Silicon Valley

“ President Trump gets that there are things that only government can do when it comes to basic technology and basic research.
MR GUARDINO: Secretary Pompeo, our next question from our Commonwealth Club/Silicon Valley Leadership Group audience is around Silicon Valley and the national economy and feeds right into your excellent remarks as we started our day together: “How do you view Silicon Valley as a component of our national economy?”
SECRETARY POMPEO: Yeah, it’s a big part of our GDP, and we are – everyone from OMB on down is thrilled that you pay as much in taxes as you do. ”

“ Another important aspect that appeals to Silicon Valley, entrepreneurs and journalists alike is that of disruption. This comes from Clayton Christensen’s influential 1997 work, The Innovator’s Dilemma, which analysed how digital technology in particular could create new markets which disrupted ­existing ones. Christensen made the distinction between sustaining ­technologies, which help improve an existing market, and disruptive ones, which establish a new market. ”

“ Shelton, though, says the better companies thrive on fluidity, and in Silicon Valley he may be right. It depends on your outfit’s style of management. Don’t play computer games with your people, however, just because the machines make it easier to play musical chairs.
AN ARCHITECT Microcomputer graphics might be just the ticket for rough sketches. In fact, on a sophisticated machine, the computer graphics would do for the final version. ”

“ The new technology farmland: Silicon Valley.
Viewed from high above, the Valley looks like a schematic drawing of the very seeds from which it has grown, thousands of technology orchards, connected by the roads and highways etched into the golden surface of the land.
PART I Chapter 1 As he guided the black BMW coupe onto Highway 280, Matthew Locke felt as though his mind was spinning as quickly as the wheels propelling him onward. ”

“ Silicon Valley was supposed to be different. Growth and entrepreneurship—a failed company was just a stepping-stone to a successful one, can’t win them all, dust yourself off and get back to the garage and start inventing. There’s a whole world waiting out there!
Mother of three. Dad whose bright daughter’s university fund was raided to make ends meet during the “temporary” austerity measures. This one has a Down’s Syndrome kid and that one worked through three back surgeries to help meet production deadlines. ”

“ These study tours include visits to outstanding companies, start-up, research centers and universities in the Silicon Valley and in other high-technology areas such as San Francisco, Los Angeles, Finland, etc., with the aim of exploring new developments in information technology such as the Internet, multimedia, and telecommunications. Participants have the opportunity to learn about state-of-the-art research and development, strategies and business ventures through presentations and discussions, product demonstrations and site tours. ”

“ Snell said, “He shared the dreams of many academics who feel blocked from great success and wealth, and he loved ‘get-rich-quick’ stories, such as a friend who struck gold in California real estate or the Silicon Valley’s overnight millionaires.”
Greed, however, isn’t the only motive. “People who like computers are games people,” John Lewis, the FBI agent, told me, “and they like challenges. It’s ‘me against the machine.’ You give them a computer and say you can do anything but that, and that’s the first thing they’re going to do. ”

“ My second encounter with Stallman and his trademark gaze comes shortly after that third LinuxWorld show. Hearing that Stallman is going to be in Silicon Valley, I set up a lunch interview in Palo Alto, California. The meeting place seems ironic, not only because of the recent no-show but also because of the overall backdrop. Outside of Redmond, Washington, few cities offer a more direct testament to the economic value of proprietary software. ”

“ Now, you figure somebody's surely going to blow the whistle, so you can't believe your luck when Silicon Valley thinks you're some kind of joke. Come on in, they say, and sell as many of those crappy 16K models you can, since we've got ourselves a hot 64K version cooking, and that's where we're gonna make our real killing. ”

“ We have seen how the 'education is broken' meme satisfies the third condition of the Silicon Valley narrative. If it is accepted as broken, then only a revolution is sufficient to resolve it. MOOCs appeal to the first and second of these conditions. They are a very technologically driven solution, particularly in their xMOOC instantiation. Thrun famously worked at Google, where he developed the driverless car. ”

