Podcasts about silicon cowboys

We survive Sisu and squirm over Huesera: The Bone Woman plus we also talk Tales from the Darkside: The Movie, Hands on a Hard Body, Startup.com, 16 Blocks, Casualties of War and Sunshine. 0:00 - Intro 9:30 - Review: Sisu 32:55 - Review: Huesera: The Bone Woman 46:40 - Other Stuff We Watched: Hands on a Hard Body, Tales from the Darkside: The Movie, Startup.com, Silicon Cowboys, The Investigation (2002), Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, Bright Lights Big City, Casualties of War, The Thing, First Blood, 16 Blocks, Mrs. Davis, Sunshine 1:33:30 - This Week on DVD, Blu-ray and VOD 1:35:50 - Outro

Dell is one of the largest technology companies in the world, and it all started with a small startup that sold personal computers out of Michael Dell's dorm room at the University of Texas. From there, Dell grew into a multi-billion dollar company, bought and sold other companies, went public, and now manufactures a wide range of electronics including laptops, desktops, servers, and more.  After graduating high school, Michael Dell enrolled at the University of Texas at Austin with the idea that he would some day start his own company. Maybe even in computers. He had an Apple II in school and Apple and other companies had done pretty well by then in the new microcomputer space. He took it apart and these computers were just a few parts that were quickly becoming standardized. Parts that could be bought off the shelf at computer stores. So he opened a little business that he ran out of his dorm room fixing computers and selling little upgrades. Many a student around the world still does the exact same thing. He also started buying up parts and building new computers. Texas Instruments was right up the road in Dallas. And there was a price war in the early 80s between Commodore and Texas Instruments. Computers could be big business. And it seemed clear that this IBM PC that was introduced in 1981 was going to be more of a thing, especially in offices. Especially since there were several companies making clones of the PC, including Compaq who was all over the news as Silicon Cowboys, having gotten to $100 million in sales within just two years.  So from his dorm room in 1984, Dell started a little computer company he called PCs Limited. He built PCs using parts and experimented with different combinations. One customer led to another and he realized that a company like IBM bought a few hundred dollars worth of parts, put them in a big case and sold it for thousands of dollars. Any time a company makes too much margin, smaller and more disruptive companies will take the market away. Small orders turned into bigger and ones and he was able to parlay each into being able to build bigger orders.  They released the Turbo PC in 1985. A case, a mother board, a CPU, a keyboard, a mouse, some memory, and a CPU chip. Those first computers he built came with an 8088 chip. Low overhead meant he could be competitive on price: $795. No retail store front and no dealers, who often took 25 to 50 percent of the money spent on computers, let the company run out of a condo. He'd sold newspapers as a kid so he was comfortable picking up the phone and dialing for dollars. He managed to make $200,000 in sales in that first year. So he dropped out of school to build the company.  To keep costs low, he sold through direct mail and over the phone. No high-paid sellers in blue suits like IBM, even if the computers could run the same versions of DOS. He incorporated as Dell Computer Company in 1987, started to expand internationally, and on the back of rapid revenue growth and good margins. They hit $159 million in sales that year. So they took the company public in 1988. The market capitalization when they went public was $30 million and quickly rose to $80 million. By then we'd moved past the 8088 chips and the industry was standardizing on the 80386 chip, following the IBM PS/2. By the end of 1989 sales hit $250 million.  They needed more Research and Development firepower, so they brought in Glenn Henry. He'd been at IBM for over 20 years and managed multiple generations of mid-range mainframes then servers and then RISC-based personal computers. He helped grow the R&D team into the hundreds and quality of computer went up, which paired well with costs of computers remaining affordable compared to the rest of the market.  Dell was, and to a large degree still is, a direct to consumer company. They experimented with the channel in the early 1990s, which is to say 3rd parties that were authorized to sell their computers. They signed deals to sell through distributors, computer stores, warehouse clubs, and retail chains. But the margins didn't work, so within just a few years they cancelled many of those relationships. Instead they went from selling to companies to the adjacent home market.  