Silicon Society: Myrhvold and His Vanity

[Mark <salsa@spacestar.net>]

Thought you all might to read this if you haven't already:
http://www.abcnews.com/sections/tech/Silicon/silicon981009.html

When Bill Gates Drives the Hometown to the Enemy

              When Bill Gates built his mega-home in the affluent Seattle
              suburb of Medina, Wash., the paperwork nearly drowned the tiny
              town's building department. The flood of 40,000 documents
              (permits, plans and blueprints) added four large filing cabinets to
              the town's existing six. 
                   Caught in a space crunch, officials opted to buy a document
              management system instead of building a larger office. Don't
              think Microsoft got home-field advantage when it came time to
              select software. 
                   Medina officials balked at a Windows NT product. Instead,
              they bought a cheaper system that runs on Caldera's version of
              Linux, the open-source operating system which costs one-tenth
              the price of Microsoft's competing product. 
                   Linux, some people pray, will one day loosen Microsoft's grip
              on the OS market. Linux (which rhymes with cynics) sometimes
              seems more like a populist movement than an operating system.
              Devoted supporters want to undermine Microsoft while creating
              the first reliable OS that won't crash.
                   But Medina city clerk Harwood Edvalson said the town's
              decision wasn't any kind of populist statement. 
                   "It's imperative for the city to buy the best product for the best
              price," says Edvalson. "In this case, we did just that."

Title: Silicon Society: Myrhvold and His Vanity

	Commentary Myhrvold and His Vanity
	Got a tip or want to forward a revealing e-mail or memo? Send it to E.J.		By E.J. Gong Jr. ABCNEWS.com Top Microsoft Exec is Man Behind the Pen The rich need their toys and the sleek Gulfstream jet is tops. (AP Photo) In this month’s Vanity Fair, an anonymous article entitled “My First Gulfstream” gives a peek into the life of an insanely rich “Information Age Entrepreneur.” The unknown writer describes the ins and outs of finding, buying and owning a $12 million personal Gulfstream jet ($2 million alone was spent decorating the interior).      It turns out, as The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this week, the author is Microsoft technology guru Nathan Myhrvold.      A Vanity Fair source says Myhrvold approached the magazine with the idea and they happily agreed (especially since Myhrvold penned the story for free). The timing was good. In the same issue, Myhrvold is listed as No. 23 of the 50 top leaders of the Information Age, and he also appears in a paid ad for Gulfstream’s newest jet.      The cherubic 39-year-old billionaire, who acts as Bill Gates’ idea guy, couldn’t be reached for comment (fly fishing in Mongolia) and his spokeswoman would neither confirm nor deny his involvement. Boyish Myhrvold is the mystery man in this month's Vanity Fair.      In the article, Myhrvold natters about the decision to buy a jet and complains about the hassles of maintenance ($500,000 a year). In the end, though, it was the right choice. Surprise, surprise.      As Myhrvold notes:      “When I’m on the West Coast, Hawaii is now a comfortable weekend trip. On the East Coast, Palm Beach and the Bahamas are equally close. Best of all, the red is gone from red-eye flights, now that I have a real bed to sleep on. Little things perhaps, but the sum is greater than the parts. My view of geography has been fundamentally transformed.” Gates Drives Hometown to the Enemy When Bill Gates built his mega-home in the affluent Seattle suburb of Medina, Wash., the paperwork nearly drowned the tiny town’s building department. The flood of 40,000 documents (permits, plans and blueprints) added four large filing cabinets to the town’s existing six.      Caught in a space crunch, officials opted to buy a document management system instead of building a larger office. Don’t think Microsoft got home-field advantage when it came time to select software.      Medina officials balked at a Windows NT product. Instead, they bought a cheaper system that runs on Caldera’s version of Linux, the open-source operating system which costs one-tenth the price of Microsoft’s competing product.      Linux, some people pray, will one day loosen Microsoft’s grip on the OS market. Linux (which rhymes with cynics) sometimes seems more like a populist movement than an operating system. Devoted supporters want to undermine Microsoft while creating the first reliable OS that won’t crash.      But Medina city clerk Harwood Edvalson said the town’s decision wasn’t any kind of populist statement.      “It’s imperative for the city to buy the best product for the best price,” says Edvalson. “In this case, we did just that.” Are We Not Geeks? Our favorite technogeeks arrive on the scene again! It seems a technogeek bash isn’t hip these days unless Devo’s there. Those quirky band members in yellow lab suits twitched and jerked at Ziff Davis’ ZDTV launch party earlier this year in San Francisco before an ecstatic crowd of Silicon Valley’s muckety-mucks.      When Devo played their hit song “Whip It,” there wasn’t room for a microchip on the dance floor. Who cares if the band hasn’t had a hit since 1978?      Devo performed this week in San Jose, Calif., at yet another much-hyped gig, this time the Silicon Planet Experience ’98 festival. The event, sponsored by Microsoft, Yahoo! and other tech firms, was supposed to visit Seattle later this month but poor planning put an end to that.      So what drives geek passion for Devo? From his car phone this week, Devo founder and self-described “spud-boy” Jerry Casale explains his own theory.      “Devo were sexy techno-nerds and alternative before there was a name for it. All the kids 5 and 10 years old, who grew up on Devo, well, these are the same kids who got harassed in school for being different, being outsiders. Now they’re rich from the Digital Age and we’re their Red Badge of Courage.”

Copyright (c)1998 ABCNEWS and Starwave Corporation. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in any form.