Would you invest in these guys?

Would you invest in these guys?



This photo of what looks like a bunch of long-haired hippies has been circulating through email accompanied by the caption "Microsoft, 1978: Would you have invested?"

Is the photo real? Is this really what the management of Microsoft looked like in 1978? Yes, on both counts.

The photo was taken December 7, 1978 in Albuquerque, New Mexico before the company moved its offices to Washington. The people in the photo are (from left to right, starting at the top) Steve Wood, Bob Wallace, Jim Lane, Bob O' Rear, Bob Greenberg, Marc McDonald, Gordon Letwin, Bill Gates, Andrea Lewis, Marla Wood, and Paul Allen.

The photo is posted on Microsoft's website on Bill Gates's biography page.

If you had chosen to invest your money with this bunch of scruffy looking characters back in 1978, you'd be quite rich now. But how rich did the people in the photo become? Here's their estimated wealth, listed in descending order:

Bill Gates: Still with Microsoft as it's chairman and chief software architect. His fortune is somewhere in the range of $50 billion.

Paul Allen: Left Microsoft in 1983 but remains a senior strategy advisor to the company. Worth around $25 billion.

Bob O'Rear: Left Microsoft in 1983. Is now a cattle rancher and is worth around $100 million.

Bob Greenberg: Left Microsoft in 1981 and then helped launch those Cabbage Patch Dolls that were so popular in the 1980s. Last time anyone checked, he was worth around $20 million.

Jim Lane: Left Microsoft in 1985. Now has his own software company and is worth around $20 million.

Gordon Letwin: Left Microsoft in 1993 and now devotes himself to environmental causes. Is worth around $20 million.

Steve and Marla Wood: They both left Microsoft in 1980 and Marla then sued the company for sex discrimination. They're worth around $15 million.

Bob Wallace: Left Microsoft in 1983. Worth around $5 million.

Andrea Lewis: Was Microsoft's first technical writer. Left the company in 1983. Worth around $2 million.

Marc McDonald: Was Microsoft's first employee. Left the company in 1984, but recently rejoined the company when Microsoft bought Design Intelligence, the company he was working for. Has the honor of getting to wear badge number 00001. Probably worth at least $1 million.

Going to work on Monday

We like to have fun here at StormFront, here is a video showing what we like to call "Going to work on Monday" (Not at StormFront of course!)

New 'Cell'-chip

This week, technicians of Sony, IBM and Toshiba told more about then the new 'Cell'-chip. It will have nine processors embedded, one 64-bit IBM Power and eight 'synergistic processing units'. It will run faster than 4 GHz. The Power processor has a controlling role. They plan to start production of test chips later this year, and after that they will be used in graphics workstations and the Sony PlayStation. Thanks to the fact there are more processors on the same chip, developers can use more OS-en at the same time and experiment with grid architectures. The Cell runs at 256 gigaflops so is super fast. As a comparison, the slowest machine in the top 500 supercomputers runs at 851 gigaflops.

SEO: The True Cost Of Doing It Wrong

SEO: The True Cost Of Doing It Wrong

Scott Buresh Contributing Writer 2005-02-01

There is much debate in the general public and in the search engine optimization community as to what amount companies should pay for search engine optimization expertise.* Prices are all over the board, and can be influenced by an SEO firm's size, reputation (or lack thereof), resources invested in customer service, and many other factors. Moreover, there are a variety of pricing models from which to choose.

Rather than hire a firm, some companies instead opt to attempt this specialized discipline in-house in order to "save" money. Of course, there is a cost associated with this option as well--labor. Often, the cost of effectively performing SEO in-house, when fully calculated, will be equal to or greater than the costs of outsourcing (due to a sizable learning curve and the necessary testing and experimentation required).

In any case, companies often make decisions on whether to outsource (and if so, which provider to choose) based solely on price. However, one thing that is rarely factored into the decision making process is the potential cost of doing SEO wrong.

The Price Tag
The most obvious cost of doing SEO wrong is the price that was paid for the actual work, whether paid to a firm or toward salaries for internal resources. While this is the most quantifiable cost and the easiest to recognize, it is generally the least expensive consideration. This concept is sometimes difficult to understand, since there is typically a finite sum the company considers "at risk" when they sign a contract with an SEO firm or commit internal resources to the task.

Penalization Issues
In many cases, companies hire shady optimization firms that use underhanded techniques to increase rankings. Other companies use well-intentioned but over-eager internal resources that implement dated, and often dangerous, methodologies. Such strategies may work in the short term, but it is typically only a matter of time before the search engines catch on to the gimmick and the site becomes penalized**. In this scenario, the company actually winds up in a worse situation than before they hired the search firm or committed the internal resources, since now they have lost any search positions with which they started! Afterwards, getting back into a search engine index is difficult and sometimes near impossible.