It seems like that's the last time in recent memory that direct mailing as a massive campaign worked. Dell was able to undercut most other companies who sold laptops at the time by going direct to consumers. They brought in marketing execs from other companies, like Tandy. The London office was a huge success, bringing in tens of millions in revenue, so they brought on a Munich office and then slowly expanded into tother countries. They were one of the best sales and marketing machines in that direct to consumer and business market. Customers could customize orders, so maybe add a faster CPU, some extra memory, or even a scanner, modem, or other peripheral. They got the manufacturing to the point where they could turn computers around in five days. Just a decade earlier people waited months for computers. They released their first laptop in 1989, which they called the 316LT. Just a few years earlier, Michael Dell was in a dorm room. If he'd completed a pre-med degree and gotten into medical school, he'd likely be in his first or second year. He was now a millionaire; and just getting started. With the help of their new R&D chief, they were able to get into the server market where the margins were higher, and that helped get more corporate customers. By the end of 1990, they were the sixth largest personal computer company in the US. To help sales in the rapidly growing European and Middle Eastern offices, they opened another manufacturing location in Ireland. And by 1992, they became a one of the top 500 companies in the world. Michael Dell, instead of being on an internship in medical school and staring down the barrel of school loans, was the youngest CEO in the Fortune 500. The story is almost boring. They just grow and grow. Especially when rivals like IBM, HP, Digital Equipment, and Compaq make questionable finance and management choices that don't allow those companies to remain competitive. They all had better technology at many times, but none managed to capitalize on the markets. Instead of becoming the best computer maker they could be, they played corporate development games and wandered away from their core businesses. Or like IBM they decided that they didn't want to compete with the likes of Dell and just sold off their PC line to Lenovo. But Dell didn't make crappy computers.  They weren't physically inspiring like some computers at the time, but they got the job done and offices that needed dozens or hundreds of machines often liked working with Dell. They continued the global expansion through the 90s and added servers in 1996. By now there were customers buying their second or third generation of computer, going from DOS to Windows 3.1 to Windows 95. And they did something else really important in 1996: they began to sell through the web at dell.com. Within a few months they were doing a million a day in sales and the next year hit 10 million PCs sold.  Little Dell magazines showed up in offices around the world. Web banners appeared on web pages. Revenues responded and went from $2.9 billion in 1994 to $3.5 billion in 1995. And they were running at margins over 20 percent. Revenue hit $5.3 billion in 1996, 7.8 in 1997, 12.3 in 1998, 18.2 in 1999, and $25.3 in 2000. The 1990s had been good to Dell. Their stock split 7 times. It wouldn't double every other year again, but would double again by 2009. In the meantime, the market was changing. The Dell OptiPlex is one of the best selling lines of computers of all time and offers a glimpse into what was changing. Keep in mind, this was the corporate enterprise machine. Home machines can be better or less, according to the vendor. The processors ranged from a Celeron up to a Pentium i9 at this point.  Again, we needed a mother board, usually an ATX or a derivative. They started with that standard ATX mother board form factor but later grew to be a line that came in the tower, the micro, and everything in between. Including an All-in-one. That Series 1 was beige and just the right size to put a big CRT monitor on top of it. It sported a 100 MHz 486 chip and could take up to 64 megabytes of memory across a pair of SIMM slots. The Series 2 was about half the size and by now we saw those small early LCD flat panel screens. They were still beige though. As computers went from beige to black with the Series 3 we started to see the iconic metallic accents we're accustomed to now. They followed along the Intel replacement for the ATX motherboard, the BTX, and we saw those early PCI form factors be traded for PCIe. By the end of the Series 3 in 2010, the Optiplex 780 could have up to 16 gigs of memory as a max, although that would set someone back a pretty penning in 2009. And the processors came ranging from the 800 MHz to 1.2 GHz. We'd also gone from PS/2 ports with serial and parallel  to USB 2 ports and from SIMM to DIMM slots, up to DDR4 with the memory about as fast as a CPU.  