24-years ago this week…

Uncategorized 1 Minute

…I graduated from Prospect High School in Saratoga. Thanks to fellow student Jeff Battaglia for reminding me of that.

Damn, it’s weird to realize that nearly everyone who works at Facebook was parented by someone around my age. It’s doubly weird to think that we’re bringing a new life into this world. Kids keep you young. Well, I certainly wouldn’t have known that World of Warcraft runs better on Windows XP than on OSX or on Vista if it weren’t for having a 13-year-old in the house.

Puts this whole age debate that has been raging this week over on TechMeme in a little different light. Damn, that’s the most worked up I’ve seen the Blogosphere in at least a week. Heheh.

Anyway, this debate between the youngins and the old is as old as life itself. I want to get involved in this whole debate, but I’m getting old and have learned that when it’s sunny in Half Moon Bay we best go outside and have a BBQ and enjoy the sun. So, I’ll leave this debate to the professionals. 🙂

Hope you’re having fun.

UPDATE: I couldn’t stay away. Anyone who thinks that old people can’t come up with innovations, or new ways of looking at the world, or can’t understand Facebook should go have dinner with Douglas Engelbart. He’s 82 if I remember right and I’ll put his brain against Mark Zuckerberg’s any day of the week.

Published by Robert Scoble

I help entrepreneurs build their technology business' story, help with getting ready for investors, with other launch plans, and many other strategic things that can help your new startup. Call to talk: +1-425-205-1921 (text first).

Published

63 thoughts on “24-years ago this week…”

  3. Actually, I think having a 13 year old and being a geek is a better deal than being 20…the kids of today really grok this stuff, and you can understand the big picture 😉

    So being a totally cool dude is knowing that only un switched on people use OSX or Vista. ‘cos those O/S make a hash of WoW 🙂

    Like

  4. Actually, I think having a 13 year old and being a geek is a better deal than being 20…the kids of today really grok this stuff, and you can understand the big picture 😉

    So being a totally cool dude is knowing that only un switched on people use OSX or Vista. ‘cos those O/S make a hash of WoW 🙂

    Like

  7. Pingback: 24-years ago this week?  »Technology News | Venture Capital, Startups, Silicon Valley, Web 2.0 Tech

  8. It’s our fault for wasting our time with trends. Instead of coding something useful, people in their 20’s and 30’s try to imitate Social networking sites because ONE OR 2 worked.
    I’m about Sergey’s age and I am ashamed that I spent so much time on PHP web applications. If you’re doing anything less than what you’re able to simply for money, then I think you’re wasting your time.
    Some of our best programmers are doing PHP applications that could easily be done by 18 year olds simply because of Scoble and others pimping those websites and VC pouring money into the same old same old.
    In a previous post I said that I have conversed with Duc that coded MySpace over the past couple years. Duc was only like 22 or something when he made MySpace.

    VC and bloggers are almost forcing skilled people to write extremely unworthy code just because of capital. I found a way around this, but I’m not telling. 🙂
    With my free time, I’m writing something that is too geeky to be popular with RSS addicts, but will actually help solve a problem. Our new SQL server. I’m also writing something that will help organize the web in a new way.

    The types of projects VC and capitalists run away from and can’t grasp.

    I really think Robert is wasting his time doing what he’s doing at his age. It may pay the bills though. Get a job at a paper Robert.

    Like

  9. It’s our fault for wasting our time with trends. Instead of coding something useful, people in their 20’s and 30’s try to imitate Social networking sites because ONE OR 2 worked.
    I’m about Sergey’s age and I am ashamed that I spent so much time on PHP web applications. If you’re doing anything less than what you’re able to simply for money, then I think you’re wasting your time.
    Some of our best programmers are doing PHP applications that could easily be done by 18 year olds simply because of Scoble and others pimping those websites and VC pouring money into the same old same old.
    In a previous post I said that I have conversed with Duc that coded MySpace over the past couple years. Duc was only like 22 or something when he made MySpace.

    VC and bloggers are almost forcing skilled people to write extremely unworthy code just because of capital. I found a way around this, but I’m not telling. 🙂
    With my free time, I’m writing something that is too geeky to be popular with RSS addicts, but will actually help solve a problem. Our new SQL server. I’m also writing something that will help organize the web in a new way.

    The types of projects VC and capitalists run away from and can’t grasp.

    I really think Robert is wasting his time doing what he’s doing at his age. It may pay the bills though. Get a job at a paper Robert.

    Like

  10. Pingback: Scoble’s mid-life crisis « The Hiller Report

  11. You would have to mention graduating hs, Robert. Made me realize it’s been 30 years for me. YIKES!

    Hey, wait a minute…why wasn’t I invited to the reunion??

