Sunday, August 29, 2004

http://www.detnews.com/2004/editorial/0408/27/a09-255537.htm

I spent some more time looking at the CBO data quoted in the article. Its true that the top 20%, 10%, 5%, and 1% got a 3.8%, 3.2%, 2.3%, and 0.7% [sic] increase in federal income tax burden. However, the CBO data also says that those same groups had a decrease of -0.6%, -1.1%, -1.5%, and -1.8% in overall federal tax liabilities. So the impact was actually the opposite of what Luskin reported.
Please see:
http://www.cbo.gov/showdoc.cfm?index=5746&sequence=1#pt4
table 4 year 2004. Luskin used the 'Change in Share of Individual Income Tax Liabilities' sub table and didn't mention the related 'Change in Share of Total Federal Tax Liabilities' sub table.

Wednesday, August 25, 2004

I always go back to Engelbart's paper to get grounding in what the point of it all is. We create tools that amplify intelligence that allow us to create more tools that will amplify intelligence further. Software was one tool that allowed Google to make the search tool. Now that we have search, what is the next tool that will trigger the next phase of intelligence amplification?

Tuesday, August 24, 2004

Is recent upsurge in talk about DHTML anything new?

How is this different from Outlook Web Access, Netscape's plug-ins, or Java Web Start? I grok the debate between fat and thin clients, and the question of whether thin is bad because it means the end of windows as we know it or thin is good because it means a subscription revenue model. And postulating how and where the industry will evolve is a worthy exercise. But forgive me for not understanding why Google's and Yahoo's recent efforts along these lines constitute a shift in the technological landscape.

In what direction will information worker application innovate in the future? And will that direction be better served by what Win32 offers or what Google offers? If we are moving towards collaborative spaces that requires software that searches, analyzes, and presents "information universally accessible and useful" [sic], then Google has indeed shifted the landscape on the fat versus thin debate. Their web client for information workers may be better able to address these new types of applications than Win32 currently can.

Google currently offers only a free beta version of their API for personnel use. So they are making no revenue on it. But if their "platform" is where new applications take root, then that is a loss for Win32, no?