But they went back to the ATX and newer Micro ATX with the Series 4. They embraced the Intel i series chips and we got all the fun little metal designs on the cases. Cases that slowly shifted to being made of recycled parts. The Latitude laptops followed a similar pattern. Bigger faster, and heavier. They released the Dell Dimension and acquired Alienware in 2006, at the time the darling of the gamer market. Higher margin hardware, like screaming fast GPU graphic cards. But also lower R&D costs for the Dell lines as there was the higher end line that flowed down to the OptiPlex then Dimension. Meanwhile, there was this resurgent Apple. They'd released the iMac in 1998 and helped change the design language for computers everywhere. Not that everyone needed clear cases. Then came the iPod in 2001. Beautiful design could sell products at higher prices. But they needed to pay a little more attention to detail. But more importantly, those Dells were getting bigger and faster and heavier while the Apple computers were getting lighter, and even the desktops more portable. The iPhone came in 2007. The Intel MacBook Air came 10 years after that iMac, in 2008. The entire PC industry was in a race for bigger power supplies to push more and more gigahertz through a CPU without setting the house on fire and Apple changed the game. The iPad was released in 2010. Apple finally delivered on the promise of the Dynabook that began life at Xerox PARC. Dell had been in the drivers seat. They became the top personal computer company in 2003 and held that spot until HP and Compaq merged. But their spot would never be regained as revenue slowed from the time the iPad was released for almost a decade, even contracting at times. See, Dell had a close partnership with Intel and Microsoft. Microsoft made operating systems for mobile devices but the Dell Venue was not competitive with the iPhone. They also tried making a mobile device using Android but the Streak never sold well either and was discontinued as well.  While Microsoft retooled their mobile platforms to compete in the tablet space, Dell tried selling Android tablets but discontinued those in 2016. To make matters worse for Dell, they'd ridden a Microsoft Windows alliance where they never really had to compete with Microsoft for nearly 30 years and then Microsoft released the Surface in 2012. The operating systems hadn't been pushing people to upgrade their computers and Microsoft even started selling Office directly and online, so Dell lost revenue bundling Office with computers.  They too had taken their eye off the market. HP bought EDS in 2008, diversifying into a services organization, something IBM had done well over a decade before. Except rather than sell their PC business they made a go at both. So Dell did the same, acquiring Perot Systems, the company Perot started after he sold EDS and ran for president, for $3.9 billion, which came in at a solid $10 billion less than what HP paid for EDS.  The US was in the midst of a recession, so that didn't help matters either. But it did make for an interesting investment climate. Interest rates were down, so large investors needed to put money to work to show good returns for customers. Dell had acquired just 8 companies before the Great Recession but acquired an average of 5 over each of the next four years. This allowed them to diversify, And Michael Dell made another savvy finance move, he took the company private in 2013 with the help of Silver Lake partners. 5 years off the public market was just what they needed. 2018 they went public again on the backs of revenues that had shot up to to $79 billion from a low of around $50 billion in 2016. And they exceeded $94 billion in 2021.  The acquisition of EMC-VMware was probably the most substantial to $67 billion. That put them in the enterprise server market and gave them a compelling offer at pretty much every level of the enterprise stack. Although at this point maybe it remains to be seen if the enterprise server and storage stack is still truly a thing.  A Dell Optiplex costs about the same amount today as it did when Dell sold that first Turbo PC. They can be had cheaper but probably shouldn't. Adjusted for an average 2.6 percent inflation rate, that brings those first Dell PCs to just north of $2,000 as of the time of this writing. Yet the computer remained the same, with fairly consistent margins. That means the components have gotten half as expensive because they're made in places with cheaper labor than they were in the early 1980s. That means there are potentially less components, like a fan for certain chips or RAM when they're memory integrated in a SoC, etc.  But the world is increasingly mobile. Apple, Google, and Microsoft sell computers for their own operating systems now. Dell doesn't make phones and they aren't in the top 10 for the tablet market. People don't buy products from magazines that show up any longer. Now it's a quick search on Amazon. And looking for a personal computer there, the results right this second (that is, while writing this paragraph) showed the exact same order as vendor market share for 2021: Lenovo, followed by HP, then Dell. All of the devices looked about the same. Kinda' like those beige injection-molded devices looked about the same.  HP couldn't have such a large company exist under one roof and eventually spun HP Enterprise out into its own entity. Dell sold Perot Systems to NTT Docomo to get the money to buy EMC on leverage. Not only do many of these companies have products that look similar, but their composition does as well. What doesn't look similar is Michael Dell. He's worth just shy of $60 billion dollars (according to the day and the markets). His book, Direct From Dell is one of the best looks at the insides of a direct order mail business making the transition to early commerce one can find. Oh, and it's not just him and some friends in a dorm room. It's 158,000 employees who help make up over a $42 billion market cap. And helped generations of people afford personal computers. That might be the best part of such a legacy.

