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Allan from Fallbrook
Participantraptor: My dad took me to Palo Alto Research Center a couple of times, back in the mid-1970s. It was an amazing place, and what is even more amazing is the sheer amount of genius that Xerox threw away. I’m sure you know this, but the mouse, ethernet networking, and dozens of other innovations were either discarded, or sold cheap to competitors, because Xerox couldn’t use them in their xerographic business. Stunning when you think about it.
Speaking of ancient history, and the old guard “dinosaur” mentality: A good friend of my dad’s was an engineer with Amdahl, the mainframe maker. He opined at a BBQ (circa 1981) that the PC would never take off, and true computing power would always be held by the “big iron” (mainframes). Whoops.
My dad offered to cut me a deal on the Los Altos place, but my wife at the time didn’t want to move to the Bay Area, and didn’t really get along with my parents. So, I hear ya. Woulda, coulda, shoulda.
Participantraptor: My dad took me to Palo Alto Research Center a couple of times, back in the mid-1970s. It was an amazing place, and what is even more amazing is the sheer amount of genius that Xerox threw away. I’m sure you know this, but the mouse, ethernet networking, and dozens of other innovations were either discarded, or sold cheap to competitors, because Xerox couldn’t use them in their xerographic business. Stunning when you think about it.
Speaking of ancient history, and the old guard “dinosaur” mentality: A good friend of my dad’s was an engineer with Amdahl, the mainframe maker. He opined at a BBQ (circa 1981) that the PC would never take off, and true computing power would always be held by the “big iron” (mainframes). Whoops.
My dad offered to cut me a deal on the Los Altos place, but my wife at the time didn’t want to move to the Bay Area, and didn’t really get along with my parents. So, I hear ya. Woulda, coulda, shoulda.
Participantraptor: My dad took me to Palo Alto Research Center a couple of times, back in the mid-1970s. It was an amazing place, and what is even more amazing is the sheer amount of genius that Xerox threw away. I’m sure you know this, but the mouse, ethernet networking, and dozens of other innovations were either discarded, or sold cheap to competitors, because Xerox couldn’t use them in their xerographic business. Stunning when you think about it.
Speaking of ancient history, and the old guard “dinosaur” mentality: A good friend of my dad’s was an engineer with Amdahl, the mainframe maker. He opined at a BBQ (circa 1981) that the PC would never take off, and true computing power would always be held by the “big iron” (mainframes). Whoops.
My dad offered to cut me a deal on the Los Altos place, but my wife at the time didn’t want to move to the Bay Area, and didn’t really get along with my parents. So, I hear ya. Woulda, coulda, shoulda.
ParticipantDuke/raptor: Speaking of the old days: I worked at Apple’s fab plant in ’82, back in the days when they still made computers here in California (the venerable Apple IIc/e models). It was a very unique time. The Silicon Valley hadn’t really arrived yet, and the old guard companies like IBM and Lockheed still held sway.
Guys like Jobs and Wozniak were true visionaries, but they were also hard workers. They did quality control on the line, they benchtested machines (before that term even existed) and did everything else necessary to run the company and spread the word. That sort of work ethic has been replaced by the “country club” atmosphere that Duke mentions.
My dad was an aerospace engineer for Ford Aerospace in Palo Alto and from that WWII generation of guys that also had a strong work ethic, and a very directed focus. Not to bag on the up and coming generation, but you just don’t find that mentality or that ethic much anymore. Everyone is busy thinking about their new BMW, or their stock options, or the next company they’ll be working for.
raptor: A good friend of the family had a chance to buy 5 acres near St. Joe’s seminary up in the hills. This was 1979, and he could have had those 5 acres for $100k, a literal steal. He passed on the offer, and laments it to this day (obviously). Your old man had a little more on the stick in that regard. Apropos of nothing, do you remember Linda’s restaurant on El Camino Real in Mtn. View? Man, that place had the best tater tots!
