  Darwinism Member Username: Darwinism Post Number: 280 Registered: 06-2005 Posted From: 69.209.140.3 |
http://www.engin.umich.edu/alu mni/engineer/01SS/profiles.htm l Imagine the economical boost to this region ..... Share your thoughts on individuals who could have helped the region, if only ..... | ||
Owen101683 Member Username: Owen101683 Post Number: 4 Registered: 04-2005 Posted From: 35.11.135.57 |
It wouldn't necessarily be as huge an economic boom as Google but how about if Berry Gordy and Motown Records had stayed? It would probably be more of a cultural-econimic boom for the region. | ||
Fnemecek Member Username: Fnemecek Post Number: 1339 Registered: 12-2004 Posted From: 70.236.200.44 |
Here's an even better set of questions to ponder. How come so many of these companies were started by people at Stanford University? Larry Page started in Michigan, but it wasn't until he got to Stanford that he met Sergey Brin and started Google. If memory serves me correctly, there are dozens of other high-tech companies that essentially started on its campus - far more than any other university. What is going on there that we can learn from at Michigan's universities? | ||
Matt_the_deuce Member Username: Matt_the_deuce Post Number: 407 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 69.14.27.204 |
25 million venture capital investment I would guess. There probably weren't that many firms around these parts at that time who were investing in tech startups. Out there, that's what was happening. Just a little more forward thinking and the entreprenurial spirit (money) in the community to do something about it. Hmmm... kinda sounds like Detroit at the turn of the last century I think Detroit and Mi. should dump serious money towards alt. fuel development. I know we have done some things but this seems like it could be Detroit's future - if we can seize the moment. | ||
Kookie Member Username: Kookie Post Number: 93 Registered: 01-2004 Posted From: 164.67.233.216 |
Another bigtime Michigan engineering grad: the guy who created the Ipod. Google actually has very strong ties with Michigan and will be opening up a new Ann Arbor office sometime in the near future. But most U-M grads leave the state, myself included. California is just a better place to live. And the state will never be able to have anything close to what Silicon Valley has, its just not feasible. | ||
Darwinism Member Username: Darwinism Post Number: 281 Registered: 06-2005 Posted From: 69.209.140.3 |
I haven't seen him for a while, but for heaven's sake, please DO WHATEVER IT TAKES to keep Mobius and Michael McCorquodale here in Michigan. The last time I spoke to him was a few months ago and there were already solid plans to move to California. As far as Google goes, it is a company with a market cap greater than GM and Ford combined, and then some. Such financial leverage has lots of impact on Wall Street. Michigan NEEDS this sort of companies. As evident in the link above, Larry Page comes from East Lansing, his family has strong ties to Michigan's academic institutions. So, it would seem like a slam-dunk for Michigan to land such special individuals to prosper here within the state. What went wrong ? Is the same story going to happen again with Michael McCorquodale and Mobius ? Quite likely, in fact ..... they may already be gone by now. | ||
Darwinism Member Username: Darwinism Post Number: 283 Registered: 06-2005 Posted From: 69.209.140.3 |
Kookie: I believe you are thinking of Anthony(Tony) Fadell. http://www.engin.umich.edu/alu mni/engineer/04SS/achievements /advances.html#fadell Think about it - the iPod is a cultural phenomenon - it is practically a monopoly on the digital media marketplace. If only such a company were located here in Michigan ..... Hind-sight is always 20/20, but Michigan is not just losing a few people here and there - it is losing potential and it is losing innovations that could have piggy-backed onto those potentials. This internal bleeding needs to stop. Putting layers and layers of band-aid aren't going to help. Matt_the_deuce is correct, research and development of alternative fuel technology needs to ramp up. Support the start-ups who are working hard to be creative with technology. I know people who are working on new state-of-the-art navigational technology and communication technology, but the GMs and Fords are absolutely not being supportive at all. Instead, there is more support and interest coming from Ducati, Hyundai, Yamaha, Kawasaki and other foreign organizations. | ||
Dtwphoenix Member Username: Dtwphoenix Post Number: 34 Registered: 12-2004 Posted From: 63.163.143.242 |
Mobius is a company that grew out of research that was done at the University of Michigan. I sometimes wonder why the state of Michigan funds facilities like Michigan's Solid State Circuits Lab so highly, when all the students, technology and talent transfer out of state when they leave the university. It seems like a waste of the state of Michigan's tax dollars (good for the country as a whole, but not for michigan). It seems we should fund research areas that will directly help Michigan's major industries, or fund basic research. The basic research may lead to a "new industry" sprouting up and staying in michigan. Google is opening a new engineering center in Phoenix in a few months. I wonder why a company like Google wouldn't put an engineering center SE Michigan. There's a good amount of software talent there. 4 reasons that come to mind: -weather -business taxes? -detroit metro area's image problem -hard to recruit people from out of state | ||
Mgd04 Member Username: Mgd04 Post Number: 156 Registered: 05-2005 Posted From: 67.167.140.120 |
The state should put more money into MSU. MSU grads by and large choose to remain in the state of Michigan more so than U of M grads. They would take their research etc. and keep it in the Michigan economy. | ||
Jerome81 Member Username: Jerome81 Post Number: 859 Registered: 11-2003 Posted From: 64.142.86.133 |