“ The size of this technological lead between ourselves and the rest of the world, especially in the base for new information products and services, should widen further in knowledge and in application. The "Silicon Valley" revolution is likely to continue increasing computer capacity on an almost annual basis. By the year 2005, computing power should be many fold times today's capacity-perhaps ultimately beginning to close in on the ability of humans to handle data flow as well as the ability to condense and synthesize data. ”

“ If one wanted to make an argument for disruption, then open textbooks could make a convincing case, since they undermine an established business with digital, ­low-​­cost alternatives, but as projects like OpenStax are ­not-­​­for-​­profit, they do not fit the Silicon Valley narrative as neatly as MOOCs.
One further aspect of the Silicon Valley and disruption narrative is that it demands a 'year zero' mentality. It is a much more convincing story if someone can be said to have invented a new way of working. ”

“ It is a term that has been applied much more broadly than its original concept, to the point where it is almost meaningless and rarely critically evaluated. Dvorak (2004) complains that it is essentially meaningless, stating that 'There is no such thing as a disruptive technology. There are inventions and new ideas, many of which fail while others succeed. That's it.' There remains however a disruption obsession inherent in the Silicon Valley narrative. ”

“ They have funds to burn on any sophisticated tool and toy that might happen to catch their fancy. And their fancy is quite extensive.
The Deadhead community boasts any number of recording engineers, lighting experts, rock video mavens, electronic technicians of all descriptions. And the drift goes both ways. Steve Wozniak, Apple's co-founder, used to throw rock festivals. Silicon Valley rocks out.
These are the 1990s, not the 1960s. Today, for a surprising number of people all over America, the supposed dividing line between Bohemian and technician simply no longer exists. ”

“ But if computer users not only chose their machines and software well but used them well, if they formed users groups rather than trust peripatetic sales reps, if they avoided technobullies and hired consultants carefully, if they trained employees in a nonintimidating way, if they computerized humanely as well as efficiently, if they safeguarded their data security, if they prepared for the future through telecommuting when appropriate, if they showed persistence and sense, enough rewards were there, and they’d find the Silicon Jungle to be not only survivable but friendly. ”

“ In computerese, you want “good documentation”—something that’s “user friendly.” If the manual doesn’t include it, then does a book from an outside publisher? Ideally, the book won’t focus just on the machine but also on the software that comes with it.
NINETEEN
How long has the manufacturer been in business? How prosperous is the company?
Buy from a new company if the technology looks far enough ahead of the pack. But be careful. You don’t want to buy from a computer maker likely to perish soon in the silicon jungle—not when you’ll need spare parts and technical assistance. ”

“ Just as important as the hardware—the computers and other machines—are the programs on those plastic disks. In fact, you should even think “software” before you do hardware, because your machine will be useless if it doesn’t do the tasks you want it to. And the programs supply these necessary instructions. More than thirty thousand programs for micros are on the market; so The Silicon Jungle can’t say which one is exactly right for you, but it can help you find out for yourself by showing how a software classic comes into existence. ”

“ The Victor, unlike most of the other micros there, wasn’t the computer equivalent of a dead fish.
With the built-in hard disk I could keep every syllable of The Silicon Jungle ready for editing without jockeying around the floppies. I silently thanked “Big Blue” IBM for the bargain that might await me. Through its normal marketing muscle, including a massive ad campaign featuring a Charlie Chaplin look-alike, IBM had overwhelmed the competition. People shunned “obscure” brands, especially if they couldn’t use IBM PC-DOS IBM software. ”

“ Special thanks to Michael Canyes, Mack Truslow,
David Fay Smith, Don Carrol, Robert B. Wyatt, Richard McCoy,
Frank Lavena, Pat Ehresmann, Ruth Aley and Berenice Hoffman
Contents
The
SILICON
JUNGLE
1 1 The Silicon Jungle Americans are fighting each other not just in the marketplace but also in the Silicon Jungle.
The jungle isn’t greenery. It isn’t land. It’s nothing more than the mineral in tiny computer chips that switch electronic impulses. ”

