6 ms·

Steve Jobs and Jeff Bezos meet "Ginger" (2003)

87 points by hboon 14y ago

mmahemoff 14y ago
The article's from 2003, but the hype began sometime around 2000 and it was revealed in 2001. This and Transmeta were these two ultra-secret projects at the time, with big names, a lot of speculation, and no accurate leaks until they were officially unveiled. Neither really panned out.
- InclinedPlane 14y ago
  I always thought Transmeta's code morphing technology was really cool but it never really had a chance to mature and the patents kept other folks from looking at the idea.
Hitchhiker 14y ago
An interesting thought experiment to do.. get really smart friends to read this piece after stripping Harvard , Bezos, Jobs and almost all the names .. replace them with variables X_1,X_2 etc.. perhaps a good thing to do for almost all such pieces.
- mmcconnell1618 14y ago
  I've always thought a political news web site that stripped out names/parties would be interesting too. When you don't have a bias for/against the speaker you may find you are more open to ideas.
- tixocloud 14y ago
  You don't necessarily have to have "smart" friends but it is a good idea to always include people outside your domain that might bring their own ideas. It avoids the issue of you drinking your own kool-aid. Similar to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groupthink http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groupthink
maked00 14y ago
Just goes to show the kings new clothes can fool the 1%.
xefer 14y ago
I get the same feeling about Google Glass that I got from Segway: cool technology, but who the heck is going to actually use it?
- sajid 14y ago
  I never understood what problem the Segway was supposed to solve. Same with Glass.
  - petercooper 14y ago
    Maybe it's confirmation bias but most "big bang" inventions or services seem like this to me. It's the relative slow burners that build up over time that seem to get huge in their fields (e.g. the iPod, Skype, Facebook, Pinterest, even HN.) A big launch almost seems to be a curse. The iPad is probably the main counter example I can think of in recent years.
    - hboon 14y ago
      Interesting you mentioned it. I posted this article after reading http://www.asiaone.com/News/Latest+News/Science+and+Tech/Story/A1Story20130415-415969.html http://www.asiaone.com/News/Latest+News/Science+and+Tech/Sto... and recalled this lesson about going big. I wonder with the iPhone and iPad, if a smaller and quieter launch would have caused more problems. Would they have been able to survive Antennagate [1], for example? [1] http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-57406331-17/iphone-4-antennagate-site-goes-live-lets-you-collect-$15/ http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-57406331-17/iphone-4-anten... PS: Singapore is nothing like what they mentioned in the article, even 10 years ago.
  - derekp7 14y ago
    Can't you see it -- these two technologies are complimentary! Glass will be used to dispatch Mall Security on their Segways, along with giving them real-time updates on how long a group of teenagers were occupying a table at the food court.
  - Spooky23 14y ago
googoobaby 14y ago
This is a great book, btw, "Code Name Ginger". The author never fell for the hype and avoided Stockholm Syndrome being embedded with the team so there's sufficient detachment.
breakall 14y ago
Jobs' harsh criticism reminded me instantly of the 2003 email from Bill Gates trashing Windows Movie Maker, the Microsoft.com website, etc. [1] It also reminded me of presentations I've given that have "gotten out of hand". I've found it's nearly impossible to direct a meeting like that--smart, intense people will not be led along the carefully crafted golden path you lay out for their time. In Tim Adams' shoes, you may find yourself frustrated answering interruptive questions that are answered clearly in your deck, spec document, etc. After much experience with this, I've found that if you can give a sensible answer to the question, and after the answer is accepted, just say "... and that's in the document on page X", people are generally pleased with that. If they point out a loophole, gap, etc. in your design, "we will call that out" or "we'll add that immediately" can get you moving along again. The "did you read the entire deck" question was funny. (Could that possibly work?? :-P) [1] http://blog.seattlepi.com/microsoft/2008/06/24/full-text-an-epic-bill-gates-e-mail-rant/ http://blog.seattlepi.com/microsoft/2008/06/24/full-text-an-...
- ChuckMcM 14y ago
  I find smart people like to work that way, read the deck first then talk about the 2 or three key things that everything else hinges on. Saves time.

