You forgot to read between the lines. And I didn't say Simon Says.
So you're out.
The Altavista spinoff is much more than a search engine, Tim. It
represents Digital's engineers freeing themselves from having to write
applications and development tools that exclusively work on Digital
products. In a sense, this allows them to build things and not be stuck
in the corporate rut of complete loyalty only to company products
(something which I'm sure has lost Digital lots of potential money and
deals in the past).
Altavista is a lean, mean, independent machine. With a smaller size and
more independence, it is free to pursue collaborations, commission new
directions without being tied to corporate policy, and more. It's the
same reason why Netscape would spin off a Navio. $20 a share is really
smart, if you believe in the engineers running Digital. And I do.
> And as I understand it AltaVista was done by a couple of guys.
Yes, two.
> If I had wrote it and they were taking it public for $50 million it
> would leave more than a bitter taste in my mouth....
They are scientists, not motivated by money but rather motivated by
ideas and visions and wanting to bend the world to listen to The Way.
Kind of like a LiST owner I KNoW...
:) Adam
--- adam@cs.caltech.eduIf you want people to pay attention you can't tap them on the shoulder anymore. You have to use a sledgehammer to get their attention. -- Seven