SevenQuestions: Dan Gillmor, our man in Silicon Valley

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Seven Questions

Dan Gillmor is the computing columnist at the San Jose Mercury News. For a bit of background you can stop by his page at the Merc, where he's developed a reputation as one of the top tech reporters in the biz. 2 October 1998

1 Describe something that happens to tech reporters all the time but probably doesn't happen to reporters covering other industries. Back to the 7Q index

That's an interesting question. I covered politics at one time, and found it prepared me well for the lies, exaggerations and egomania I've encountered in technology. I also found in both cases that people generally mean to do the right thing despite those flaws.

I suspect tech reporting can be more difficult because tech people know most of us aren't engineers, so we can potentially be snowed more easily.

2 My Mac's getting long of tooth and I'm thinking of getting another one. I'm also fighting black thoughts of joining the Borg (that is, PC) collective. What would you advise?

Depends what you want to do, as always. If you have some specific tasks where a Mac would be optimal, it's still a no-brainer: Buy the Mac. If you don't mind a somewhat lesser choice of software, and the ease of use is most important, it's still an okay decision to go with the Mac. If you are worried about playing all the latest games, you probably want a PC.

3 Techie question: everyone assumes everything on the Web will be hunky dory once the capability exists to send & receive at speeds allowing full-motion video. I'm wondering: wouldn't the Web as we know it choke if everyone starts sending video files measured in megs instead of graphics files measuring in K's

Bandwidth is growing pretty quickly, but the bottleneck remains the last mile to the home and small business (big business is moving into high bandwidth at an amazing rate). Routers and switches are getting faster, and even the last mile is beginning to see real competition (cable, wireless etc.), so in a couple (or few) years I suspect we'll have decent quality two-way video.

4 Tell us a story that seems to illustrate how insane the cost of housing has become in Silicon Valley.

I stopped last spring at an open house in Mountain View, which is next door to Palo Alto. The house had 3 small bedrooms, one bath and a tiny kitchen. The asking price was well over $400,000. I laughed when I saw the listing sheet. The real estate agent told me there were already multiple bids over the asking price.

5 What are the common characteristics among the highest-flying tech stocks?

They are based on momentum, hope and hype. Occasionally you find sustainable revenues and genuine prospects for profits.

6 What's one really great musician you've discovered of late (besides yourself, of course)?

I've been rediscovering the genius of Fats Waller. Damn, could he play....

7 Every newsie has a store of funny stories they love to tell other newsies. Can you tell us one?

I was at an Oracle briefing with John Markoff, the terrific tech correspondent for the New York Times, and about 15 other reporters.

Larry Ellison was discussing the Microsoft case and said Microsoft had bludgeoned Digital Equipment Corp. into dropping a Network Computer project that DEC was working on with Oracle. Then Ellison said this would all be in the news soon, as the New York Times was working on a story on it.

Needless to say, this came as interesting news to the rest of us, and we all raced back to our papers to check it out and file our own stories. I was working on one when the NYT wire moved John's piece, which was far better sourced, naturally, so the Mercury News went with his story in the next morning's paper.

Ellison not only screwed Markoff -- I don't think he gave a second's thought to the impact this would have, but simply had a good story to tell -- but he stepped on the other news (and there was some) in the briefing.

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Copyright 1998, Thomas L. Mangan >Back to SevenQuestions

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Dan Gillmor is the computing columnist at the San Jose Mercury News. For a bit of background you can stop by his page at the Merc, where he's developed a reputation as one of the top tech reporters in the biz.		2 October 1998
1	Describe something that happens to tech reporters all the time but probably doesn't happen to reporters covering other industries.	Back to the 7Q index
	That's an interesting question. I covered politics at one time, and found it prepared me well for the lies, exaggerations and egomania I've encountered in technology. I also found in both cases that people generally mean to do the right thing despite those flaws. I suspect tech reporting can be more difficult because tech people know most of us aren't engineers, so we can potentially be snowed more easily.
2	My Mac's getting long of tooth and I'm thinking of getting another one. I'm also fighting black thoughts of joining the Borg (that is, PC) collective. What would you advise?
	Depends what you want to do, as always. If you have some specific tasks where a Mac would be optimal, it's still a no-brainer: Buy the Mac. If you don't mind a somewhat lesser choice of software, and the ease of use is most important, it's still an okay decision to go with the Mac. If you are worried about playing all the latest games, you probably want a PC.
3	Techie question: everyone assumes everything on the Web will be hunky dory once the capability exists to send & receive at speeds allowing full-motion video. I'm wondering: wouldn't the Web as we know it choke if everyone starts sending video files measured in megs instead of graphics files measuring in K's
	Bandwidth is growing pretty quickly, but the bottleneck remains the last mile to the home and small business (big business is moving into high bandwidth at an amazing rate). Routers and switches are getting faster, and even the last mile is beginning to see real competition (cable, wireless etc.), so in a couple (or few) years I suspect we'll have decent quality two-way video.
4	Tell us a story that seems to illustrate how insane the cost of housing has become in Silicon Valley.
	I stopped last spring at an open house in Mountain View, which is next door to Palo Alto. The house had 3 small bedrooms, one bath and a tiny kitchen. The asking price was well over $400,000. I laughed when I saw the listing sheet. The real estate agent told me there were already multiple bids over the asking price.
5	What are the common characteristics among the highest-flying tech stocks?
	They are based on momentum, hope and hype. Occasionally you find sustainable revenues and genuine prospects for profits.
6	What's one really great musician you've discovered of late (besides yourself, of course)?
	I've been rediscovering the genius of Fats Waller. Damn, could he play....
7	Every newsie has a store of funny stories they love to tell other newsies. Can you tell us one?
	I was at an Oracle briefing with John Markoff, the terrific tech correspondent for the New York Times, and about 15 other reporters. Larry Ellison was discussing the Microsoft case and said Microsoft had bludgeoned Digital Equipment Corp. into dropping a Network Computer project that DEC was working on with Oracle. Then Ellison said this would all be in the news soon, as the New York Times was working on a story on it. Needless to say, this came as interesting news to the rest of us, and we all raced back to our papers to check it out and file our own stories. I was working on one when the NYT wire moved John's piece, which was far better sourced, naturally, so the Mercury News went with his story in the next morning's paper. Ellison not only screwed Markoff -- I don't think he gave a second's thought to the impact this would have, but simply had a good story to tell -- but he stepped on the other news (and there was some) in the briefing.
Back to SQ index Copyright 1998, Thomas L. Mangan		>Back to SevenQuestions