    Like

  12. You would have to mention graduating hs, Robert. Made me realize it’s been 30 years for me. YIKES!

    Hey, wait a minute…why wasn’t I invited to the reunion??

    Like

  13. “why wasn’t I invited to the reunion??”
    You should join classmates.com
    Most reunions are listed on there months ahead of time.

    I was invited to a couple but never went.
    I don’t think I want to see my old classmates. They’re probably all Nobel prize winning astronauts by now. :/

    Like

  14. “why wasn’t I invited to the reunion??”
    You should join classmates.com
    Most reunions are listed on there months ahead of time.

    I was invited to a couple but never went.
    I don’t think I want to see my old classmates. They’re probably all Nobel prize winning astronauts by now. :/

    Like

  17. 25 years for me this month. Like Chris, I don’t want to see any of my classmates either. They’re probably all old.

    Mentoring used to mean learning from someone older. Now, if you want to stay in touch, it means having younger folks you learn from.

    Like

  18. How cool to hear you graduated from Prospect High! I was at Peterson High down in Sunnyvale back in the Cretaceous period myself 🙂 Class of 81 here and my husband was Los Gatos High.
    Nice to hear about home once in a while thanks for talking about it.

    Like

  19. 25 years for me this month. Like Chris, I don’t want to see any of my classmates either. They’re probably all old.

    Mentoring used to mean learning from someone older. Now, if you want to stay in touch, it means having younger folks you learn from.

    Like

  20. How cool to hear you graduated from Prospect High! I was at Peterson High down in Sunnyvale back in the Cretaceous period myself 🙂 Class of 81 here and my husband was Los Gatos High.
    Nice to hear about home once in a while thanks for talking about it.

    Like

  25. Pingback: Profundity and ageism « Randy Holloway Unfiltered

  26. I saw your birthday on facebook last night and it hit me that you really are not that much older than me, only eight years older and you have a thirteen year old, my oldest is 4. And when I am your current age, I am sure that we will still be having children. Really looking forward to your new baby coming.

    Like

  27. I saw your birthday on facebook last night and it hit me that you really are not that much older than me, only eight years older and you have a thirteen year old, my oldest is 4. And when I am your current age, I am sure that we will still be having children. Really looking forward to your new baby coming.

    Like

  32. “Who over thirty has ever created”

    When you say created do you mean coded it or actually ran the company. There are plenty of people over 30 that ran companies that were really successful.

    Eric Schmidt with Google when they went IPO.
    Chris DeWolfe with Intermix/MySpace
    Jimmy Wales with Wikipedia

    If you’re talking about people who wrote the code, that’s another story. Twitter, Facebook ect… is NOT interesting code to write. It’s almost beneath what older people would find acceptable, except if they were heavily paid for it.
    It’s certainly not something you would be proud of having accomplished, and I think that’s the reason that you see younger people that are less experienced doing that type of code work.

    Like

  33. “Who over thirty has ever created”

    When you say created do you mean coded it or actually ran the company. There are plenty of people over 30 that ran companies that were really successful.

    Eric Schmidt with Google when they went IPO.
    Chris DeWolfe with Intermix/MySpace
    Jimmy Wales with Wikipedia

    If you’re talking about people who wrote the code, that’s another story. Twitter, Facebook ect… is NOT interesting code to write. It’s almost beneath what older people would find acceptable, except if they were heavily paid for it.
    It’s certainly not something you would be proud of having accomplished, and I think that’s the reason that you see younger people that are less experienced doing that type of code work.

    Like

  34. “Who over thirty has ever created”

    http://freemyspace.com/history.htm

    Old people over 30 have resources superior to kids. Such as mailing lists from previous projects instantly populating their new project with millions of members. They have contacts kids don’t have. They have financial resources superior to those of kids even funded by YCombinator, which by the way is only about 6000 per coder. And they even have resources above VC funded young people.

    http://avc.blogs.com/a_vc/2007/06/the_age_questio.html

    “Now don’t get me wrong. We’ve only funded one of these net natives out of close to fifteen portfolio companies.”

    If these were successful, he would have funded all 15. You don’t turn down money in the bank. What happens often times is that VC will fund real projects like biotech, and then use these web startups as a dinner conversational piece in an otherwise boring portfolio.

    So it’s good for the kids anyway, but it doesn’t mean they are going to be successful. The biggest successes on the net were in fact by people over 30 and large companies with a big head start.