87 points by hboon 14y ago

The article's from 2003, but the hype began sometime around 2000 and it was revealed in 2001. This and Transmeta were these two ultra-secret projects at the time, with big names, a lot of speculation, and no accurate leaks until they were officially unveiled. Neither really panned out.

InclinedPlane 14y ago
I always thought Transmeta's code morphing technology was really cool but it never really had a chance to mature and the patents kept other folks from looking at the idea.

Hitchhiker 14y ago

An interesting thought experiment to do.. get really smart friends to read this piece after stripping Harvard , Bezos, Jobs and almost all the names .. replace them with variables X_1,X_2 etc.. perhaps a good thing to do for almost all such pieces.

mmcconnell1618 14y ago
I've always thought a political news web site that stripped out names/parties would be interesting too. When you don't have a bias for/against the speaker you may find you are more open to ideas.
tixocloud 14y ago
You don't necessarily have to have "smart" friends but it is a good idea to always include people outside your domain that might bring their own ideas. It avoids the issue of you drinking your own kool-aid. Similar to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groupthink http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groupthink

maked00 14y ago

Just goes to show the kings new clothes can fool the 1%.

xefer 14y ago

I get the same feeling about Google Glass that I got from Segway: cool technology, but who the heck is going to actually use it?

sajid 14y ago
I never understood what problem the Segway was supposed to solve. Same with Glass.
- petercooper 14y ago
  Maybe it's confirmation bias but most "big bang" inventions or services seem like this to me. It's the relative slow burners that build up over time that seem to get huge in their fields (e.g. the iPod, Skype, Facebook, Pinterest, even HN.) A big launch almost seems to be a curse. The iPad is probably the main counter example I can think of in recent years.
  - hboon 14y ago
    Interesting you mentioned it. I posted this article after reading http://www.asiaone.com/News/Latest+News/Science+and+Tech/Story/A1Story20130415-415969.html http://www.asiaone.com/News/Latest+News/Science+and+Tech/Sto... and recalled this lesson about going big. I wonder with the iPhone and iPad, if a smaller and quieter launch would have caused more problems. Would they have been able to survive Antennagate [1], for example? [1] http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-57406331-17/iphone-4-antennagate-site-goes-live-lets-you-collect-$15/ http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-57406331-17/iphone-4-anten... PS: Singapore is nothing like what they mentioned in the article, even 10 years ago.
- derekp7 14y ago
  Can't you see it -- these two technologies are complimentary! Glass will be used to dispatch Mall Security on their Segways, along with giving them real-time updates on how long a group of teenagers were occupying a table at the food court.
- Spooky23 14y ago

googoobaby 14y ago

This is a great book, btw, "Code Name Ginger". The author never fell for the hype and avoided Stockholm Syndrome being embedded with the team so there's sufficient detachment.

breakall 14y ago

Jobs' harsh criticism reminded me instantly of the 2003 email from Bill Gates trashing Windows Movie Maker, the Microsoft.com website, etc. [1] It also reminded me of presentations I've given that have "gotten out of hand". I've found it's nearly impossible to direct a meeting like that--smart, intense people will not be led along the carefully crafted golden path you lay out for their time. In Tim Adams' shoes, you may find yourself frustrated answering interruptive questions that are answered clearly in your deck, spec document, etc. After much experience with this, I've found that if you can give a sensible answer to the question, and after the answer is accepted, just say "... and that's in the document on page X", people are generally pleased with that. If they point out a loophole, gap, etc. in your design, "we will call that out" or "we'll add that immediately" can get you moving along again. The "did you read the entire deck" question was funny. (Could that possibly work?? :-P) [1] http://blog.seattlepi.com/microsoft/2008/06/24/full-text-an-epic-bill-gates-e-mail-rant/ http://blog.seattlepi.com/microsoft/2008/06/24/full-text-an-...

ChuckMcM 14y ago
I find smart people like to work that way, read the deck first then talk about the 2 or three key things that everything else hinges on. Saves time.