Bill Gates Archives - The Silicon Underground

Expanded vs Extended memory, or EMS vs XMS

Dave Farquhar — Fri, 11 Aug 2017 11:00:20 +0000

DOS veterans may remember messing with expanded and extended memory to get memory above 640K. Here’s what you need to know about expanded vs extended memory, or EMS vs XMS. They are two different approaches to solving the same problem.

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Radio Shack computers

Dave Farquhar — Thu, 25 May 2017 11:00:13 +0000

Radio Shack released one of the first home computers, the TRS-80 Model I, in 1977. Between 1977 and 1979, it sold 100,000 units. Radio Shack sold them just as quickly as Tandy could make them. You can count Radio Shack and

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How DDoS attacks work

Dave Farquhar — Sat, 22 Oct 2016 11:00:56 +0000

Yesterday, half the Internet was broken. I knew something was wrong when I couldn’t get into Salesforce to check on a support ticket for my biggest customer. Another member of my team sent us a warning that a big DDoS attack

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How the Amiga could have lived to age 30 and beyond

Dave Farquhar — Sat, 25 Jul 2015 14:25:46 +0000

It was 30 years ago this week that Commodore released its landmark, long-time-coming Amiga 1000 computer–the first 1990s computer in a field full of 1970s retreads. Yes, it was a 1990s computer in 1985. It had color and sound built

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Larry Page’s exile and rebirth

Dave Farquhar — Wed, 07 May 2014 11:00:47 +0000

A lot of people really dislike Google the way I’ve been known for disliking Apple and Microsoft. It never really occurred to me that all three are related, until I read this piece on Google cofounder Larry Page. Much of

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Why AMD’s turnaround is working when so many turnarounds fail

Dave Farquhar — Fri, 11 Apr 2014 11:00:58 +0000

As this editorial notes, a year ago chipmaker AMD was on the ropes. Today AMD still won’t be unseating Intel any time soon, but they’re profitable again. The problem, it argues, is that changing CEOs isn’t enough. A CEO has

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Getting past your own biases

Dave Farquhar — Thu, 13 Feb 2014 11:00:05 +0000

I read Andy Grove’s Only the Paranoid Survive last week. I always figured it was an autobiography or memoir, not a business book. But it’s a business book. A very good one. I avoided it because I didn’t like Andy

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Bombshell: Ballmer steps down from Microsoft

Dave Farquhar — Sat, 24 Aug 2013 17:54:23 +0000

I’m sure you’ve heard by now that Steve Ballmer is retiring. It’s time. If anything, I agree with the people who say he would have been better off retiring years ago. But I really didn’t expect it. In spite of

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Windows NT turns 20

Dave Farquhar — Sat, 27 Jul 2013 22:03:59 +0000

The first version of Windows NT, version 3.1 (to coincide with the then-current 16-bit version of Windows) was released 20 years ago today. It was an insanely ambitious effort for Microsoft that took a while to pay off, though it

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Take a peek at Bill Gates’ pre-Microsoft resume

Dave Farquhar — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 17:24:13 +0000

Bill Gates and Paul Allen posed for a re-creation of a famous early Microsoft photograph this week; at the same event, Gates’ pre-Microsoft resume surfaced. I wouldn’t call any of this earth-shattering, but it’s interesting to see these relics of

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