Lost Opportunity Cost
Search is currently one of the hottest marketing channels in the world, and increasing numbers of companies are jumping into the mix and realizing outstanding returns on their investment. However, it can take several months to attain optimal results with search engine optimization, and choosing the wrong provider or using ineffective methodology can delay any returns. It is critical that the methodologies used at the outset are effective and timely to minimize the waiting period for results.

Disenchantment Leading to Channel Abandonment
Worse yet, sometimes a company that hired an inexperienced or unscrupulous firm, or used internal resources to little effect, will abandon the idea of pursuing SEO. Frequently, companies will make blanket statements about how SEO "doesn't work for their business", because they didn't get results from a single poorly-executed initiative. This mistaken belief is potentially the most expensive cost of doing SEO wrong, since the major increases in revenue that SEO can provide are never realized by such companies (although they are often realized by that company's competitors).

Conclusion
While price can (and should) certainly be a factor in the SEO decision making process, it should not be the primary factor. Unfortunately many companies who think they are saving money when making SEO decisions find out later that the actual costs of doing SEO wrong can make the "savings" pale by comparison. Worse yet, firms that focus primarily on price will sometimes unknowingly embrace methodologies that put their site at great risk for penalization and at best do not get the anticipated results. Meanwhile, those who abandon SEO entirely due to a single bad experience leave the channel wide open for their competitors, who are usually happy to take advantage.

* For the purpose of this article, we refer to "natural" or "organic" search engine optimization, where a company helps a firm to show up prominently in the natural results, as opposed to the "sponsored" or "paid" results.

** While fear of penalization is often used as a scare tactic by SEO firms, the threat is very real--one need only read about the recent Traffic Power fiasco to confirm it:

http://www.isedb.com/news/article/953

http://www.seoconsultants.com/traffic-power/clients

http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/ripoff64783.htm


About the Author:
Scott Buresh is managing partner of Medium Blue Search Engine Marketing. His articles have appeared in numerous publications, including ZDNet, WebProNews, MarketingProfs, DarwinMag, SiteProNews, SEO Today, and Search Engine Guide. He was also a contributor to the recently released Building Your Business with Google For Dummies (Wiley, 1994). Medium Blue is an Atlanta search engine optimization company with local and national clients, including Georgia Pacific, DuPont, and Boston Scientific.

What's good for Google...

What's good for Google...

Google's fourth quarter report is massive. Showing 26% revenue growth in the 3-months following their successful IPO, (a 101% increase over the last quarter of 2003), Google's business model makes them the biggest distributor of online advertising. The results announced in yesterday's investor conference bolstered generally strong confidence in the contextual ad-delivery model which can only bode well for rivals like Overture, Kanoodle, Ask, Findwhat, and Lycos. There is obviously a fortune to be made in ad-delivery efficiencies and there is obviously a lot of money about to be invested in the paid-search sector. Paid-ads delivered to directly but unobtrusively to those who express interest in the ad's topic is the goose that continues to lay golden eggs for those who can deliver those ads. Google's Achilles heal is the amount it is dependent on paid advertising with an estimated 95% of revenues generated through the AdWords/AdSense programs.

Gardening Is Fun!

StormFront launched GardeningIsFun (www.gardeningisfun.com) today! This marks StormFront's continued commitment towards providing reliable information to its clients.

Gardening Is Fun features gardening tips, water feature ideas, lawncare links, and amazing flower resources. Check it out today: Gardening Is Fun

Business Design Services

StormFront Development has just released an incredible business resource. Business Design Services is growing to be the most effective collection of business resources. Categories include:

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New StormFront Development Blog

StormFront has launched a new blog! Our newsletter has been stopped for the time being. However, while it is undergoing a cosmetic makeover, you can find our weekly articles to be published at the new SFGroup Blog.

Be sure to check often as new material is being added daily.

You can expect news-worthy articles from professionals in the web industry. Past article topics have included computer security, scams, blogs, web design tactics, marketing, business solutions, and small business credit solutions.

Thank you for your continued support of StormFront Development, now check out the new Blog

Wedding Information at GirlCloset.com

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Consumer Credit Report | Consumer Credit Report information

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Security Information at crackingsecurity.com

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information about books on BookCities.com

StormFront Development recently updated BookCities.com, their online book retailer. BookCities is a collection of book related sites brought together for the ease of book lovers.

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Everything adventure travel at CheapTravelSpot.com

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Medical | Medical information

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Phishing Scam | Phishing Scam information

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