KEYNOTE ADDRESS

"Defining the Real World"
Robert X. Cringely

The MUG Conference theme this year is "Designing in the Real World." This is a noble idea, but what is the "Real World"? What is it today? Where will it be tomorrow? Why does the "Real World" seem so illusive for designers? Who will be driving the technologies in the "Real World?" Come hear Bob answer these questions and tell why all this impacts you, the ones DESIGNING in this Real World.

Bio:
Robert X. "Bob" Cringely has been both an actor and an observer in the drama of computer technology development over the last 25 years. In 1977 he became the 12th employee of fledgling Apple Computer, which tried to pay him in stock. But he cagily held out for cash, at $6 an hour, and he has repented at leisure ever since. From 1987 to 1995 Bob wrote the "Notes From the Field" column in InfoWorld, a widely read weekly computer trade magazine. At the same time, he started and ran two software companies and wrote the best-selling book, AccidentalEmpires: How the Boys of Silicon Valley Make Their Millions, Battle Foreign Competition, and Still Can't Get a Date. His greatest visibility has come in his role as the host and writer of the popular PBS-TV miniseries "Triumph of the Nerds", which has been seen in more than 30 countries since 1996, and "Triumph of the Nerds 2.01: Digital Dreams", which was broadcast in November 1998, also on PBS. These two programs were models of clarity in describing the development of computer technology to both technical and non-technical listeners.