Everyone wants broadband. Well, at least those of us that don't have it want it. It's good to know that the titans of industry are behind us on this one. You see, the top dogs from NCR, Dell, Intel and Motorola have joined forces to hasten the rollout of broadband in the U.S. Their goal is 100 million new broadband connections over the next ten years.
The group, which somehow managed to track down and meet with reclusive Vice
President Dick Cheney, wants to relax regulations that restrict the rollout of broadband, such as the close control of frequencies that govern wireless access. This all sounds good on the surface, but none of these companies have anything whatsoever to do with broadband data services. Perhaps Cheney should meet with companies that can actually make broadband happen. How about the companies that own cell towers that could easily be outfitted with fixed broadband wireless? How about the RBOCs that did everything in their power to hold back CLEC broadband rollouts? And what about the cable companies that are busy raising rates but do little in the way of beefing up their services with high-speed Internet? (My cable company is AT&T Broadband, but, ironically, its plans for broadband data are nowhere in sight.) Let's get a group of those companies to meet with Cheney. This whole thing sounds more and more like a publicity stunt.
That's Confidence
IBM is so confident in the power of open source that it is offering a mainframe that runs nuttin' but Linux. The eServer zSeries for Linux (how much do you hate it when vendors randomly mix upper and lower case letters?) is aimed at server consolidation -- always an honorable undertaking. With the IBM mainframe, one can create hundreds of virtual Linux machines, all under one hood. Such capacity doesn't come cheap. Expect prices to start at around $400,000. It may sound steep for Linux, but you have to look at the savings compared to hundreds of Intel servers running hundreds of instances of Linux. There is less power, less space, fewer parts, and drastically reduced management complexity. But more than that, the Linux-only mainframe truly positions Linux as an alternative to Windows NT/2000/XP, as well as all the proprietary flavors of Unix. Things are starting to get very interesting.
Lessons to be Learned from Gateway
For too many companies, the slightest dip in sales spells the end of profitability. But Gateway managed to eke out a profit even though sales fell more than 50 percent. Gateway wants to make money no matter what else happens. So it is cutting a couple thousand jobs and shutting a whole heap of stores. Lucent and Nortel could learn a few lessons on profitability from the Gateway guys.
Home Is Where the Smart Is
I've always felt that a lot of gizmos, especially those that get our washing machines to talk to our doorbells, weren't all they were cracked up to be. While I want to be connected, I don't want everything in my house connected. It's just more things to break with very little value. But I'm not sick or elderly (gimmee a decade or two). If I was, though, I'd be thrilled over a new smart home technology that observes the sick and infirm and makes decisions based upon their actions.
Sensors can track movements over time and can sense and predict deterioration in a person. These smart-home accessories could also be used to analyze blood or urine, heart rate or blood pressure, and send abnormal test results to a doctor. The same basic approach could monitor people and make sure they take their medicine.
The Medical Automation Research Center is currently testing the technology and hopes to have some initial commercial offerings a year from now.
Microsoft versus AOL: The Plot Thickens
AOL has never hidden its feelings about Microsoft. The company recently filed a suit, claiming that Microsoft used illegal tactics to destroy the Navigator browser -- a browser that was already almost crippled marketwise when AOL bought it. Perhaps AOL took a lesson from Ray Noorda, who bought DR-DOS after it was essentially dead and then successfully sued Microsoft over the tactics it used to weaken the alternative operating system.
AOL has a few rulings on its side now, as the courts found that Microsoft did indeed bend a few rules to put IE at the top of the heap. But Microsoft spit back, claiming that AOL worked tirelessly to help the feds win against Microsoft and that AOL now refuses to give up documents detailing this work. Before you conclude that AOL is entirely in the right, ask yourself how hard the online giant tried to revive Navigator. The answer? Not very.
Messy, Messy, Messy
Recently we brought you news about Lindows, a version of Linux that's said to be compatible with Windows applications. Now there is a similar story with Wine 1.0, a remake of Windows that not only runs on Linux, but X-Windows and various flavors of Unix as well. Windows-compatible Linux sounds like the best of both worlds, but in reality it might be a lesser version of both.
Microsoft has enough trouble maintaining compatibility with Windows. What kind of job will an outside party be able to do? History is against Lindows and Wine 1.0 too. Compatible software has never been perfect. Sun tried to recreate Windows APIs, but the resulting software ran poorly. IBM tried to build compatibility into OS/2, but it could not keep pace with all the Windows revs. And Microsoft's licenses for its applications require that they run under Windows, not someone else's rendition.
E-Comm Lives
Many people doubted that Amazon.com would ever turn a profit. Of course, those same people bought book after book from the Web giant. Now Jeff Bezos has proven every one of them wrong by raking in a tidy little $5.1 million profit. And he did it in the middle of a fairly vicious little recession. I can hear Jeff laughing from here.
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