    Like

  35. “Who over thirty has ever created”

    http://freemyspace.com/history.htm

    Old people over 30 have resources superior to kids. Such as mailing lists from previous projects instantly populating their new project with millions of members. They have contacts kids don’t have. They have financial resources superior to those of kids even funded by YCombinator, which by the way is only about 6000 per coder. And they even have resources above VC funded young people.

    http://avc.blogs.com/a_vc/2007/06/the_age_questio.html

    “Now don’t get me wrong. We’ve only funded one of these net natives out of close to fifteen portfolio companies.”

    If these were successful, he would have funded all 15. You don’t turn down money in the bank. What happens often times is that VC will fund real projects like biotech, and then use these web startups as a dinner conversational piece in an otherwise boring portfolio.

    So it’s good for the kids anyway, but it doesn’t mean they are going to be successful. The biggest successes on the net were in fact by people over 30 and large companies with a big head start.

    Like

  36. Hi Robert,

    Being older, I’m 46, doesn’t really suck, but having a 2 year old at 46 is alot of work. Have a good BBQ and enjoy your 13 year old. I teach Middle School and they are alot of fun.

    Like

  37. Hi Robert,

    Being older, I’m 46, doesn’t really suck, but having a 2 year old at 46 is alot of work. Have a good BBQ and enjoy your 13 year old. I teach Middle School and they are alot of fun.

    Like

  40. @Chris

    You are a funny guy! Now everyone writing web applications is writing unworthy code? You read back like a traditional coding snob… you know the guy that doesn’t get the big picture and thinks optimal code is the only thing that matters. death to microsoft, linux forever! that whole bit…

    I’ll stick to writing unworthy web applications you stick to reinventing the wheel… i mean a new way to organize the web.

    Like

  41. @Chris

    You are a funny guy! Now everyone writing web applications is writing unworthy code? You read back like a traditional coding snob… you know the guy that doesn’t get the big picture and thinks optimal code is the only thing that matters. death to microsoft, linux forever! that whole bit…

    I’ll stick to writing unworthy web applications you stick to reinventing the wheel… i mean a new way to organize the web.

    Like

  42. I was presenting at a panel on Web 2.0 and graduate recruitment a few months ago and told them about my own son’s activities that morning – turning on the TV, deciding he didn’t want to watch, putting on a Harry Potter DVD then switching to the game on the Cube instead then edging onto my laptop to check out a BBC Cbeebies website. Moving freely from media to media. He’s three and a half. Definitely going to keep me in the game (though keeping up with him is going to be another matter)

    (And yes, we limit his screen time of any kind to about two hours!)

    Like

  43. I was presenting at a panel on Web 2.0 and graduate recruitment a few months ago and told them about my own son’s activities that morning – turning on the TV, deciding he didn’t want to watch, putting on a Harry Potter DVD then switching to the game on the Cube instead then edging onto my laptop to check out a BBC Cbeebies website. Moving freely from media to media. He’s three and a half. Definitely going to keep me in the game (though keeping up with him is going to be another matter)

    (And yes, we limit his screen time of any kind to about two hours!)

    Like

  48. When it comes to math its widely accepted that people do their greatest work in their 20’s. By the time you are thirty the chances of you discouvering anything groundbreaking are slim, the time the you are 40 your chances drop to near 0.

    Like

  49. When it comes to math its widely accepted that people do their greatest work in their 20’s. By the time you are thirty the chances of you discouvering anything groundbreaking are slim, the time the you are 40 your chances drop to near 0.

    Like

  50. @22,

    A. Your last name better not be de Icaza.

    B. “You are a funny guy! Now everyone writing web applications is writing unworthy code?”

    No, everyone trying to copy the social networking trends for a few VC dollars is writing unworthy code. I did my share of it whist still in my 20’s, minus the VC money.

    C. “I’ll stick to writing unworthy web applications you stick to reinventing the wheel… i mean a new way to organize the web.”

    Why did Sergey and Page create another search engine? There was already AltaVista, MSN, and Yahoo??
    I don’t want to get into it too much, but indexing the entire web and creating a REAL search engine has been out of most small companies reach until now. Now technology has caught up to google and it’s not uncommon to have 1-5TB in bandwidth on a coloc for a couple hundred bucks. 500-1TB drives are going for a hundred bucks on TigerDirect. A full search engine spidering and client side Appliance as a 2-4U system selling for a few thousand bucks is not impossible.
    Shrinking Yahoo and Google down, and retaining the breadth of services is getting closer to being a reality. The winners on the internet are those who can best make use of technological advancements. Social networking sites do none of this. You can’t sustain on popularity alone, and these APIs, flash media server and the likes really are kiddy to the extreme.

    Like

  51. @22,

    A. Your last name better not be de Icaza.

    B. “You are a funny guy! Now everyone writing web applications is writing unworthy code?”

    No, everyone trying to copy the social networking trends for a few VC dollars is writing unworthy code. I did my share of it whist still in my 20’s, minus the VC money.