“ What magazines and reading material should you buy at the computer store and elsewhere?
The Silicon Jungle is just a start. Neither it nor other books can keep you informed about new products as quickly as a weekly magazine like InfoWorld can. I’ve written for InfoWorld and may be prejudiced, but I think it covers the industry well. ”

“ Consider the cost of a good training program versus your losses from misused or underused people. In the future you may want an office filled with people conversant with WordStar or dBASE, but don’t shrug off valued employees who can’t even play an Atari game. Tutor them if need be. Bend. You needn’t be sentimental, just practical. Don’t waste the Mahony Advantage, as I’ll call it; don’t throw away a mixture of background and experience that silicon won’t ever fully replicate. ”

“ Odendhal may or may not have been right. If marketing men at the large computer companies were so smart, how come Kaypro and Osborne had been the first firms to make portables usable in business? And 39what about all the IBM clones? Couldn’t the marketing men’s me-too-ism have stifled innovation? Then again, another company dominated by engineers—Texas Instruments—had flopped in the home-computer market because it didn’t pay enough heed to marketing. ”

“ Some social critics such as Neil Postman demonized technology as a source of mindless distractions for the masses. I, however, saw opportunity if we acted soon enough before we lost more children to TV. That meant sharp screens, smaller, lighter machines, and other advances—which would come sooner or later, but which could be hastened by the coming of a focused procurement program. Washington should assure the Valley a market for the right hardware. ”

“ Or U.S. firms using computer-satellite hookups to pipe in the work of $3-an-hour clerks? The People’s Republic of China was even preparing to sell programming skills to the rest of the world. A billion 13programmers, maybe? So much for high tech as a refuge for the American jobless.
How could you make computerization a joy to all? That was one answer you’d never find in a computer store.
You could, however, set up the right retraining program for valued employees to see them through automation. You could fight the Hal Syndrome. You could work to end boring tasks. ”

“ Do buy a guide for your model of computer or your pet software program; this book isn’t a replacement.
It offers, however, more detachment than a guide touting the virtues of a single machine. I’ll write about the computer I own—yes, I have my biases—but it’ll be as an example, not as the final answer. Frankly, for graphics work alone, my Kaypro II would not suffice. The screen isn’t good enough. The Kaypro’s electronic brain just is not very visually inclined, and all in all, I’d be far better off doing charts with an Apple Macintosh.
Many good paths wind through the Silicon Jungle. ”

“ That’s the term for the hardware and software that lets machines talk to each other. A network can be a local network, linking machines within the same office, or it can be national or even global. Someday, if they haven’t already, Bell and other companies may develop software especially meant for corporate networks of telecommuters.
While widespread telecommuting isn’t yet a reality, Peter and Trudy Johnson-Lenz have come as close as anyone to realizing its full benefits. They live in Lake Oswego, Oregon, and as they’re fond of pointing out, “We don’t commute. ”

“ Very likely you can use off-the-shelf software instead.
Also, you can find the right computer consultant and carefully oversee his work; this book will help you avoid gobblers.
BE HUMANE—PROFITABLY. Micros can be efficient and humane at the same time. Don’t confuse The Silicon Jungle with Winning through Intimidation. Often, for instance, some humanity can improve your efficiency by lowering the number of errors your people may make. This book tells how to choose equipment that’s easiest on your people’s eyes and backbones. ”

“ Of course, with today’s imperfect technology, such hookups can be a real struggle. But so often they’re worth it.
You could say the same, indeed, of micros in general—today and in the future.
It seemed especially true when, for my last chapter, I tried to reach Arthur Clarke’s micro in Sri Lanka. I wanted him to answer questions about microcomputers in 2001—the year in which his Hal was killing humans. Did our phone-computer connection succeed? Read Chapter 14, “As the Jungle Thickens.”
Struggles notwithstanding, computers often do pay for harried professionals and business people. ”