Whether we say so or not. (First In/First Out).MARK: Since we talked, last time, the Microsoft case has been resolved. HAL Hal: see Halle, Belgium. hal In Sufism, a state of mind reached from time to time by mystics during their journey toward God. The ahwal (plural of hal) are God-given graces that appear when a soul is purified of its attachments to the material world. : I know. It's a total victory for Gates and his lawyers. MARK: It's certainly true that 11 states' attorneys-general still have steam coming Out of their ears. HAL: After two utterly contradictory federal judges' opinions, the bottom line is that Microsoft will not be punished for any of its monopolistic practices. Not for bundling apps with its OS; not for compelling retailers to sell Windows, like it or not. In my opinion, the perp walked Perp Walk A slang term describing the police action of parading an arrested suspect in handcuffs before the media. Notes: Short for "perpetrator walk," this is a practice with which many people disagree, considering these re-staged arrests to be merely media spectacles . MARK: What bothers me is that the average consumer still doesn't know what it was all about, because coverage in the consumer publications--meaning daily newspapers and news magazines--has been inconsistent. First, they ranted against the first judge for being so harsh on Verb 1. harsh on - criticize harshly; "the teacher keeps harshing on the same kid" criticise, criticize, pick apart, knock - find fault with; express criticism of; point out real or perceived flaws; "The paper criticized the new movie"; "Don't knock the food--it's Microsoft. Now, they're castigating the new judge for giving Microsoft a slap on the wrist. HAL: Do you agree that Microsoft has exercised hegemony hegemony (hĭjĕm`ənē, hē–, hĕj`əmō'nē, hĕg`ə–), [Gr.,=leadership], dominance, originally of one Greek city-state over others, the term has been extended to refer to the dominance of one over nearly every development in PC software, all along? MARK: I have little doubt of that. HAL: I'm reminded of a line from the musical "1776," which is about the creation of the Declaration of Independence. MARK: I know. It happens to be one of my all-time favorite musicals! HAL: Well, then you remember that in Thomas Jefferson's first draft of the declaration, he calls King George King George has referred to many kings throughout history. When used, by Americans, without further reference it most often means George III of the United Kingdom, against whom the Whigs of the American Revolution rebelled. a "tyrant tyrant, in ancient history, ruler who gained power by usurping the legal authority. The word is perhaps of Lydian origin and carried with it no connotation of moral censure. ," and a Tory delegate from Pennsylvania complains that the epithet ep·i·thet n. 1. a. A term used to characterize a person or thing, such as rosy-fingered in rosy-fingered dawn or the Great in Catherine the Great. b. is too strong. So, Benjamin Franklin rises, in support of Jefferson, and says, flatly: "The king is a tyrant, whether we say so or not." MARK: Jefferson refuses to change the word, and the majority concurs; so John Hancock--who's presiding--declares: "The king will remain a tyrant." You've made a good analogy, Hal. But I think there's a different issue--having only a little to do with monopolies-facing the IT industry, from here on out. HAL: Shoot. MARK: The Microsoft decision raises--but does not answer-the question of how to handle innovation. I think you and nearly every other critic of Microsoft's actions will give Gates and his company credit for bringing out some powerful and useful apps. HAL: When they work right, which typically isn't in their first release. MARK: Okay. But the philosophical issue remains: Is an unbridled free market really the best promotor of technological creativity? HAL: Most companies insist on owning every employee's inventions, even those that they come up with on their own time. It's a condition of their job, a provision in their contract. MARK: And there's a case to be made for that sort of arrangement. It's the "risk/reward" calculation. HAL: But I think you're saying that it could stiffle true or swift change. MARK: Not necessarily. By our very nature, we human beings are inventive. We're going to keep on inventing, even without the dazzling rewards of money, fame, influence and so on. HAL: Gates seems to have had it both ways. MARK: My point is that a reward, whatever it may be, is the icing--not the cake. We'll continue innovating, creating, inventing, whether government or private industry is behind us. HAL: I agree, in the sense that plenty of useful inventions have come from government work. Look at Teflon, and Tang-- MARK: And pens that can write upside-down. HAL: Leave it to a journalist to remember that one. MARK: We are what we are. And speaking of innovation, have you heard about any, recently? HAL: M-Systems, in Fremont, Calif., has overcome some inherent limitations in the speed of solid-state NAND (Not AND) A Boolean logic operation that is true if any single input is false. Two-input NAND gates are often used as the sole logic element on gate array chips, because all Boolean operations can be created from NAND gates. See flash memory. storage. Company president Chuck Schouw told me that, with a new, multi-level technology M-Systems calls "x2," it'll be able to cut the die-size of its DiskOnChip line in half, and just about double the read/write-speeds. MARK: And I've learned that Sistina Software Sistina Software was an organization that focused on storage solutions architected around a Linux platform. They were acquired by Red Hat in December, 2003. Their two primary offerings were Global File System (GFS) and logical volume management (LVM). , up in Minneapolis, is on its way toward delivering an advanced Linux-based data-sharing solution for IBM (International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, www.ibm.com) The world's largest computer company. IBM's product lines include the S/390 mainframes (zSeries), AS/400 midrange business systems (iSeries), RS/6000 workstations and servers (pSeries), Intel-based servers (xSeries) S/390 and "z-Series systems. HAL: Let's see Let's See was a Canadian television series broadcast on CBC Television between September 6, 1952 to July 4, 1953. The segment, which had a running time of 15 minutes, was a puppet show with a character named Uncle Chichimus (voice of John Conway), which presented each if our readers are aware of intriguing in·trigue n. 1. a. A secret or underhand scheme; a plot. b. The practice of or involvement in such schemes. 2. A clandestine love affair. v. innovations. MARK: Especially if the developers aren't garnering adequate rewards. If you've got a line on something going on in the private sector, let me know: at mark_ferelli@wwpi.com. HAL: And if there's a public-sector innovation that we ought to know about, email me at hal_glatzer@wwwpi.com |
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