[Vision2020] Fuel Cells

[Art Deco aka W. Fox]

Troy, David,

I can tell you where to look (Google?) for some examples of killing
promising technology in the software industry.

Microsoft through the years has bought many small software companies with
technology that outperformed various MS products.  MS used some of these
purchased technologies in their products and some disappeared.

Perhaps some V 2020 readers can remember the fact of or the details of these
deals.  Many occurred in the early days of PC database program development
where file organization methods were still being developed for the PC.
Another place to look for such stories is in the archives of PC Week,
InfoWorld, etc.

I have another possible example of which I had some personal knowledge
though not personally verifiable knowledge in the late 70's.  I met a young
dentist (a friend and Platonic roommate of a girl friend) who was on the
research staff at the UCLA Dental School.  He told me that they had
successfully developed and were testing an effective, promising anti-plague
oral rinse (mouthwash).  The problem, however, was that under laboratory
conditions the cost of producing the mouthwash was several hundred dollars
per ounce.  He felt that large scale production would make the cost consumer
affordable.

I saw him about 2 years later and asked how the research was going.  In a
very guarded, defensive manner he told me that the research had been
suspended.  Questioning suggested that a large donors to the Dental School
had suggested that the school pursue other research projects.  I do not
think this incident was ever publicized or even known to many,
understandedly.

I thought when I met him he was a believable person.  Truth or myth?  I
cannot say.  However, if you consider the effect of an effective anti-plague
mouthwash on the dental profession (no plague, no cavities, etc.), large
financial questions are come to mind.

Perhaps, Mr. Force could find some better publicized incidents in other
areas (the automotive industry is another place to look).

Wayne



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Troy Merrill" <troy1@moscow.com>
To: "David Douglas" <ddouglas@pacsim.com>; "'Art Deco aka W. Fox'"
<deco@moscow.com>; <vision2020@moscow.com>; <thansen@moscow.com>
Sent: Friday, March 12, 2004 3:17 PM
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Fuel Cells


> Tom,
> Perhaps you could supply a few examples of this common practice.
>
> Troy Merrill
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <thansen@moscow.com>
> To: "David Douglas" <ddouglas@pacsim.com>; "'Art Deco aka W. Fox'"
> <deco@moscow.com>; <vision2020@moscow.com>
> Sent: Friday, March 12, 2004 3:00 PM
> Subject: RE: [Vision2020] Fuel Cells
>
>
> > THis is common practice, Mr. Douglas -
> >
> > Any time somebody creates a gizmo that adversely impacts a company's
> bottom
> > line, the company does all in its power to "shelve" that gizmo.
> >
> > Tom Hansen
> >
> > > Wayne,
> > >
> > > You write:
> > >
> > > "Many years ago a small company in southern California developed an
> > > economical method of using solar generated electrical power to produce
> and
> > > to store hydrogen and oxygen by electrolysis."
> > >
> > > And
> > >
> > > "Guess what?  The small company was bought by a petroleum consortium
and
> > > their research disappeared from commercial consideration as did a
number
> of
> > > other promising alternative energy proposals."
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Do you have any specific data on this?  The data might include:
> > > small company name,
> > > petroleum consortium name,
> > > dates,
> > > patents.
> > > etc.
> > >
> > > What you say may very well be true. But it is rife
> > > with generalities, reminiscent of the old story of the 100 mpg
> > > carburetor that has been kept from the market (for decades).
> > >
> > > With specifics, this is an account of, at best, a truly wasteful
> > > business practice.  Without specifics, the account remains,
> > > as yet, unverifiable--a part of the realm of
> > > big-business-behaving-badly urban legends.
> > >
> > > Best,
> > >
> > > David Douglas
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > _____________________________________________________
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