>Bill Gates never ran a computer business.
Yes he did.
>At age 17, Gates formed a venture with Allen, called Traf-O-Data, to make traffic counters based on the Intel 8008 processor.[1]
And the idea that someone needs to have run a computer business in the past in order to run a computer business in the future is illogical. It means that no one would ever be able to start running a computer business. The requirement should not be running a business in the past, but having some experience with that type of business in the past. Bill Gates had tons of computer experience.
Re:Fordlandia
by please_choose on Sunday March 11, 2018 @08:39PM
(#16565500)
"It means that no one would ever be able to start running a computer business. The requirement should not be running a business in the past, but having some experience with that type of business in the past. Bill Gates had tons of computer experience."
Thanks for helping me make my point.
Also, I didn't say "Bill Gates" and "Microsoft". You're right, Traf-O-Data was a "modest success". It reinforces my point.
Re:Fordlandia
by emodendroket on Sunday March 11, 2018 @09:35PM
(#16565676)
Right, who could forget the epoch-making work of Traf-O-Data.
Re:Fordlandia
by please_choose on Sunday March 11, 2018 @09:54PM
(#16565737)
Since when is success dependent on the amount of people in the world that know about it?
They know the "problem" they're solving, they just can't publicly advertise it, because their actual business model is to track drivers' movements and sell the data. Want to know where Bob Smith parked on 14 May 2018? That'll be $32, thankyou.
Previous knowledge of running a parking lot is not causal with startup failure. I think a better way to be critical is the fact that they say they're "disrupting" parking lots, but can't describe the problem they're solving.