The “retirement” – of Bill Gates was widely announced last week. It explains Ray Ozzy’s “Bill Gates” keynote during TechEd opening last week. Now Ray is the “Vision” guy.

Had BG announced his retirement in 1995, Microsoft’s shares would have tumbled. Not now. Microsoft has a good first echelon team and will survive and thrive without the day-to-day input from BG. Microsoft is much more of a “normal” company now, with ups and downs, hirings and firings and products doing well and flopping. So it’s no big deal for Microsoft.

However, maybe in the future people will look back and label the last three decades as the “Computer Revolution”. Before that computer were big expensive affairs, detached from the life of most people. Now computers belong to day to day lives of most people in developed economies. Some people like to separate the Internet as a different phase but I think future generations will not see the difference, for the “Internet Revolution” wouldn’t have happened without the “Microcomputer Revolution”. If you are to select an “end event” to the revolution, I think BG’s retirement looks like a good candidate.
 
Of course there are still areas to be conquered, especially using small portable devices in a day to day basis. But it won’t be a “revolution”. The “Gold Rush” days are over.

1. I showed up 3 hours prior. They could have put me in an earlier flight to NYC.
2. In fact I didn’t wait in the small “American Eagle” boarding area of Logan because the place doesn’t even have a restroom. I waited at the bar/restaurant and had a meal – and used the restroom.
3. I did show up at the gate ten minutes prior to the boarding time.
4. Six other people were in the same situation as I was.

This is the worst possible place to set up a convention.

The hotels are not close to the convention center. They are not far, but due to traffic it takes up to one hour to cross the four miles or so that separates the convention center from the hotels.  No walking here.

The drivers don’t give you a break: they don’t take you in outside a scheduled stop neither let you out. Everybody seems to have an attitude and wants to pick up a fight.

Although the “Big Dig” highway project is done, downtown is still under construction. That’s maybe the reason why my bus from the hotel never took the same route twice. Or maybe the drivers are in a “slowdown” due to some labor dispute (see official Microsoft comment below). Ride time varied from 15 to 50 minutes, at the same time of the day and after the rush hour!

Everything is expensive: hotels, restaurants and taxis. A ride from the convention Center to the hotel costs US$30-US$40. The airport authority charges cabs US$6.50 just for the privilege to pick up passengers in the terminal. Of course, they pass on the charge to us. Oh, I arrived at about 1 AM; the taxi stand was about ¼ mile away, there were no carts for hire inside the incredibly messy American Airlines baggage claim. I had to stay in line for about one hour because few taxis were coming.

There are very few tourist attractions in Boston. One of them is Ben Franklin’s resting place, a modest tombstone that you can look through a fence. I understand why he spent so many years in Paris instead of here. The others are:

• The “freedom trail”, a line of tiles crossing downtown that had something to do with the Independence. The mythology was probably put together after the fact so as to give souvenir sellers somewhere to set up the stands.
• A statue of a Teddy Bear that used to belong to the FAO Swartz toy store. The company went under in 2004, closed its Boston store and decided to donate the statue to the city instead of selling it for scrap. Now it lies pathetically in front of the Children’s hospital, just to remind the passers that there are sick people inside.
• The Cheers bar, inspired on the TV show that was set in Boston. Of course, the show was shot in Hollywood so the bar is a copy of a fake. A copy of a fake! And people still go there.

You can check those and other lame attractions here: http://www.boston.com/travel/boston/must_sees_4/. Don't miss the CITGO neon sign or the site of the 1919 great molasses flood - I am not making this up.

Official Microsoft Notice:

"Notice to Microsoft TechEd 2006 attendees: A local labor dispute involving charter bus service provider Peter Pan Bus Lines and Teamsters Union Local 25 is resulting in isolated demonstration activity and increased security measures at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center and area hotels. Microsoft TechEd 2006 is dedicated to ensuring that the impact of the dispute on bus service for attendees will remain minimal. "