Vint Cerf is Too Modest; Internet Access is a Human Right

In his January 4 op-ed piece, Vint Cerf argued that Internet access is not a human right. While I consider Vint a friend and have tremendous respect for his achievements, I think he’s wrong in this case...

Read the full post on my work blog.

(See it on Huffpost at https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/dr-nathaniel-borenstein/internet-human-right_b_1201645.html)

A Tale of Two CEOs: Shades of Gray in Executive Pay

I'm predisposed to be of two minds in debates about economic issues. On the one hand, I've founded several companies and witnessed first hand the incredible power of competition as a driver of innovation and value creation. On the other hand, I grew up in a family of compassionate activists who devoted much of their lives to issues of social justice. I can't help seeing both sides of most issues.

For example, I see no reason a company shouldn't be allowed to pay its top employees as much as it wants. When cronyism can be kept at bay, such pay will tend to reflect profits and performance in an appropriate way. However, I also believe that the fortunate recipients of these hefty paydays should have the good grace not to complain about significantly higher tax rates.

However, I am as outraged as anyone that HP is paying Leo Apotheker a severance package worth roughly $33 million. Apotheker presided over a near-halving of the company's value during less than a year as CEO. There is no conceivable sense in which he is being paid for performance; he is being taken care of by his cronies, who would expect the same if the situation were reversed.

If I were an HP shareholder -- which I'm not, because the company has shown no hint of a plan for many years now -- I would be seething with outrage.

On the other hand, I don't mind that Sam Palmisano is leaving IBM with a severance package worth something like $170 million. Sam -- no, I'm not his crony, everyone at IBM called him by his first name -- spent nine years as IBM's CEO. During that time, the value of the company roughly doubled, creating $90 billion or so in shareholder value. Sam helped create roughly $600 of value for each dollar/year in his severance.

In contrast, Apotheker, when he ended his 11 months at HP, was given a dollar for every thousand dollars that HP lost in valuation on his watch. He got $33 million for being fired. If I were an HP shareholder -- which I'm not, because I've been paying attention -- I'd want to sue the Board of Directors for malfeasance.

The genius of capitalism is the motivation that great rewards might be earned by great efforts. Capitalism itself is undermined when long-term cronies guarantee prosperity no matter how much an executive screws up.

I have a simple proposal. Set a statutory maximum for guaranteed severance packages -- a million dollars strikes me as plenty for any failed loser of a CEO. Bigger bucks could still be part of a severance package, but they should be calculated as incentive payments, like bonuses. The big parting rewards should be tied to some measure of performance -- profits, stock price, employee satisfaction, even cleanliness of restrooms would be an improvement -- to give these high-powered one percenters a bit more motivation to actually do their jobs.

Alternative Online Payments: The Dream That Refuses to Die

Over 13 years after I left First Virtual, I'm still talking about alternate payment systems. Xconomy asked me to write about "my favorite crazy idea that just might succeed" and this is what I came up with.

Email Complexity and the March of Progress

I've gotten tired of the "Is Email Dead?" debate, so I've written up what I hope are some more constructive thoughts on one of my blogs.

(I'm not positive, but I think this is the same article archived in 2026 as https://guppylake.com/mimecast-blogs/RevisitingEmailDeath.txt)

My tongue-in-cheek predictions for the IT industry in 2012

I've just completed publishing, in four parts, my second annual not-quite-entirely-serious predictions for the IT industry in the coming year. In large part, this is a reaction to all the supposedly serious annual predictions that no one ever goes back to check on at the end of the year. Here you'll find predictions you don't need to check on -- they are absolutely 100% guaranteed to happen.

In some alternate universe, at least.

You can Start with part one and follow the links from there.

(Archived in one piece in 2026 at https://guppylake.com/mimecast-blogs/2012-predictions.txt)

The Soul of an Industry

When I heard the news of Steve Jobs’s death last night, even though I was hardly surprised, I felt like I had been kicked in the gut—as if the industry in which I’ve spent my career had lost its soul....

click here to read the rest of my remembrance...

(Archived in 2026 at https://guppylake.com/pubs/SteveJobs.txt)

An Underappreciated Email Pioneer: Einar Stefferud, 1930-2011

Those of us who work with email every day rarely reflect on the people who created the technologies we take for granted.  Today, we should make an exception.

Please go to my blog at MSExchange.org for a tribute to the late Einar Stefferud, who passed away on Friday after a long illness.
(Archived in 2026 at https://guppylake.com/pubs/StefRIP.txt)