J. Dvorak: ASUS' Big Development

While the media is downplaying ASUS’ ROM boot chip, it may be the most interesting development in a while.

by John Dvorak

The ASUS sneak attack. The most interesting story the media is downplaying is the ASUS announcement that it will have a ROM boot chip on all its motherboards, which will boot Linux instantly on start-up. When you flick the switch the machine is instantly on. (It’s about time.) Of course, you will have to press another button for the machine to load Windows.

This development is important, since 90 percent of the time all a user wants to do is surf the Web. Often when leaving for a trip, I forget to check the weather. To do so, I would have to start up my computer, wait forever for it to boot, then go online. This way, I just flip it on, and boom—I get a browser and the info and I’m done.

It’s an extremely subversive ploy for a number of reasons. First of all, it gets people used to Linux, gives them a pain-free experience, and provides quick rewards. Second, it shows users that—most of the time—this is all they need. And finally, it makes Windows look like a subsystem not much different from a program that you run under Windows. The psychological effect of this is profound, and the results could be devastating for Microsoft.

Larry Hunter: "I'm a lifelong conservative activist and I'm backing Barack Obama"

by Larry Hunter

I’m a lifelong Republican - a supply-side conservative. I worked in the Reagan White House. I was the chief economist at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for five years. In 1994, I helped write the Republican Contract with America. I served on Bob Dole’s presidential campaign team and was chief economist for Jack Kemp’s Empower America.

This November, I’m voting for Barack Obama.

When I first made this decision, many colleagues were shocked. How could I support a candidate with a domestic policy platform that’s antithetical to almost everything I believe in?

The answer is simple: Unjustified war and unconstitutional abridgment of individual rights vs. ill-conceived tax and economic policies - this is the difference between venial and mortal sins.

Taxes, economic policy and health care reform matter, of course. But how we extract ourselves from the bloody boondoggle in Iraq, how we avoid getting into a war with Iran and how we preserve our individual rights while dealing with real foreign threats - these are of greater importance.

John McCain would continue the Bush administration’s commitment to interventionism and constitutional overreach. Obama promises a humbler engagement with our allies, while promising retaliation against any enemy who dares attack us. That’s what conservatism used to mean - and it’s what George W. Bush promised as a candidate.

Conservative Economics

Now come on and tell me about “responsible, conservative economics”

No bullshit, this is hard data via Paul Kedrosky:

• Wells Fargo, the company that dominates the California market where broken mortgages are only slightly less common than yummy mommies with recent liposuction scars, beat the Street, raised its dividend, etc.
• JPMorgan, the company that is allegedly so conservative it will only lend itself money, has announced this morning a 53% drop in net income on another $1-billion in mortgage markdowns. And that’s good news, of course.
• IndyMac, the recently FDIC-taken over California bank, is alleged this morning on CNN/WSJ to be under FBI investigation for fraud, along with 21 other banks.