Forbes' 10 Rules of the Cheap Revolution

Rich Karlgaard, Forbes' publisher, has long written about what he calls the Cheap Revolution since 2006, describing it as "the wholesale shift by corporate customers and techmakers to cheap chips and open-source (often free) software such as Linux. They are embracing simplicity, unlocking prodigious new power and cutting tech costs by up to 90%, threatening the Silicon Valley plutocracy."

In the current issue, Karlgaard cites "10 Rules of the Cheap Revolution," and while I think they all make sense, I want to highlight the ones I think are most important for tech companies.

Consumers rule. Consumer technology is now ahead of most industrial technology, which forces businesses to change their operational practices.

Interface rules. The friendliest interface will win. It's all moving in the direction of entertainment.

Transparency rules. All those 1990s predictions of middleman destruction turn out to be true. Poor bandwidth only temporarily delayed this inevitability.

Self-discipline rules. We are on our own. The most important software of all is our internal operating system.

For the entire article, please check out it here.

Do The Olympics Help Republicans?

That's a question that Forbes' publisher Rich Karlgaard asks in his blog. He thinks the Olympics instill pride in Americans, and that patriotism always helps the Republicans. I don't think that's necessarily true, and wrote the following comment to his blog:

The Olympics are a distraction, but they won't have a long-term impact. Americans across the political spectrum can be proud of our athletes without that pride swaying their vote. (We can also be proud of all the athletes who were born or educated here but represent other countries.)

Once the Olympics have ended, those of us who have watched the Games will go back to noticing the problems afflicting the country: high gas prices, high food prices, ongoing problems with the financial markets and credit that will lead to continued turmoil, foreclosures and layoffs, etc. And that's even before we remember the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, problems with Russia and Georgia.

We're all proud of Michael Phelps, but when Bob Costas and the others return home, we're going to want a new storyline. We'll want change.

That does not bode well for McCain.