Oxide and Friends Twitter Space: May 31, 2021Silicon CowboysWe've been holding a Twitter Space weekly on Mondays at 5p for about an hour. In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, speakers included Steve Tuck, Tom Lyon, Dan Cross, and others. The recording is here.(Did we miss your name and/or get it wrong? Drop a PR!)Some of the topics we hit on, in the order that we hit them: Silicon Cowboys documentary Open by Rod Canion Portable before Compaq, Silent 700 Osborne Effect PBS Silicon Valley documentary IBM's role in Compaq history 80's Ads: John Cleese, Charlie Chaplin Compaq and iPhone? Decline and Acquisition Something Ventured documentary PRs welcome! [@1:25](https://youtu.be/faY7kWHQuNE?t=85) Bryan: Have you listened to the Reply All episode “Is the Facebook Microphone On?”The truth is actually scarier, Facebook doesn't need the mic to be on … to read your mind.Silicon Cowboys[@2:46](https://youtu.be/faY7kWHQuNE?t=166) The 2016 documentary “Silicon Cowboys” follows the rise of the Compaq computer company. (IMDb) (Watch the trailer ~3mins)I was trying to watch “Halt and Catch Fire” with my kid … and there's a lot of spontaneous sex breaking out…Fastest to one billion in revenue… fastest to Fortune 500… a meteoric riseOpen by Canion[@7:05](https://youtu.be/faY7kWHQuNE?t=425) The 2013 book “Open” by Rod Canion (cofounder and CEO of Compaq): “How Compaq Ended IBM's PC Domination and Helped Invent Modern Computing.”[@10:02](https://youtu.be/faY7kWHQuNE?t=602) Steve: Ben Rosen was the venture capitalist who wrote the first check to Compaq, really got them off the ground. On the board for 20 years.Their timing was right. The way they did the company was right. And they executed really really well.To go from zero to 50 thousand units, of almost anything, in the time span they did, is incredible.[@14:40](https://youtu.be/faY7kWHQuNE?t=880) Tom: The thing that really put them on the map was having the portable when nobody else did. And being 100% compatible.Those portables were barely luggable, they were huge!Back in a time when there was no network. Being able to pick up your computer and take it to a place, was your network.[@16:47](https://youtu.be/faY7kWHQuNE?t=1007) Steve: A big catalyst for their success was the channel. People were able to pick it up and go, they didn't need special training.[@19:25](https://youtu.be/faY7kWHQuNE?t=1165) Dad used to bring home the luggable so I could play Space Invaders, and he would work on spreadsheets.Portable before Compaq[@20:49](https://youtu.be/faY7kWHQuNE?t=1249) There were portable solutions before Compaq, but for timesharing.You had the T.I. Silent 700, in the 70's, you could tote that home and plug it into the modem.Osborne Effect[@22:41](https://youtu.be/faY7kWHQuNE?t=1361) Tom: They killed their company with the famous Osborne EffectBryan and Steve (clearly excited): What was the Osborne Effect!? Tom: Pre-announcing the next machine.Telling customers: man, if you love the Osborne 1, just wait till the Osborne 2… So they did Bryan: Something I found surprising about the history of Compaq was the different organizational approach that they had.Early on, before even thinking about what to go do, they were talking about the kind of company they wanted to build.PBS Silicon Valley[@26:14](https://youtu.be/faY7kWHQuNE?t=1574) The 2013 PBS documentary “Silicon Valley” tells the story of Fairchild Semiconductor. (Watch chapter one ~17mins)[@28:14](https://youtu.be/faY7kWHQuNE?t=1694) We ask people, when they apply to Oxide, when they've been most unhappy in their careers. And it all boils down to people not feeling listened to, not having agency.IBM's role[@29:41](https://youtu.be/faY7kWHQuNE?t=1781) How much of Compaq's success is just pure mis-execution from IBM? IBM inadvertently creates this pseudo open architecture, and makes exactly the wrong move in trying to reproprietarize it with the PS/2 and Micro Channel architecture; which is an absolute disaster.In many ways the story of Compaq is as much the story of the failed PS/2.It was such a mis-execution to do this analysis on the market and say: we need to grab our existing customers and lock them in, before they slip through our fingers, and in doing so, just hasten their departure. And Compaq was in the right spot to pick up the pieces.MCA (Micro Channel architecture), ISA, EISA[@33:22](https://youtu.be/faY7kWHQuNE?t=2002) We were ripping out a bunch of ISA and EISA drivers..I am a sacrificial sheep, I can't possibly go. You are a sacrificial lamb.The machines themselves are anemic, if you want any functionality you go to a third party.. There were magazines filled with advice on which sound-generating card you should buy.IBM PC XT – Hercules graphics card[@37:00](https://youtu.be/faY7kWHQuNE?t=2220) Driver for Token Ring.PCI – SBus – VME – VLB – AGP[@40:20](https://youtu.be/faY7kWHQuNE?t=2420) Speaking of Intel, a big part of the Compaq story is what happens with the 386.IBM clearly thought Intel would never give some clone manufacturer the first rights to the 386.They went from fast follower to innovator.OS/2 supported both 16 bit (for the 286) and 32 bit.