211–220 of 308 posts
Many here have noted his many large-scale philanthropic efforts, which are fantastic, and often benefit our whole species. But my personal favorite, even if it doesn't benefit large swaths of humanity in the same way as a cell research insitute: https://livingcomputers.org/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Living_Computers:_Museum_%2B_L... It's a computer museum, but they work. They're turned on, and you can use them! Y…
Wow, so disappointing that his wealth didn't help him this time. Was hopeful that one of these experimental treatments we keep on hearing about would prove fruitful.
...helped him 9 years ago. But cancer came back.
I am guessing that most people here have apparently forgotten about the patent troll aspect of Paul Allen: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100827/12001710802.shtml Now I am sure there are those that will think it's in bad taste to bring this up. However I am not saying this to family or friends at a funeral. I am merely raising it so people can stop lionizing him because he was a co-founder of Microsoft. https://…
Was never a fan of allen or microsoft as I felt that Microsoft's monopoly has held back computing by a generation, but it's still sad to see cancer finally get this guy after a lifetime of struggle. He left microsoft because of cancer in the 80s. Hopefully he left much of his wealth for cancer research and lots of good can come from that.
In the 90s, yes. But in the early 80s when there were dozens of different computer architectures competing, the rise to dominance of MS-DOS brought about the standardization of computer hardware on a single platform. That, in turn, led to lower prices as hardware was commoditized, and to accessibility for millions worldwide who could never before buy a computer.
Actually, this reasoning checks out with current interpretations of monopoly law. Carry on.
I am guessing that most people here have apparently forgotten about the patent troll aspect of Paul Allen: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100827/12001710802.shtml Now I am sure there are those that will think it's in bad taste to bring this up. However I am not saying this to family or friends at a funeral. I am merely raising it so people can stop lionizing him because he was a co-founder of Microsoft. https://…
I down voted you because I believe this post in is incredibly poor taste. Nobody is perfect and calling out perceived flaws is a pretty shitty thing to do right when someone dies. Especially true given that several people who have posted here knew the guy on a personal level.
Wouldn't it be incredible if someone died and we could finally speak about them honestly?
I am guessing that most people here have apparently forgotten about the patent troll aspect of Paul Allen: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100827/12001710802.shtml Now I am sure there are those that will think it's in bad taste to bring this up. However I am not saying this to family or friends at a funeral. I am merely raising it so people can stop lionizing him because he was a co-founder of Microsoft. https://…
So, what's the name of your hero? I guarantee I can dig up some less-than-noble aspect about them, or cast a past action in negative light. People are pretty complicated, multi-faceted creatures. We're allowed to be grateful for their positive contributions even though we're all teeming with flaws. No one here is paying tribute because the man was a literal saint, and I've yet to see anyone praise him specifically fo…
> There will be plenty of opportunity to focus on the negative aspects but the polite thing to do at this time is stay quiet.
To suppress Allen's destructive actions from the summary of his life is to encourage their repetition by others.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's a good read. I often wonder what would have become of him had his parents not had the forethought to send him to Lakeside School; his family wasn't rich like Bill Gates' family; I imagine, with money, Gates would have done well whether or not he had gone to that school, but if Allen hadn't, and therefore hadn't met Gates, where would have gone? It makes me think long and hard about my children's education. They'…
It's an interesting thought experiment with Allen, because he provided the unrelenting prompting to start Microsoft. As you know from the book (and Gates has confirmed this numerous times), he urged Gates repeatedly that they should start a company focused on software to capitalize on the burgeoning personal computing era. Finally convincing him when the famous January 1975 issue of Popular Electronics came out with…
Of course, it's also possible he would have been wildly successful as an early entrant. Who can say?
I wonder why nobody mentioned Interval Research[1] several people around the Smalltalk/Squeak scene worked there. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interval_Research_Corporation
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> There’s even exponential growth in the rate of exponential growth. When you know somebody didn't take calculus or didn't "get" it. Either that, or he didn't explain what he meant. (Not Paul Allen, just another interviewee.)
Interviewee? That's a quote from Google Director of Engineering Ray Kurzweil - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Kurzweil