Gang,
This is severely off topic but I had to pour my thoughts out to someone
and who better than a group of technology refugees?
My employer, DIRECTV Broadband, Inc., announced today that it was
ceasing operations effective immediately. Operations staff are being
retained to gracefully shut down the company and migrate our customers
over to alternate DSL services, but sales and marketing staff (which
includes me) were asked to leave the premises today.
DIRECTV Broadband provided high-speed Internet access via DSL to
160,000 customers in the USA. We positioned ourselves as an alternative
to legacy telco DSL services with a focus on serving enthusiasts of
high-speed 'net access. Telcos tend to be feature/speed-driven; we
strove to be lifestyle/benefit/solution driven.
In the 2 years I have been with the company, my Newton has been a
constant companion for office productivity. I remember the first day I
interviewed with the company in January, 2001. I had my Newton in my
portfolio with me and yanked the battery out so it wouldn't
inadvertantly sound an alarm during the middle of an interview. DIRECTV
Broadband HQ is literally right next door to Apple -- in fact, our
building was a former Apple facility. All the printer areas and coffee
areas and restrooms have signs bearing little bitmapped icons to
identify the services available in each niche. After my first interview
I went to a nearby Chinese restaurant for my lunch. As is my habit, I
took out my Newton during lunch to entertain myself with a Newton book,
Usenet articles downloaded via Inkspot, or maybe a game of Deep Green
or Newtris. I remember entertaining the possibility that somebody who
worked on the Newton might be in the same restaurant with me at that
moment! What a thrill!
I used my little green friend often during my employment with DIRECTV
Broadband. I could often be seen taking notes during meetings. I relied
on the To Do list and calendaring capabilities (augmented with More
Info, TimeTrax, and synchronized with my desktop PC via Outlink) to
keep on task and remind me about important meetings. I was able to
integrate my Newton with my desktop PC and the company's other network
resources in a number of ways: I installed packages over a serial
cable; I printed to corporate networked printers via the built-in
postscript/Appletalk capabilities, then later, after the IT department
nixed Appletalk on the network I used PrintPak as a serial-network
gateway to our networked printers; I accessed the Internet using the
Newt's DHCP and TCP/IP capabilities through our company's network; I
uploaded formatted notes with sketches to my desktop via X-Port for
mailing to colleagues and incorporating into powerpoint presentations;
I even made a few presentations to management using slides that I
created on my Newton using Availworks -- they printed out great and
looked good as anything created with Powerpoint. (Okay I admit it --
once or twice I stole a wireless Internet connection via 802.11b/Driver
Labo/Lucent WaveLAN silver and browsed the 'net during a boring
meeting.) Er and yes, I did participate in discussions on Newtontalk
while I was supposed to be working now and then. But hey -- it's good
for developing collaboration and problem-solving skills, right?
I and my colleagues worked hard to build the best high-speed DSL
service that we could. It's too bad that in the end everything we
created is destined to be pieced off into disparate parts. But I'll
always take pride in the work we did, the obstacles we overcomed, and
the wealth we created for investors and employees. My old, outdated,
discontinued, disparaged and devalued Newton helped me every step of
the way.
Anybody know of any job openings here in Silicon Valley?
-Jeremy
-
Jeremy Bond SHEPHERD | Americans practice different faiths in
San Francisco, CA | churches, synagogues, mosques and temples.
jbond_at_jameswhale.com | And many good people practice no faith
Phone: 415-929-0297 | at all.
ICQ: 72267083 | -- George W. Bush, finally gets it right
AIM: jeremybondsf | in his Easter Address of 2002
PGP key available on public keyservers.
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