[@42:07](https://youtu.be/faY7kWHQuNE?t=2527) One of the headwinds working against IBM was that all the software companies wanted to see more competition in hardware vendors; they wanted to see the clones become real companies.Certainly Microsoft aided the rise of Compaq, no question. Compaq turned Microsoft into a real believer.80's Ads[@43:11](https://youtu.be/faY7kWHQuNE?t=2591) I loved the 80's ads.John Cleese: Compaq Portable vs a Fish ~2minsCleese: I suppose the fish could give you a mega-bite! (laughs hysterically)Cleese: The Compaq Portable 2 however can run all IBM's most popular software, 30% faster than IBM can! (dryly) HA HA HABryan: Absolutely no joke, I knew Charlie Chaplin first through the IBM PC ads. I didn't even know they were making a reference!IBM Charlie Chaplin ads compilation ~9mins. (Aside: these are new to me. For me it painted the computers as accessible/approachable, something anyone could do; even a clumsy Mr. Bean character)You guys need to stop mocking the Chaplin ads. They were marketing gold and as a 5 year old watching bunny rabbit ear TV seeing those ads in the middle of Scooby Doo, I was begging my parents for an IBM PC Adam: My parents got a free Mac Plus when they opened a bank account! I know it's crazy anachronistic.Adam: In '86 we had a Commodore 64 and then upgraded to a Mac Plus. Bryan: That's a big upgrade! Adam: It was incredible.MacPaint – ImageWriter II – Dot matrix printing – The Print ShopWith the banner program, you could print “Happy Birthday”, and probably other messages, but it never came up..Compaq and iPhone?[@50:59](https://youtu.be/faY7kWHQuNE?t=3059) Book and documentary ask: What if Compaq had made the iPhone?I think it cheapens the whole thing. No one should feel an obligation to claim their role in history by connecting themselves to the iPhone. The iPhone is not the pinnacle of human history.Just take your wins, and there are many of them. But, the time that they were dominant, that's the story.Decline and Acquisition[@53:24](https://youtu.be/faY7kWHQuNE?t=3204) The movie ends when Canion is fired, by Rosen, which is pretty amazing.To be fair, DEC killed DEC.Tandem ComputersI feel like the later history of Compaq is this sugar high of sales continuing to spike, but then ultimately it's the ruin of the company. The company ceased to be an innovator.Compaq is acquired by Hewlett-PackardCompaq systems, at this point, were very expensive. And this was part of the controversy of Rod getting run out, was not wanting to go down market.[@59:51](https://youtu.be/faY7kWHQuNE?t=3591) Speaking of HPE (Hewlett Packard Enterprise) and Compaq, they just relocated their headquarters to Huston.I feel like HP hasn't been a Silicon Valley company in a long long time.This was like the animals walking upright, where Compaq became a lot like IBM in a lot of their sales tactics.Something Ventured[@1:02:41](https://youtu.be/faY7kWHQuNE?t=3761) The 2011 documentary “Something Ventured” investigates the emergence of American venture capitalism. (Watch the trailer ~2mins) (Watch the documentary ~85mins)Tandem ComputersA 7 million dollar iceberg sitting in the datacenter, this Tandem. They were so reliant on it, they had another shrink wrapped just sitting on the datacenter floor, in the event that the first one ever went out.Jimmy Treybig is a super interesting character. Very iconoclastic engineer.I didn't realize that Tandem made KP. If it weren't for Tandem, Kleiner Perkins wouldn't have risen as a VC firm. They went all-in on Tandem, and Tandem had an outsized result.Our next Twitter space will be on Monday at 5p Pacific Time. Join us; we always love to hear from new speakers!

Oxide and Friends Twitter Space: May 24, 2021from /proc to proc_macroWe've been holding a Twitter Space weekly on Mondays at 5p for about an hour. In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, speakers included Brian Cantrell (not making that one up!), Nima Johari, Joshua Clulow, Laura Abbott, and Tom Lyon. The recording is here.(Did we miss your name and/or get it wrong? Drop a PR!)Some of the topics we hit on, in the order that we hit them: The other Adam Leventhal [1] and the other AHL [2] [@3:16](https://youtu.be/85eApYSj3ic?t=196) Hockey  Calder Cup Charlotte Checkers Grand Rapids Griffins [@4:02](https://youtu.be/85eApYSj3ic?t=242) Roger Faulkner invented the /proc filesystem Gerald Ford Presidential Library and MuseumGerald Ford inaugural address (including its most famous line, “our long national nightmare is over”) > I went in a Gerald Ford cynic, and came out a Gerald Ford super-fan Roger's “The Process File System and Process Model in UNIX System V” paper [@7:43](https://youtu.be/85eApYSj3ic?t=463) “I am on a mission from God to make programs debuggable”  AVL trees and linked lists > Performance is the root of all evil. Trace Normal Form Watchpoints, libwatchmalloc > Watchpoints are magical, when they work. It feels like a superpower. [@11:37](https://youtu.be/85eApYSj3ic?t=697) > Roger made this incredible contribution about debugging infrastructure > being an attribute of a production system.  