    C. “I’ll stick to writing unworthy web applications you stick to reinventing the wheel… i mean a new way to organize the web.”

    Why did Sergey and Page create another search engine? There was already AltaVista, MSN, and Yahoo??
    I don’t want to get into it too much, but indexing the entire web and creating a REAL search engine has been out of most small companies reach until now. Now technology has caught up to google and it’s not uncommon to have 1-5TB in bandwidth on a coloc for a couple hundred bucks. 500-1TB drives are going for a hundred bucks on TigerDirect. A full search engine spidering and client side Appliance as a 2-4U system selling for a few thousand bucks is not impossible.
    Shrinking Yahoo and Google down, and retaining the breadth of services is getting closer to being a reality. The winners on the internet are those who can best make use of technological advancements. Social networking sites do none of this. You can’t sustain on popularity alone, and these APIs, flash media server and the likes really are kiddy to the extreme.

    Like

  52. Chris: you’re drinking some good Merlot. Can you pass some over?

    Study iLike to see the problems facing new companies TODAY.

    The word-of-mouth network is far more efficient. So, if you create a search engine that really is better than Google it’ll get hit hard and fast. You’ll probably get millions of visitors THE FIRST DAY.

    Think you can keep your service fast with that kind of traffic without major infrastructure? Think again.

    But, you can try. There’s plenty of companies (Powerset et al) who claim that they have a better search.

    I don’t believe them because there’s no way they can keep up with Google’s scale.

    If you had been in a Google datacenter you’d see just how lame the idea is that you’re going to build a better search engine than Google.

    This isn’t 1998. The world has changed. Yet your statement above makes it sound like you’re still living in 1998.

    Again, iLike got six million users in the first two weeks.

    That DID NOT HAPPEN back in 1998.

    Like

  53. Chris: you’re drinking some good Merlot. Can you pass some over?

    Study iLike to see the problems facing new companies TODAY.

    The word-of-mouth network is far more efficient. So, if you create a search engine that really is better than Google it’ll get hit hard and fast. You’ll probably get millions of visitors THE FIRST DAY.

    Think you can keep your service fast with that kind of traffic without major infrastructure? Think again.

    But, you can try. There’s plenty of companies (Powerset et al) who claim that they have a better search.

    I don’t believe them because there’s no way they can keep up with Google’s scale.

    If you had been in a Google datacenter you’d see just how lame the idea is that you’re going to build a better search engine than Google.

    This isn’t 1998. The world has changed. Yet your statement above makes it sound like you’re still living in 1998.

    Again, iLike got six million users in the first two weeks.

    That DID NOT HAPPEN back in 1998.

    Like

  54. “Damn, it’s weird to realize that nearly everyone who works at Facebook was parented by someone around my age.”

    Some of your Facebook friends, now, too. 🙂

    If Facebook has a long future ahead of itself, I wonder what to expect when my future kids start surfing on the ‘net. Maybe the younguns will avoid Facebook as a social network because it will be viewed as another social network for old people. 😉

    Like

  55. “Damn, it’s weird to realize that nearly everyone who works at Facebook was parented by someone around my age.”

    Some of your Facebook friends, now, too. 🙂

    If Facebook has a long future ahead of itself, I wonder what to expect when my future kids start surfing on the ‘net. Maybe the younguns will avoid Facebook as a social network because it will be viewed as another social network for old people. 😉

    Like

  58. 1960, graduated went on to higher learning,,,,, still don’t get it…… hahahahahahaha ron

    Like

  60. Well, 19 years ago this week I graduated from that same Prospect High School. Little did I know, in just a few short months time, I would join the Journalism staff at the Norseman (West Valley College Newspaper) only to be led by the Editor-In-chief one Mr. Robert Scoble. My first thought? What a freaking GEEK!
    LOL

    Like

  61. Well, 19 years ago this week I graduated from that same Prospect High School. Little did I know, in just a few short months time, I would join the Journalism staff at the Norseman (West Valley College Newspaper) only to be led by the Editor-In-chief one Mr. Robert Scoble. My first thought? What a freaking GEEK!
    LOL

    Like

  62. I just saw a cartoon rendition of you in Wired’s supplemental “Geekipedia” and thought it was “you”. Congratulations on all of your successes. (I graduated the year after you, but we knew many people in common).

    Like

  63. I just saw a cartoon rendition of you in Wired’s supplemental “Geekipedia” and thought it was “you”. Congratulations on all of your successes. (I graduated the year after you, but we knew many people in common).

    Like

Comments are closed.