I just finished reading an article (without knowing who the author of the article was), and I said to myself gee, the person who wrote this article is either and idiot, or a real sleazy talker, or both!. Then I looked up the author's name and to my surprise it was Bill Gates! Thought to share parts of this article with whoever is interested, and I do believe this article so naively and without intention contradicts/answers itself as how twisted and wrong the ideas suggested are!
The title of this article is CEOs pose tough questions and appears on page 39 of a monthly magazine called The COSTCO Connection (August 1997 Issue). The article is in a form of question and answer.
Q: Could you offer perspective on the "network computer"?
A: Today's quest is for simplicity, which lead to sharply lower total costs of owning and operating information technology. The debate is over which simplification strategy is best. I'm not an unbiased observer, I've long believed in the personal computer, and I continue to.
First, NCs require an expensive server at the center of the network. This approach is a throwback to the days of the mainframe, when computing power was under central control and hardware manufacturers charged premium prices for the software that ran on their centralized machines.
Second, NCs are not compatible with PCs-or even with rival NCs. To use a network computer you have to rewrite your applications, learn a new interface and build a whole structure around those. I claim that NC stands for "Not Compatible".
The NCs promise of letting an entire network be administered centrally presents an interesting challenge for PC hardware and software makers. Can the PC offer central administrations, while preserving compatibility with today's hardware and software and allowing users the advantage of desktop computing power?
The answer is yes. Before long we'll make it so that every PC on a network is set up automatically. If you log into somebody else's computer, your information will be displayed. Software will be upgraded automatically. Managing a network will be much simpler.
I read this article twice and could not believe Bill Gates (the super genius, richest man on the planet earth) wrote this! The article at the end states: Questions may be sent to Bill Gates by e-mail, the address is askbill@microsoft.com. Or write to him care of The New York Times Syndication Sales Corp., 122 E. 42nd St., New York, NY 10168.Questions of general interest will be answered in this column; Bill Gates regrets that unpublished questions cannot be answered individually. Copyright 1997 by Bill Gates. Distributed by New York Times Special Features.
I think I may spend sometime and send Mr. Gates my comments regarding NCs and the entire concept of thin client architecture as we have discussed so many times on this thread. I believe we all have discussed the NCs and the thin client model so many times on this thread that I feel, I for one, will be repeating myself to explain/answer to Mr. Gates's version of the NC story point by point in a logical common sense manner (and without twisting the subject as is done by this article).
In answering What NCs are, Mr. Gate States:
> The debate is over which simplification strategy is best. I'm not an unbiased observer, I've long
> believed in the personal computer, and I continue to.
Well thought answer and one that no one can argue about with regard to simplification strategy. Regarding Mr. Gates belief in PCs, I think that is an understatement since the entire business model of Microsoft has thus far been 100% based on the push for PCs!
Mr. Gates then states:
> First, NCs require an expensive server at the center of the network.
> This approach is a throwback to the days of the mainframe, when
> computing power was under central control and hardware
> manufacturers charged premium prices for the software that ran on
> their centralized machines.
Well, in my humble opinion this is misleading and sort of twisting the facts. The fundamental concept of thin client, server centric model as proposed by Sun and its partners is the very same concept MR. Gates referred as simplification of owning information technology. This implies for anyone to have the capability to own the information technology. The manifestation of this would be for some to provide the means for the mass market to have such capabilities. Similar to how media giants such as CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, etc. provide the mass market information in addition to entertainment via their sophisticated complex and expensive communication equipment, and the mass market receives them via their cheap TVs/radios etc., the same concept is carried over to the internet. In order to watch the movie the good, the bad, and the ugly, a regular consumer does not need to own a sophisticated movie projector, an expensive studio and does not need to hire Clint Eastwood to view that movie. Instead all he needs to have access to is a VCR, a TV, and some way of getting to a video rental store to rent the the good, the bad, and the ugly video! Therefore Mr. Gates's statement that NCs require expensive server is similar to stating that watching CBS evening news requires regular consumers (i.e viewers) to buy highly sophisticate satellite equipment, and an expensive building to host Dan Rather! The fundamental concept is simplification in which Mr. Gates also apparently believes so strongly, however seems not to recall at random and will!!
Mr. Gates then states:
> Second, NCs are not compatible with PCs-or even with rival
> NCs. To use a network computer you have to rewrite your
> applications, learn a new interface and build a whole structure
> around those. I claim that NC stands for "Not Compatible".
This statement is so outrageously na‹ve, funny and misleading I could not believe it came from Mr. Bill Gates. But then I can understand why, after all the Java open technology is something that is about to end the monopoly and manipulation of the computing world by Microsoft Windows! Mr. Gates states NCs are not compatible with PCs - or rival NCs and to use a NC you have to rewrite your application, learn a new interface! Well, first of all perhaps an analogy can be given to have a better understanding of NCs. Ncs are like VCRs. Toshiba makes VCRs, and so does RCA, and so does Sony, and many others. The internals differ from one manufacturer to another. However if you have a VHS video you can play and view that video in all VCRs regardless of who makes them! Similarly with NCs, the software (i.e. the video in case of VCRs) will have a standard known as Java (i.e. VHS in case of videos), and therefore the compatibility issue is absolutely ridiculous. Well, then some may claim (as Mr. Gates has) what about the existing applications? (And again Mr. Gates is really mostly concerned with the existing Windows based applications). To that there is a simple answer of software componization via either Java Beans or Mr. Gates very own funny looking ActiveX technology (one which Java Beans can handle very well now).
Mr. Gates then states:
> The NCs promise of letting an entire network be administered
> centrally presents an interesting challenge for PC hardware and
> software makers. Can the PC offer central administrations, while
> preserving compatibility with today's hardware and software and
> allowing users the advantage of desktop computing power? The
> answer is yes. Before long we'll make it so that every PC on a
> network is set up automatically. If you log into somebody else's
> computer, your information will be displayed. Software will be
> upgraded automatically. Managing a network will be much simpler.
Well,in my humble opinion, Mr. Gates is right on the target when he states "...NCs promise of letting an entire network be administered centrally...", but then he seems to drift away from his very main concept of simplification for owning the information technology at low costs as he started his article at the very beginning! Why would a regular consumer (e.g. my grandma) need to own a highly sophisticated NetPC if all she wants to do is to learn a recipe to cook a Persian apple pie! And worst why would she have to spend more to upgrade her PC (automatically or otherwise) if in order to receive this recipe the software requires a brand new line of Pentium processor made by Intel?!! Certainly NBC does not end up charging her more when the casts of Seinfeld sit-com show asks for more money?!! All she does is to turn on her TV, sets the channel to NBS on Thursday nights at 9:00PM and enjoys the show (regardless of how much NBC is paying Jerry Seinfeld) at the comfort of her living room!!
Anyway just thought to share this article with all. One question I have and that is: Could it be the fundamental belief of ...and only the paranoid survived... in which Mr. Gates believes so strongly has caused a mental block for him to really think logically this time around?!
Regards
Addi Jamshidi |