strace, truss BONUS: 1986 USENIX: A System Call Tracer in UNIX The ptrace(2) system call ptrace's overloading of the wait(2) system call The German word that we're seeking: Misappropriation-of-mechanism-in-a-seemingly-clever way-but-is-ultimately-a-disaster > ptrace is the x86 of system calls [@16:45](https://youtu.be/85eApYSj3ic?t=1005) A long-coming apology..  Linux branded zones (LX) “Method and system for child-parent mechanism emulation via a general interface” patent > You have to be bug-for-bug compatible. LX vfork/signal bug that broke golang > vfork: unsafe at any speed, toxic in any quantity [@20:16](https://youtu.be/85eApYSj3ic?t=1216) Upstart's problematic use of ptrace(2) Celebrating Joshua getting ptrace correct for LX branded zones Stack shenanigans breaking LX Red zone, segmented stacks [@24:39](https://youtu.be/85eApYSj3ic?t=1479) The application was fishing in its own stack..  Clozure Common Lisp, mcontext > These kinds of lies just don't nest. Magic does not layer well. [@28:56](https://youtu.be/85eApYSj3ic?t=1736) Windows Subsystem for Linux WSL illumos on an M1?  QEMU, ARM Cortex-M > It's hard to get the machine really properly emulated AWS Mac minis [@33:55](https://youtu.be/85eApYSj3ic?t=2035) It's kind of amazing that Apple has never had much interest in the server space.  Apple Xserve CHRP The story of the stolen laptop. Little endian PowerPC OpenPOWER [@37:35](https://youtu.be/85eApYSj3ic?t=2255) Language H!  NCR Language H: An informal overview ( part 1, part 2) The (other) D language [@39:12](https://youtu.be/85eApYSj3ic?t=2352)  AADEBUG'03 Postmortem Object Type Identification [@41:31](https://youtu.be/85eApYSj3ic?t=2491) It all comes back to awk Bourne shell source code / Algol68 #defines Thompson shell Bryan's 2007 Dtrace review, Google TechTalk ~80mins [@48:07](https://youtu.be/85eApYSj3ic?t=2887) Dtrace language inspiration  Dtrace clones > It was all based on us exploring some phenomenon, > something being kind of a pain in the ass or impossible, > and inventing something that was easy to use. Architectural review board: “This reminds us a lot of awk..” > What's the most powerful one-liner you can crank out with awk? CUDA, Bluespec [@52:35](https://youtu.be/85eApYSj3ic?t=3155) Rust proc_macros C preprocessor Rust macro_rules! > Reading about it for the first time, it felt like the forbidden fruit Tcl INTERCAL which might have been co-invented by Tom's brother?! Plan 9 (Did we miss anything? PRs always welcome!)Our next Twitter Space will be on May 31st, 2021 at 5p Pacific. This time for real: we'll be kicking off the discussion with Silicon Cowboys (the real-life Halt and Catch Fire) on the rise of Compaq – and their aspiration to be a different kind of company. Join us; we always love to hear from new speakers!

Oxide and Friends Twitter Space: May 17, 2021golang asserts and the PLATO terminalWe've been holding a Twitter Space weekly on Mondays at 5p for about an hour. In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, speakers included Adam Jacob, Matt Ranney, Nima Johari, Antranig Vartanian, Joshua Clulow, Tom Lyon, and Bob Mader (and thanks to Jeremy Morris for catching Bob's profile!).(Did we miss your name and/or get it wrong? Drop a PR!)We recorded the space, but we had some challenges, and we lost the recording when the first Twitter Space died at around 5:30p. We recorded the second half though; the recording is here.Some of the topics we hit on, in the order that we hit them: Khan Academy blog entry on Go Adam's blog entry, I Love Go, I Hate Go > I found novelty in the strictures, but objected to some of the specifics [@2:40](https://youtu.be/8tJEwCvZWsg?t=160) Go's assertion assertion The Elm Language [@4:40](https://youtu.be/8tJEwCvZWsg?t=280) Lionizing Unix > 7th edition is amazing, incredible, a break through.. > and it's also kind of a shitty engineering artifact that needed a lot of work. [@6:32](https://youtu.be/8tJEwCvZWsg?t=392) Core dumps [@7:03](https://youtu.be/8tJEwCvZWsg?t=423) Impromptu PSA:  Happy 81st Birthday Alan Kay! Alan Kay tribute video to Ted Nelson, including the story of how Alan Kay and his wife – Bonnie MacBird – were brought together by Ted Nelson, and how PARC inspired her to write TRON (!) Bedknobs and Broomsticks (WAT) [@13:18](https://youtu.be/8tJEwCvZWsg?t=798) Brian Dear's The Friendly Orange Glow The PLATO Terminal Control Data Corp (CDC) Dr. David Gräper's Grapenotes Empire game [@20:05](https://youtu.be/8tJEwCvZWsg?t=1205) Write your own lessons in TUTOR Dartmouth BASIC SNOBOL [@23:12](https://youtu.be/8tJEwCvZWsg?t=1392) Dr. David Gräper's Grapenotes started in 1977 Xerox Alto computer (Did we miss anything? PRs always welcome!)Our next Twitter Space will be on May 24th, 2021 at 5p Pacific! We'll be kicking off the discussion with Silicon Cowboys (aka the real and sexless Halt and Catch Fire) on the rise of Compaq – and their aspiration to be a different kind of company. Join us; we always love to hear from new speakers!

