Q: What does StreamServe do?
A: When you get bills from companies, have you ever wondered why they’re so ugly? You have no idea what it’s for, but you owe them $345.
The information that goes onto these invoices or statements comes from five or six different places. We take that information and consolidate it and condense it.
You don’t want to get an invoice in the mail from Bank of America. Why can’t they send me a (text) message with my balance? Those kind of things are really becoming prevalent in Europe. In Scandinavia, nobody writes checks. They look at us like we’re a bunch of whack jobs over here because we still write paper checks. They trust each other. Here, nobody trusts anybody. We could learn from some of that.
Q: Tell me a little about your background with open source.
A: I am still a big advocate for that cause. I believe over the next three to five years it will shift to become the prevalent way for people to write software. Why do a startup and go out and hire 50 engineers to build your product, when more than likely 30 or 40 percent of the parts you need are out there in the open-source community?
Q: How did you help create the first laptop computer?
A: We built this thing called the DG One (at Stone’s former company, the Object Management Group). That was kind of fun. I still have one, actually. We built a flip-up laptop, but the problem was you couldn’t see the screen. We had to demo it outside in the sun. There was no such thing as backlight.
Q: So the technology you’re working on right now — where is that on the 10-year timeline?
A: It’s probably about six or seven years into it. We’re just starting to hit our trajectory.
Q: How many people are actually using the technology you’ve helped develop in your career?
A: At least 50 percent of all software today uses these (CORBA) techniques we worked on in the late ’80s. It’s in Linux, it’s in all of IBM’s software, it’s in most of the application servers that are used today. It’d be nice if I had a royalty for that, but I don’t.
Q: How do you try to change people’s mindsets when you’re trying to sell new products?
A: Well, there’s the old adage that you should sit down, listen to the customer, and do what the customer wants. Quite honestly, if you did that all of your life you’d build the wrong thing. (Laughs.)
Sometimes you have to do what comes out of your gut, what you think is right.
When we did CORBA, we knew we were right, even though (only about) 100 people in the world knew what the hell we were talking about. We knew this was the better way to do it. You have to get out there, give speeches, evangelize why you think it’s better and get people to believe you.
Q: Is there one thing that you would consider your greatest accomplishment or achievement?
A: Kids. (Laughs.)
So far they’re all doing well, I don’t have anybody in jail, don’t have any drug addicts. And that’s hard, particularly with five kids.
Q: Where do you see technology in 10 years?
A: It’s hard to see two years out, let alone 10. If you look at some interesting things that are going on, it’s the push to make things smaller. Anything smaller is better typically.
Go back and trace the last 25 years. It’s amazing how far we haven’t come. You’re still using (Microsoft) Word, you’re still using PowerPoint documents. This stuff’s 15-plus years old. It never ceases to amaze me how software, even though it has advanced, how many people don’t use the advancements.
Q: Can you tell me about your connection to Aerosmith?
A: That was in high school. In 1972 and 1973, in Sunapee, N.H. That was where those guys were from. I was playing bass. That was high school. That was before they … (pauses) … although, when did the first album come out? ’73? ’74? (It was 1973)
It was a high-school band! We played proms and nobody cared.
Q: Did you ever think about what might have been if you kept playing with them?
A: I’d probably be dead. (Laughs). Let’s leave it at that.
Tom Spoth’s e-mail address is tspoth@lowellsun.com.
