| Monday
November 12, 2001 COMDEX
I didn't go to Bill Gates's COMDEX speech last night,
largely because I had heard him speak at the Microsoft Developer
Conference a couple of weeks ago, and it was unlikely that he had anything
to say I hadn't heard. I didn't think about the safety aspects beyond the
fact that they were going to search people and I wasn't terribly
interested in going through that. I gather it was a good talk, as usual,
with some neat movies of Gates as Harry Potter fighting Steve Balmer as
either Obi-Wan or Darth Vader, I forget which, with light sabers. They
also showed the Tablet Computer, again, and my Compaq people tell me the
plan was for Gates to hold one up made by Compaq. The tablet computer is
neat, and I want one, but they won't really be available this year.
Peter Glaskowsky has his Newton, but of course that was
Scully's creature and Steve Jobs killed it despite its profit potential.
At Digital Focus last night Intel was showing a classroom computer that
looks like the Apple e-Machine that would have been a wonderful classroom
device, but the e-Machine was built on Newton technology and that had to
go despite its educational value because it was built on Newton technology
and no trace of the Newt could remain at Apple. But apparently the
more things Apple does wrong the harder everyone comes down on Gates and
Microsoft: "the Tablet Computer has nothing that wasn't in the
Newton!" Which may be true, but it won't be long before you can
actually buy a Tablet Computer and classroom computers built on that
technology.
When the e-Machine came out it was introduced at a huge
rally at Comdex (at The Beach, yet) and Mrs. Pournelle was really
enthusiastic about its potential, but then it vanished. We'll see about
the new Intel (based on Strongarm) systems.
Here's a picture of it.
On the way here I drove by Mojave airport.
Here's a rather depressing picture of the economy since
Black September: all these are relatively new airplanes set out here in
Mojave where it is dry and the only hazards are wind-blown sand to degrade
the paint job. The airlines didn't need them just now...
COMDEX is small this year, but there are more press than
usual, many free lancers now. This was the line at Noon on Sunday. I
confess I pulled rank and found an official who remembered me from times
of old to retrieve my badge which had got lost in the system. Earnest
Lilly stood in the line for both of us all the way to the bitter end, so I
didn't cost anyone any time. After I got my badge I went into the Press
Lounge to get Earnest some tea. They were just serving lunch -- something
the old COMDEX never did, serve food to the Press beyond coffee and
drinks. I took Earnest his tea, which couldn't possibly have taken five
minutes, and when I got back to the lounge the place was bare. A steward
said "The next feeding is 2:00 PM" and his implication of
feeding the animals was unmistakable. It gets hungry out there.
And here's RIM Blackberry, which I wish I had taken the
trouble to get before I came here. The Blackberry was about the most
useful thing I had at PC Expo and it would be more so here, but alas, I
left off the arrangements until too late. Another time. They didn't have a
press program for Comdex -- most of those promotions seem off this year --
but Blackberry is actually worth buying if you go to many trade shows and
conventions. Best way to keep track of a crew I know of.
And enough for here. I will be filing a show report
tonight for www.byte.com and two more
during the week. Watch for them.
AN ALERT FROM BOB THOMPSON:
I've posted this on my page this morning, but
this problem is potentially dangerous enough that it deserves an email
alert.
"If you have Windows XP Home or Pro
preinstalled on a computer, you need to read this sad article from
Microsoft, entitled "You May Lose Data or Program Settings After
Reinstalling, Repairing, or Upgrading Windows XP" (http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q312/3/69.ASP).
The good news is that the data loss occurs only if you reinstall, repair,
or upgrade Windows XP. The bad news is that if this bug bites you, your
data is gone. Microsoft's only suggestion is that you recover your data
from backup. This is a bad one, folks."
-- Robert Bruce Thompson mailto:thompson@ttgnet.com
http://www.ttgnet.com/rbt/thisweek.html
I have no time to look into this, but BE WARNED!!!
And then there is breaking news.
Jerry,
Just rampant speculation on my part. Michael Moran,
the firefighter who told Osama to kiss his white ass, and his family were
from the Rockway Beach area where the plane crashed. I don't know much
about the layout of New York, but is it a coincidence?
FOX news says that 170 of the lost firefighters came
from this area.
Here's a page of firefighter's obits from the
Rockaway area:
http://www.rockawave.com/News/2001/0929/Obits.html
Brian
-- brianlane.com | nexuscomputing.com |
libertynews.org | guetech.org
No data whatever. Thanks. And I
have to get to COMDEX.
Apparently the Taliban has collapsed. With luck all the
Taliban supporters in Pakistan will rush to their aid to fight the Mother
Of All Battles. The US ought to give them free transportation, a
rifle, and 10 cartridges if they will go...
And I have just learned that Max Hunter, who built the
Thor IRBM and was one of the giants of the space/missile industry, has
died.
He was one of the great ones.
That's Max with me and General Graham in the office of
Vice President Quayle who was head of the National Space Council. We sold
him on the DC/X which was built on time and in budget. A long time ago I
fear.
Thanks to Roland for this link:
I thought you might want to have a copy of this . . .
http://gargravarr.cc.utexas.edu/ssrt/background/dcx-rollout.html
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