President's Message

September 2007 (v1.6)
Rob Limbaugh - President

The trip to Aruba was pretty good! It was interesting to see the landscape and environment down there. Most time was spent pool-side, but we also took time out on a Waverunner, did a snorkeling trip through the "Jolly Pirates" venture (http://www.jollypirates.com), went to "Texas de Brazil" (http://www.texasdebrazil.com), golfed at Divi Links (http://www.divigolf.com), snorkeled at Baby Beach, and we did the Aruba Safari Off-Road Adventure tour through De Palm tours (http://www.depalm.com/adventure/adventure.html). We stayed at the Occidental Grand (http://www.occidentalhotels.com/grandaruba/index.asp).

Across the street from our Hotel was a little bit of civilization (for tourists, I'm sure), which hid a little plaza that was for obtaining wireless internet access through Wi-Fi Aruba. There were connection booths for connecting one's laptop through a modem, and long distance phone cards could be purchased. I should have opened a temporary Wi-Fi Aruba account… the 'complimentary wi-fi' at the hotel was lack-luster, at best.

Given the prevalence of the emerging VoIP technologies, I figured there had to be a practical way to make long distance calls for 'free' and considered a Vonage account. Instead, I found iCall ( http://www.icall.com). However, it's been a bit quirky, at least on a wi-fi connection and attempting to use the built-in microphone and speakers on the laptop. Since it's free for calling anywhere within the US to any US phone number, I'll probably fiddle with it a little more before writing it off altogether.

Book Review – "Fire in the Valley" by Paul Freiberger and Michael Swaine
Between the various activities and the flight back, I managed to squeeze this book in. There are a couple revisions of this book, and it's hard to find. A used copy may run about $30. The latest revision in mint condition can fetch over $100. Why so much? Well, this book is about how the personal computer revolution started from Silicon Valley. The story unfolds explaining how the PC industry started, the key people who led it, and the successes and failures along the way. The book is a good read, but it jumps back and forth depending on the chapter topics. For example, the book goes from concept, to hardware, to software, to mainstream usage. The timelines and people overlap at times between those various topics. As such, the chapters are describing concurrent events more so than not. In my opinion, I think it would be a little easier to follow if they had written it according to a timeline rather than by topic. There is a timeline in the book and quite a few pages of pictures of significant people, events, and machines. It can be found on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/Fire-Valley-Personal-Computer-Collectors/dp/0071358951.

Video Review - “Pirates of Silicon Valley”
Of course, the book above wouldn't be complete without seeing the docudrama it inspired. 'Pirates' was made for TNT and released to video later. I was only able to identify a few scenes in the movie with sections of the book ('Fire in the Valley'). The movie details are mostly accurate. What it does different from the book is that it builds background of the personalities and interactions of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates and how Apple and Microsoft started. For more information check out the Internet Movie Database (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0168122/), Netflix (http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70036929), or Blockbuster (http://www.blockbuster.com/catalog/movieDetails/134990).

This is one case where I would suggest the movie over the book. It's more refreshing, in my opinion, to be able to see the personal interactions and social climate in contrast to technology. The book focuses on more of the matter-of-fact details and loses that 'human' aspect of the times and goals.

Until next time…

ROB LIMBAUGH
relimbaugh@dacs.org