It is hard to see, but there is the trailer that will help us move in May. You can just make out the frame top and the shape of the bed. This trailer is still brand new, although some of the electrical components like bulbs and lenses were stolen while it was parked downtown. Whether or not the canopy gets built is another matter. The economy sucks. It is credit, not increased income that lets Americans spend three months wages on new kitchen cupboards.
In a characteristic demo of the difference between American and European business ethics, Fred pointed out the huge gap in thinking about startups. In old world mode, it is probably still feasible to think that one could start at the bottom and work your way up. But this has not been a fact of life in America since at least 1970. You have to start, aim and spend big as quickly has you can, hoping you become one of the chosen few. The Yankee gadget-based society does not reward hard work. More money is made by patent-attorneys than most inventors.As an example, around a week ago I spotted a new web page called “Dirtflinger”. It is a place you can report unsavory behavior concerning anyone. (Yes, I was the guy who reported G.W. Bush under the category of “liar”.) Just days later, this site is grabbing readership out to the corners of the Internet empire. While 97% are still American, that makes it a winner. You cannot start small in America.
You know, I was tipped off about starting small in America when I was less than twenty years old. Computers were still new, and Bill Gates had not arrived on the scene. I had a few ideas about how to make money with computer filing systems. When I asked questions at the county office, I was told flat out that no licenses would be issued for computer businesses because “you might figure out a way to make money before we figure out a way to tax you”. I regret that I did not get the name of the person who told me that. But I recall he used Brylcreem [hair tonic from a tube] in his hair; it stunk.
There is already one guy suing Dirtflinger, saying that even if he was a cheater, that does not give anyone the right to publish the fact. I agree, but I also agree that if you are a cheater who gives out your real name and address, take your lumps. He is probably the type that told others they must have had something to hide right up till he shot himself in the foot. If you can’t protect your own identity, don’t expect the Internet to do it for you. Notice it is always the big guys who keep saying it isn’t the size of the dog in the fight? Same principle at work.
Pudding-Tat is finally showing signs of eating when I’m not looking. She has developed a taste for tasteless cookies. The ones on sale from the dollar store, whose main ingredients are sugar and baking soda.
In the early evening, Will and I rehearsed a few tunes in the parking lot. He thoroughly realizes the need for long hard hours of practice. Plus, he knows the effort required for me to lug both my bass and amp around town. That four-piece band that played a few Wednesdays back is returning tomorrow. Oddly, the way my files are set up, I can’t search for that band’s name, or I’d advertise for them.
Microsoft Word is pretty bad at anything except primitive searches. Who remembers when WordPerfect was the dominating word processor on the market? It was an excellent product before they were basically driven out of business by Microsoft. I don’t recall, but it was around the same time as Microsoft shafted Lotus.
What? You didn’t know about that? Lotus1-2-3 was a spreadsheet written in machine code, so it ran blindingly fast. It was also in competition with Microsoft’s “new” spreadsheet called Excel. That same Lotus machine code made it easy for Microsoft to introduce several “glitches” into their new Windows system. When the end user ran Lotus instead of Excel, some of the totals came out wrong. By the time Microsoft finished saying “Who, me?” Lotus was out of business. Whereas these facts may not be correct in every detail, the net effect is the same.
Let me clarify how Microsoft got away with all this. In the early days, the cheapest computers on the market were assembled by IBM. These computers called “PCs” used an operating system built by Microsoft. Therefore, almost anyone who wrote software for those computers had to make it compatible with DOS, and later, Windows.
Stay with me here. If you bought an IBM-compatible computer, you had to also buy the Microsoft operating system. Then, you would go out and buy a word processor and a spreadsheet for several hundred dollars each (usually WordPerfect and Lotus). What Microsoft would do is virtually copy this software, and “bundle” it with the next generation of their operating system. By upping the price on their operating system (from $39 to $239), they could lower the price on their “Office Suite” and gain a huge advantage over the other software producers who could do no such thing.
And you thought people hated him just because he was rich!
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