John Myles White » Business http://www.johnmyleswhite.com "He who refuses to do arithmetic is doomed to talk nonsense." Wed, 26 Oct 2011 11:36:05 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Providence at Work http://www.johnmyleswhite.com/notebook/2010/08/27/providence-at-work/ http://www.johnmyleswhite.com/notebook/2010/08/27/providence-at-work/#comments Fri, 27 Aug 2010 22:19:24 +0000 John Myles White http://www.johnmyleswhite.com/?p=3984 In August 2008, I commented on the remarkable incompetence of Blockbuster’s CEO. Now, in August 2010, it seems that we’re about to watch Blockbuster announce bankruptcy.

It’s extraordinary how just the world can be at times.

]]> http://www.johnmyleswhite.com/notebook/2010/08/27/providence-at-work/feed/ 0 Apple’s Mythical Game Console http://www.johnmyleswhite.com/notebook/2009/05/06/apples-mythical-game-console/ http://www.johnmyleswhite.com/notebook/2009/05/06/apples-mythical-game-console/#comments Wed, 06 May 2009 16:08:17 +0000 John Myles White http://www.johnmyleswhite.com/?p=3526 I will bet money that the rumor that Apple is developing a game console is entirely false. Any takers?

]]> http://www.johnmyleswhite.com/notebook/2009/05/06/apples-mythical-game-console/feed/ 0 J. P. Morgan vs. Chrysler http://www.johnmyleswhite.com/notebook/2009/04/05/j-p-morgan-vs-chrysler/ http://www.johnmyleswhite.com/notebook/2009/04/05/j-p-morgan-vs-chrysler/#comments Sun, 05 Apr 2009 20:13:36 +0000 John Myles White http://www.johnmyleswhite.com/?p=3482 I’m glad to see that J. P. Morgan is fighting for the liquidation of Chrysler. As far as I can see, Chrysler has been among the walking dead for decades. It was, after all, bailed out once before, a few years before I was even born. Indeed, Chrysler’s terrible historical performance is so notable that it’s even mentioned in Jolliffe’s book on Principal Component Analysis.

]]> http://www.johnmyleswhite.com/notebook/2009/04/05/j-p-morgan-vs-chrysler/feed/ 0 No One Will Ever Want a Personal Computer http://www.johnmyleswhite.com/notebook/2008/08/20/no-one-will-ever-want-a-personal-computer/ http://www.johnmyleswhite.com/notebook/2008/08/20/no-one-will-ever-want-a-personal-computer/#comments Wed, 20 Aug 2008 12:51:06 +0000 John Myles White http://www.johnmyleswhite.com/?p=3094

I don’t care how many movies are available to me. As my personal taste as a customer, I want to watch the new stuff so whether we have 10,000 movies or 200 movies doesn’t matter if I don’t want to see any of the movies that we have . . . our assortment is heavily weighted toward newer releases and mainstream staple titles.1

The quote comes from an interview with Blockbuster’s CEO, who evidently finds Netflix’s success very confusing. Every one of his comments reminds me a great deal of the infamous claim by Ken Olson, the President of Digital Equipment Corporation, in 1977, that,

There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.2

It’s rare that you get a chance to watch a CEO of a once thriving corporation publicly reveal his inability to adapt to a changed market. There is a sort of schadenfreude joy to it, along with a reminder that no monopoly is permanent under capitalism.

  1. Jim Keyes : Wired.com : Blockbuster CEO ‘Confused by Fascination’ With Netflix
  2. PiPrograms : Famous Last Words
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