Sprint PCS v. Metro PCS and the $4,000 MacBook Air

I looked at the total cost of ownership (TCO) for my new Galaxy Note II with a Sprint PCS plan.  It is

$300 + $80/month = $2,220

If I had purchased a new Galaxy S III with a Metro PCS, which is pretty much the same phone, it would have been:

$40 + $50/month = $1,240

From my understanding, they use the same physical network, so they should be exactly the same thing.

Wow, that is an 80% increase!  That would be like this change:

My Apple MacBook Air I bought 6 months ago:  $2,200 TCO (if I ignore the $400 I paid for accessories like a mouse, and extra charger, cables to use an external monitor, etc.).

Today's cost for a new product that basically does the same thing:  $4,000!

Would you pay $4,000 for a MacBook Air?

Yup, smart phones are the future.  :-)

Windows 8 Performance

As long as Microsoft is selling a server version and a "single-user" version of Windows, they will likely have to continue to internally hobble the "single-user" version so people will not use it instead of paying more for the server version.

Until Microsoft figures out a way to officially separate the two--make Windows "single-user" free or almost free--people are going to use other OSes for their personal devices, and developers are going to continue to use Linux/OS-X/Solaris/etc.

Idea of the Day.

A remote-control amplifier which works with any remote!  Just place it on a surface and it amplifies the signals coming from your remote control.  It works like magic!

It can be advertised as "as seen on TV."  :-)

Every Cloud Device has Prior Art

...proof to follow.

Idea of the day.

Create an iPhone app so your kids can take a picture of their lost pet.

If a similar pet shows up in any picture taken by anyone (or any video feed), they are alerted.

It's not too hard to do if you limit the location from which you mine results based on how long ago the loss was reported.

Heart Surgery, Plumbing, Lawyers, and the Future of Computer Engineering in Silicon Valley

...and the rest of the world.

I see two fundamental problems with how some companies employ engineers in Silicon Valley.  I don't know if they exists in the rest of the world because I only work there, I don't live there.  You don't learn about these problems from working as an engineer (at a good company).  You learn about them through experience (at a "bad" company).

The problems:

1. Engineers have been jumping around between companies in Silicon Valley for years.  When the industry is booming, engineers jump companies to get raises.  When an engineer (similar to a CEO) is not performing well, they jump companies.  As an example, I know of several engineers who left a company recently, one of whom had not had a raise for at least four years.  I'd have left long before that unless I was doing something that was going to change the world, i.e. make lots of money for my company.
2. Because it is impossible to prevent engineers from passing along information they have "learned," it is virtually impossible to keep secret data from moving between companies when engineers switch jobs. (More on "What Engineers Learn" in a future post if I remember to post it.)

How do we handle these problems when we hire other professionals (highly educated or not)?

• When we hire a doctor, we want one who has a great background.  We don't have to worry about him/her passing along medical records.
• When we hire a lawyer, we want one who has a great background.  We don't have to worry about him/her passing along legal documents.
• When you hire a plumber, you probably wouldn't mind if he reused the cast-offs from your plumbing job.  (But you might not want him using cast-offs from his previous jobs on yours.)

These professionals are expected to not pass along your valuable information, old plumbing, or scraps from things you were billed for.

Engineers can't keep from passing along what they know.  If you ask them, don't pass along any company secrets, they can do that.  When you hire an engineer.  Trust that person with your IP.  If you don't he/she can't do a good job.  If you can't trust them don't hire them.

However, if you ask them to not pass along their knowledge of programming computers, building complex systems, getting everything done correctly, you can't keep them from passing that along.

If you hire an engineer, don't hinder him/her by not answering questions or by keeping skunk-works projects from him/her.

So, why is it we don't trust engineers with our corporate secrets, but we are willing to ask them if they have programmed in C / LISP / FORTRAN / Erlang / node.js / etc?  Because computer engineers (and software engineers) are not programmers!

Use your engineers correctly.  Computer/software engineers design correct/scalable/maintainable systems.  They don't write programs if there is no one else (or no budget) available to do it.  You don't ask a computer/software engineer what languages they know, you ask him/her what language you should be using.

When we hire a good heart surgeon, we don't ask him what kind of scalpel he uses.  When we hire a plumber, we might ask him what kind of faucet or pipes he prefers.  When we hire a lawyer, we might listen to his advice (if we're smart).

-Todd