ParticipantDuke/raptor: Speaking of the old days: I worked at Apple’s fab plant in ’82, back in the days when they still made computers here in California (the venerable Apple IIc/e models). It was a very unique time. The Silicon Valley hadn’t really arrived yet, and the old guard companies like IBM and Lockheed still held sway.
Guys like Jobs and Wozniak were true visionaries, but they were also hard workers. They did quality control on the line, they benchtested machines (before that term even existed) and did everything else necessary to run the company and spread the word. That sort of work ethic has been replaced by the “country club” atmosphere that Duke mentions.
My dad was an aerospace engineer for Ford Aerospace in Palo Alto and from that WWII generation of guys that also had a strong work ethic, and a very directed focus. Not to bag on the up and coming generation, but you just don’t find that mentality or that ethic much anymore. Everyone is busy thinking about their new BMW, or their stock options, or the next company they’ll be working for.
raptor: A good friend of the family had a chance to buy 5 acres near St. Joe’s seminary up in the hills. This was 1979, and he could have had those 5 acres for $100k, a literal steal. He passed on the offer, and laments it to this day (obviously). Your old man had a little more on the stick in that regard. Apropos of nothing, do you remember Linda’s restaurant on El Camino Real in Mtn. View? Man, that place had the best tater tots!
ParticipantDuke/raptor: Speaking of the old days: I worked at Apple’s fab plant in ’82, back in the days when they still made computers here in California (the venerable Apple IIc/e models). It was a very unique time. The Silicon Valley hadn’t really arrived yet, and the old guard companies like IBM and Lockheed still held sway.
Guys like Jobs and Wozniak were true visionaries, but they were also hard workers. They did quality control on the line, they benchtested machines (before that term even existed) and did everything else necessary to run the company and spread the word. That sort of work ethic has been replaced by the “country club” atmosphere that Duke mentions.
My dad was an aerospace engineer for Ford Aerospace in Palo Alto and from that WWII generation of guys that also had a strong work ethic, and a very directed focus. Not to bag on the up and coming generation, but you just don’t find that mentality or that ethic much anymore. Everyone is busy thinking about their new BMW, or their stock options, or the next company they’ll be working for.
raptor: A good friend of the family had a chance to buy 5 acres near St. Joe’s seminary up in the hills. This was 1979, and he could have had those 5 acres for $100k, a literal steal. He passed on the offer, and laments it to this day (obviously). Your old man had a little more on the stick in that regard. Apropos of nothing, do you remember Linda’s restaurant on El Camino Real in Mtn. View? Man, that place had the best tater tots!
ParticipantDuke/raptor: Speaking of the old days: I worked at Apple’s fab plant in ’82, back in the days when they still made computers here in California (the venerable Apple IIc/e models). It was a very unique time. The Silicon Valley hadn’t really arrived yet, and the old guard companies like IBM and Lockheed still held sway.
Guys like Jobs and Wozniak were true visionaries, but they were also hard workers. They did quality control on the line, they benchtested machines (before that term even existed) and did everything else necessary to run the company and spread the word. That sort of work ethic has been replaced by the “country club” atmosphere that Duke mentions.
My dad was an aerospace engineer for Ford Aerospace in Palo Alto and from that WWII generation of guys that also had a strong work ethic, and a very directed focus. Not to bag on the up and coming generation, but you just don’t find that mentality or that ethic much anymore. Everyone is busy thinking about their new BMW, or their stock options, or the next company they’ll be working for.
raptor: A good friend of the family had a chance to buy 5 acres near St. Joe’s seminary up in the hills. This was 1979, and he could have had those 5 acres for $100k, a literal steal. He passed on the offer, and laments it to this day (obviously). Your old man had a little more on the stick in that regard. Apropos of nothing, do you remember Linda’s restaurant on El Camino Real in Mtn. View? Man, that place had the best tater tots!
ParticipantDuke/raptor: Speaking of the old days: I worked at Apple’s fab plant in ’82, back in the days when they still made computers here in California (the venerable Apple IIc/e models). It was a very unique time. The Silicon Valley hadn’t really arrived yet, and the old guard companies like IBM and Lockheed still held sway.
