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A Giant Pinball Game - Fast Money Recap (9/30/08)

Global trade is a good thing, but our financial institutions (and theirs) need to remain compartmented, just as the different areas of a ship are... If one area takes a torpedo, it floods just that area, not the entire ship. We don't need to expand our exposure to toxic debt, we need to limit it. Cooperation is OK, but not taking the doors off the hinges and the shades off the windows. We are still a discrete and unique country and we need to start acting like it.

On Yahoo/ Microsoft: Jerry Yang Should Be Fired

"Time is of the essence..." I'd like to see both parties just cool it! What if they were to wait 1 year and then, both sides would have time to cool off, draw a more accurate picture of where each company is headed and come up with a better idea of what the fmv of Yahoo, is. Jumping into a marriage is risky for both... Waiting, allows both partners time to consider their future carefully, before they sign on the dotted line.... Patience and deciding at leasure, not under pressure (or being rushed), is almost always the best way to assure that it's a win-win for both parties involved. That word, again, is patience... If this is a good marriage, it will still be a good marriage, 12 months from now.

Answering Challenges to an Internet-Based Operating System

Since, I've been out of the business for several years, I won't speak in terms of specifics... I remember how conceited and cruel that I was to others and I don't want to get into a detail-oriented clash with the current generation of "gurus." That said, I believe that diversity is an essential strength, be it in a country like ours, or in the network arena.

What made the concept of a network so powerful? It was the sharing of diverse resources, capabilities and conceptual approaches to computing. No single architecture, platform, or group could do everthing that all of the other groups could, collectively. Standard interfaces were necessary for connectivity, but there was no effort to beat each segment into uniformity.

Why is the USA so powerful? It's because the early architects realized that a singular, federal state could never equal the power of having a diverse collection of states, each with the freedom to make their own laws. The federal system was merely to act as a coordinator of these entities... Similarly, driving a single standard down to every machine, neutralizes the benefit of having a network. Connectivity is good and standard interfaces are necessary, but federalization, or making it (the network) just one big computer, sets us back to somewhere in the 1980's. Standard protocols will always be necessary, but homoginizing the Internet, will stifle diversity and creativity, not to mention the inate security, derived from the isolation provided by dissimilar platforms and architectures. Singular systems provide single points of failure.

So long as there is good connectivity, we don't all need to be the same color, as in 'Big Blue.' That pushes us back, even further... Any good idea, taken to the extreme, results in extreme consequences. Concentration of power, results in the shrinkage of the aggregate power. There room enough for everyone to be themselves and innovate, within their own spheres of cyberspace.

Peace!