simoneau

He called me into his office one day to play me a voicemail. It was Steve Jobs asking him what he could do to get MATLAB shipping on the Mac again.

MathWorks had dropped the platform because of it's then-low market share. Steve was having trouble selling Macs to universities because MATLAB was so important there. Apple ended up sending MathWorks a bunch of Macs for the build-end-test system, and MATLAB did soon return to the Mac.

Penny Anderson was in his office one day. They were trying to figure out which LAPACK numerical algorithm to use under the covers to power some MATLAB function. The different algorithms performed better for different types of matrices and different hardware specifications. They were trying to work out some heuristic where they could automatically pick the right one for the user, but they were having trouble coming up with reliable rules. Finally, Penny proposed exposing it as an option so the user could specify the one they wanted. Cleve responded with something like "If you and I can't figure out which algorithm to use, our customers have no chance. So let's just pick the one that usually works well and not make them try guess."

I was lucky to have the office across the hall from him at MathWorks around 2000. He was always interested in chatting with whomever came by and learning about what they were working on. He was always a college professor at heart.

I think I recognize some of these as coming from a tiled background pack I used back in the 90s. Maybe associated with the Enlightenment Window Manager project?

Someone just needs to write “JSON5: The Good Parts” and an aggressive linter to enforce it.

Wonderful high-school-science-fair vibes from this title.

me: Facebook AI, please post a tender moment between me and my father when I was a boy. Include some photos.

Facebook: I'd be happy to. Are there any more details you'd like to include?

me: Please show how he didn't understand me at first, but then he looks at me and starts crying with love and regret.

Facebook: Done. Your relationship with your father must have been deeply fulfilling.

Me: Facebook AI, please post an entry about my vacation on Cape Cod and create a bunch of photos to go with it.

Facebook: Great. I'd be happy to. Any more detail you'd like to add?

Me: Make us look attractive. Show that we're a having a great time. Also, we went to see the Chatham Lighthouse.

Facebook: OK, done!

...

Facebook: You've received 48 likes. Your mother would like to know if you had any salt water taffy.

Me: Yes, and please create a picture of my oldest daughter having trouble chewing it.

Facebook: Done.

In email to customers:

"Over the last 20 years, it’s been our privilege to protect our customers’ memories by hosting over 100 billion photos on our secure servers. We’re reaching out to remind you that we updated our Photo Storage Policy in January 2023; unlimited photo storage is now only available to active Shutterfly customers who make a purchase at least once every 18 months. On March 29, 2023, all inactive account projects and photos will be permanently deleted."