Samantha Housman dreamed of making John Hughes type of films for her generation. That wish took her on a journey west to Los Angeles when she was 16 years old. She came solo and without knowing a single soul in the business. The City of Angels quickly became her playground and it was by juggling a job a record store and playing the drums that she found her in to the business. When a golden opportunity to be a drummer in commercials came knocking, she answered. The set experience exposed her to producers. A spark went off and she knew she had found her path. Sam’s film education came on the job as an Independent Producer, Post Supervisor, Assistant Director and UPM. She has a detailed understanding of filmmaking at its most molecular level. Over a decade later, she is now a producer at 51 Entertainment, a platform agnostic filmmaker-driven production company, founded by Lynette Howell Taylor. When she saw the kind of producer Lynette was, she knew she’d to anything to work with her. It’s impressive that Sam did and now works with her everyday. Most recently, she produced the film WANDER DARKLY, written and directed by Tara Miele and starring Sienna Miller and Diego Luna, which premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival in U.S. Dramatic Competition. Under the 51 Entertainment banner, Sam is Executive Producing Apple’s straight-to-series female-focused CIA drama based on Amaryllis Fox’s memoir, starring and additionally executive produced by Academy Award winner Brie Larson. Sam will also produce LADY BUSINESS, alongside Brie, who is also set to star, for Netflix after optioning the original article with Endeavor Content.  In 2018, Sam produced 6 BALLOONS, a Netflix original feature, written and directed by longtime collaborator Marja-Lewis Ryan. Based on Sam and her brother, the film tells the story a woman driving across LA with her heroin addict brother in search of a detox center, with his two year old daughter in tow. It's a beautiful indie that I highly recommend. Before that, Sam co-founded ONEZERO Films where she Co-Produced CAPTAIN FANTASTIC, written and directed by Matt Ross, starring Viggo Mortensen. The film won the Best Director prize in CANNES UN CERTAIN REGARD. She also produced Matt Ross' 28 HOTEL ROOMS, which premiered at Sundance in 2012. Sam’s other producing credits while at ONEZERO include Noah Buschel’s SPARROW’S DANCE which Indiewire named one of the best films of the year in 2012, GLASS CHIN staring Corey Stoll and Billy Crudup, RIDE written and directed by Helen Hunt, and Chris Messina’s ALEX OF VENICE. Sam served as Vice President at Campfire, a film and television production company with a multi picture deal at Netflix. There she Executive Produced 1922, based on a Stephen King novella, SILICON COWBOYS, which made its premiere at SXSW; and oversaw production of several other titles. While she’s been at it for many years, in many ways she’s still just getting started. I think John Hughes would be proud of the work she’s creating. And I’m not just saying that because she complimented my Marianne bangs lewk inspired by Hulu's NORMAL PEOPLE. Tune in as we discuss my bangs, courage, vanity credits, and breakdown the post coordinator role. Can’t wait to hear what you think of this week’s episode! Beijos, Caca  

A documentary review podcast On this episode, we review following documentaries: Silicon Cowboys on Netflix Won't you be my neighbor? on HBO Print the Legent on Netflix SHORTS: One Man's Trash on Vimeo FIND US ON TWITTER FACEBOOK This podcast is powered by ZenCast.fm

Our guest this week is Steven Leckart. Steven is a writer, director, and investigative journalist. He has written a handful of documentaries, including SILICON COWBOYS, and has contributed to various magazines including Wired, Esquire, Men’s Health, Maxim, and Popular Science. Steven is also the co-author of Cabin Porn, a New York Times bestseller about hand-built architecture. For show notes visit: https://kk.org/cooltools/steven-leckart-writer

We have an extraordinary guest to share with you today. Karen Walker is a consultant, author, and advisor to CEOs and senior leaders. She helps her clients grow their companies, with successful outcomes which include IPOs, acquisitions, market share increases, and significant leadership development. Her clients include Inc. 500 start-ups and Fortune 500 firms. Her work helps senior leaders create internal strategies to support their organization's external growth. She is also the author of the recent book, No Dumbing Down: A No-Nonsense Guide For CEOs On Organizational Growth.Prior to launching her consultancy, Karen was employee #104 at Compaq Computer, then the fastest growing company in America. In her fourteen years as VP of operating services, she helped spur the creation of more than $15 billion in value. She resides in Jupiter, Florida, although she can most often be found aloft in seat 2C.   “We don't know how to get from bad team to good team, but we know the difference when we're in one.”   Karen's tips to avoid “dumbing down” within your company: 1) Alignment:                      Create and sustain internal alignment within your company 2) Accountability: Hold yourself accountable, your team accountable, and guide your team to hold themselves accountable.3) Blind Spots:            Identify and resolve your blind spots.   