Guys like Jobs and Wozniak were true visionaries, but they were also hard workers. They did quality control on the line, they benchtested machines (before that term even existed) and did everything else necessary to run the company and spread the word. That sort of work ethic has been replaced by the “country club” atmosphere that Duke mentions.
My dad was an aerospace engineer for Ford Aerospace in Palo Alto and from that WWII generation of guys that also had a strong work ethic, and a very directed focus. Not to bag on the up and coming generation, but you just don’t find that mentality or that ethic much anymore. Everyone is busy thinking about their new BMW, or their stock options, or the next company they’ll be working for.
raptor: A good friend of the family had a chance to buy 5 acres near St. Joe’s seminary up in the hills. This was 1979, and he could have had those 5 acres for $100k, a literal steal. He passed on the offer, and laments it to this day (obviously). Your old man had a little more on the stick in that regard. Apropos of nothing, do you remember Linda’s restaurant on El Camino Real in Mtn. View? Man, that place had the best tater tots!
ParticipantDuke: I also think Google is taking the threat of a Microsoft-Yahoo merger very seriously. The ruckus they are kicking up would certainly seem to indicate that’s the case. If it happens, I have to imagine Google will be hoarding cash like crazy, in advance of the oncoming onslaught.
Google is starting to feel pressure as their business model is coming into question, and a recent downgrade of their stock (based on those questions) can’t have helped.
Funny how quickly the New New Thing becomes passe up in that neck of the woods.
ParticipantDuke: I also think Google is taking the threat of a Microsoft-Yahoo merger very seriously. The ruckus they are kicking up would certainly seem to indicate that’s the case. If it happens, I have to imagine Google will be hoarding cash like crazy, in advance of the oncoming onslaught.
Google is starting to feel pressure as their business model is coming into question, and a recent downgrade of their stock (based on those questions) can’t have helped.
Funny how quickly the New New Thing becomes passe up in that neck of the woods.
ParticipantDuke: I also think Google is taking the threat of a Microsoft-Yahoo merger very seriously. The ruckus they are kicking up would certainly seem to indicate that’s the case. If it happens, I have to imagine Google will be hoarding cash like crazy, in advance of the oncoming onslaught.
Google is starting to feel pressure as their business model is coming into question, and a recent downgrade of their stock (based on those questions) can’t have helped.
Funny how quickly the New New Thing becomes passe up in that neck of the woods.
ParticipantDuke: I also think Google is taking the threat of a Microsoft-Yahoo merger very seriously. The ruckus they are kicking up would certainly seem to indicate that’s the case. If it happens, I have to imagine Google will be hoarding cash like crazy, in advance of the oncoming onslaught.
Google is starting to feel pressure as their business model is coming into question, and a recent downgrade of their stock (based on those questions) can’t have helped.
Funny how quickly the New New Thing becomes passe up in that neck of the woods.
ParticipantDuke: I also think Google is taking the threat of a Microsoft-Yahoo merger very seriously. The ruckus they are kicking up would certainly seem to indicate that’s the case. If it happens, I have to imagine Google will be hoarding cash like crazy, in advance of the oncoming onslaught.
Google is starting to feel pressure as their business model is coming into question, and a recent downgrade of their stock (based on those questions) can’t have helped.
Funny how quickly the New New Thing becomes passe up in that neck of the woods.
Participantraptor: You want a scream? My folks bought their house in Los Altos Hills (before it was Los Altos Hills, it was just Los Altos back then) in 1966 for $22,000. My dad moaned for years about how expensive that house was, but my mom had to have it, so he bought it for her. Comparable homes in Mountain View at the time were going for about half that. It was in the hills above Foothill Expressway, and sold for over $800k when my dad retired in ’89. Same house went for over $1.8MM three years ago. Gotta love Silicon Valley.
Speaking of Ferraris: A girl I went to high school with got one for her 18th birthday. Her dad, a former HP’er, had sold his company and made some twenty odd million. This was ’82 and, following the Apple IPO of a year or so earlier, really ushered in the Silicon Valley prosperity you see today. Interesting times, to say the least.
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