPod could be the launching pad for a huge range of digital consumer products. I especially like the idea of an ultra-cool Apple camcorder. Think how cool it would be - and of course it would work seamlessly with the Mac. And set a new standard. Yes, I like that idea.
I have a Sony camcorder. It's almost really cool. It takes 2 megapixel stills - nice. It takes 30 fps full-frame progressive movies. It can take movies in widescreen. It has bluetooth - except the bluetooth doesn't work with anything. It has a web browser and a picture upload system - except it is too hard to work. It's got a really cool touch panel interface - pretty good, except too many menus to search up and down for the function I want.
I imagine if Apple had designed this thing. Wow. Everything would work and be simple.
Yes, I like the idea of an Apple camcorder.
2005-09-12
Talk Like A Pirate Day - September 19
Talk Like A Pirate Day - September 19
I think I mentioned this before - wouldn't a C programmer/pirate say, "Argc, argv, me hearties!"
Arrr! - This one is often confused with arrrgh, which is of course the sound you make when you sit on a belaying pin. "Arrr!" can mean, variously, "yes," "I agree," "I'm happy," "I'm enjoying this beer," "My team is going to win it all," "I saw that television show, it sucked!" and "That was a clever remark you or I just made." And those are just a few of the myriad possibilities of Arrr!
I think I mentioned this before - wouldn't a C programmer/pirate say, "Argc, argv, me hearties!"
2005-09-04
Variety.com - Mouse of a different culture
Variety.com - Mouse of a different culture:
I've known Tom Morris since second grade. Other than my original family, I think I've known Tom longer than anyone. Ever since I have known him he has been an expert on things Disney (yes, even in second grade).
What a great job he has - creative supervision of the creation of a Disney theme park.
"Keeping up with reality in the world's most vertical city made designing Tomorrowland the hardest part of conceiving Hong Kong Disneyland, according to Tom Morris, veep and executive producer for Walt Disney Imagineering. The response from the project managers was to deliver the theme park, Disney's 11th worldwide, on budget and ahead of schedule...."
I've known Tom Morris since second grade. Other than my original family, I think I've known Tom longer than anyone. Ever since I have known him he has been an expert on things Disney (yes, even in second grade).
What a great job he has - creative supervision of the creation of a Disney theme park.
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