The Biggest Helping: Today's Most Important Takeaway “Find a way to connect to something. Find it as early as you can in your career. Connect to something outside yourself - something bigger than your small self. That will lead you to what I think is most important: thinking bigger: thinking bigger about the impact you can have, and thinking bigger about what's possible for you and your organization. In order to do that, you have to really work on getting rid of your blind spots, understanding your strengths, and really connecting with what's outside yourself.” --   Thank you for joining us on The Daily Helping with Dr. Shuster. Subscribe to the show on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play to download more food for the brain, knowledge from the experts, and tools to win at life.   Resources: www.karenwalker.us Read Karen Walker's Book,  book, No Dumbing Down: A No-Nonsense Guide For CEOs On Organizational Growth Listen to Karen's podcast, No Dumbing Down Karen Walker on Instagram: @karenwalkerus Karen Walker on LinkedIn Karen Walker on Twitter: @karenwalkerus   Silicon Cowboys on Netflix   Get your Personal Helping at thedailyhelping.com/personal-helping The Daily Helping is produced by Podcast Masters

Repasamos la historia de los mal llamados #PC Clones, en base a la recomendación de una serie muy buena que trata el tema y recomendada, “Halt And Catch Fire”. También contamos como ahora con la app infuse se puede adelantar o retrasarlos subtítulos, los cuales se cargan automáticos. Recomendamos tambien del documental Silicon Cowboys, que se puede ver en Netflix No te pierdas “Silicon Cowboys” en Netflix https://www.netflix.com/title/80104318?s=i&trkid=14170286 Y si esto fuera poco, te contamos de dos servicios excelentes para poder acceder al catalogo de Netflix u otros servicios de streaming de otro país desde el tuyo, por el ejemplo al catalogo de #Netflix en EEUU, estos dos servicios son: GetFlix http://www.getflix.com.au/ SmartDNSProxy https://www.smartdnsproxy.com/ Para terminar recomendamos dos aplicaciones de GTD, la cuales te permiten armar tu plan de tarea como si lo hicieras en un texto plano, de manera muy util y ordenada: TaskPaper – Plain text to-dos de Hog Bay Software (para Mac) https://itunes.apple.com/ar/app/taskpaper-plain-text-to-dos/id1090940630?mt=12 Taskmator - TaskPaper Client de Amit Chaudhary (para iOS) https://itunes.apple.com/ar/app/taskmator-taskpaper-client/id806250172?mt=8 No dejes de escuchar todos los podcast de la liga en laliga.fm y de seguirnos Twitter @BairesMac y @davicitoloco, Instagram @BairesMac, o suscribirte en: Audioboom https://goo.gl/Y0IB1S Spotify https://goo.gl/zxKbTz iTunes https://goo.gl/hsysH2 Google Play Music https://goo.gl/wHc2NC Stitcher https://goo.gl/S9CV5Y iHeart https://goo.gl/Z80h1w TuneIn https://goo.gl/IFwWC6

Film Editor and friend Jake Pushinsky (Man Down, A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, Fighting) invited me to record with him in his editing office on the Sony lot. Getting to visit a place so packed with film history was the cherry on top of an excellent talk about the mechanics of film storytelling, naturalism, and his longtime collaboration with Dito Montiel that has yielded 7 unique & powerful films already. We get technical on the amazing scene in Fighting, which squares off Channing Tatum and real-life badass Kung Le, how that very experimental fight harnessed the power of Kung Le without relying solely on a master shot, as well as how that film is proof Channing Tatum is both nuts and amazing. As a couple of San Francisco kids, we get candid about Robin Williams and what it was like for Jake to edit one of his final films, and his two-part, epic, upcoming Muhammad Ali documentary for HBO Films. There is also a very direct and intriguing formula revealed for how to avoid exposition! This is one for all storytellers, but most assuredly for serious cinephiles and those looking to up their game in crafting solid, naturalistic stories. Check out Jake's work on Netflix, Fighting and Silicon Cowboys, and find the rest of his work on Amazon Instant Video: A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, The Son of No One, Empire State, Boulevard, Man Down, Howl, Chops, 10 Years, The Making of a Father's Dream, and We Don't Belong Here. That's your homework, but you'll thanks me later! Follow Jake on twitter @jakepushinsky and go see the Clapper when it comes out dag nabbit! Follow director Dito Monitel on twitter @ditomontiel. Follow this podcast on twitter @storycraftpod. Please support it by subscribing, rating & reviewing on iTunes. Then tell all your friends! If you'd like to do more, please visit patreon.com/monkeygong &/or monkeygong.com/shop. Follow me on twitter & instargram @kraigcomx.

If you'll remember a few years ago I spoke with Rod Canion about how Compaq created the industry standard computer platform that finally supplanted IBM. Well, this week, on September 16, a new documentary about the Compaq story, called Silicon Cowboys, is coming to theaters, On Demand and various rental and streaming services like iTunes, Google Play and Amazon Video. So, we spoke briefly with the director of the film, Jason Cohen. Find out more about where the movie is showing and view the trailer here.The film will be opening in theaters this Friday in the following cities..New York, NY Pasadena, CA Santa Monica, CA San Jose, CA Houston, TX Columbus, OH Chicago, IL San Francisco, CA Grapevine, TX South Miami, FL Phoenix, AZ Westminster, CO Cherry Hill, NJ Arlington, MA See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode Sean, Vito & Special Guest actor Bill Tangradi, from the film Free State of Jones, will discuss trailers for the following 3 films and 1 documentary: La La Land, Yoga Hosers, Silicon Cowboys, and Complete Unknown.