Gotta love those Stanford kids!  Tho I'm not yet even remotely close to being as wealthy as those guys.....Its in the billions, no? I will say that obtaining zillions of dollars in venture capital is far far easier out here than in Michigan. The industry here is also today's 1920's auto industry. It doesn't mean that Michigan can't be the economic engine of the nation ever again, but it won't be in automobiles, nor computers. If history teaches anything, industries shift. NE was textiles back in the day, midwest was the industrial revolution, the west is computers and technology. Someday, something else will be the next big thing, and it will end up being someplace other than Northern California (unless its biotech, then its gonna stick around here for a good long ride) | ||
Pam Member Username: Pam Post Number: 15 Registered: 11-2005 Posted From: 66.19.21.37 |
Ok, I have seen this mentioned several times here now and I have a hard time believing it. How come other cities with the same or worse climate are doing better than Detroit if this is really a major factor (Boston, NY, Chicago, Cleveland, Minneapolis etc.)? | ||
Irish_mafia Member Username: Irish_mafia Post Number: 277 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 68.248.2.48 |
Weather is not the issue. Companies are not flourishing here because of taxes and unions. Until we address these issues, companies will look at all 50 states and elsewhere and decide the most attractive place to locate... and we will often lose. | ||
Gannon Member Username: Gannon Post Number: 5238 Registered: 12-2003 Posted From: 70.236.198.22 |
I have always noticed the economic health of the Ann Arbor area being directly tied to UofM grads who chose to stay in that area after graduation...often starting their own firms OR adding their talents, training, and abilities to existing ones. Current head of Dominoes has UofM stuff all over his house, and I know he throws a great deal of cash at his alma mater...many of my best customers in that suburb are tied at the hip and wallet to their university. Many people leave, but choice ones stay. There are many places in the world for them to make their mark in history...we just have to show them that it is OK to do it here...and obviously eliminate the reasons why they choose to wander away, especially if they are FROM here originally. Now, what can we do about Wayne State and the Medical Center? Maybe even the Law School, but I'm not sure retaining lawyers is a positive move for society. Heh. Best and smartest doctor I know stayed in the city...and still does a day with the homeless and indigent eack week, as far as I know...as long as they'll tolerate his implanted fake horns and multiple piercings. There are all sorts of stories of those who stay...perhaps we need to showcase them and reveal their character to others so those with similar leanings will know they'll be in good company when they stay in Detroit. Ours. | ||
Sknutson Member Username: Sknutson Post Number: 397 Registered: 03-2004 Posted From: 64.139.1.36 |
Yes Irish Mafia, its taxes and the unions. The tech firms are so unionized aren't they? And taxes are so low here in California.... | ||
Gdub Member Username: Gdub Post Number: 915 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 68.248.15.192 |
The internet was created in Champaign, IL, but that place is still just an average college town. I'd say it's more the regional climate of N. California being open to visionary geeks and weirdos that spawned the tech-heavy congregation than anything else. | ||
Mbr Member Username: Mbr Post Number: 6 Registered: 03-2005 Posted From: 69.246.43.231 |
To bring back Mgd04's point from above, transferring money from UM to MSU because more grads stay in state makes no sense. If we want to really make a difference in the Detroit area we should start talking about how to make WSU the #2 public school in the state for undergrad. | ||
Irish_mafia Member Username: Irish_mafia Post Number: 282 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 68.248.2.48 |
"Yes Irish Mafia, its taxes and the unions. The tech firms are so unionized aren't they? And taxes are so low here in California...." Last I recall sknut, beyond the sunshine, there is not much to cheer about in CA... | ||
Gannon Member Username: Gannon Post Number: 5244 Registered: 12-2003 Posted From: 70.236.198.22 |
It's all about perception, Irish. Grass always seems greener somewhere else. | ||
Irish_mafia Member Username: Irish_mafia Post Number: 283 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 68.248.2.48 |
I understand Gannon...I'm one of those guys who did 5 years in LA...give me Michigan's change of seasons any day! | ||
Fnemecek Member Username: Fnemecek Post Number: 1341 Registered: 12-2004 Posted From: 69.212.34.113 |
What??? Are you kidding me? There's a lot more to the great state of California than just its sunshine. I mean, Britney Spears lives there. Oh, wait. I forgot. That's why I'm still in Michigan. Never mind. | ||
Gannon Member Username: Gannon Post Number: 5246 Registered: 12-2003 Posted From: 70.236.198.22 |
Irish, I made it to JUST under two years and had decided to stay on another three...but 9/11 chased me back to reason, and family, and friends, and comfort...and the hell away from LAXs closing down when someone blinked wrong. There is a lot to consider in California, but there are WAY too many people to get around to get to the good parts. I drove the PCH at least once a month from LA to SF every month...skiied Mammoth...drove the deserts...saw a few scenes in movies done...toured TV sets, especially ER with one of the writers...went to a few Hollywood Hills parties...worked in some killer houses there, too...but damn, about twice the number of people in the LA basin than it can really handle. Two hundred times the density of sheople, too. One of my industry friends from CO nailed it, 'they make the tv shows here but still most believe what they see on tv'. Everybody seemed to settle for what they could get now, but were always looking for the next best thing to come along. Fuck California, it is a nice place to visit for short durations but I can never live there again. The classism is so great I am ready to puke just thinking about it. And yes...I'll not only enjoy but savor the wintertime for the wonderful rebirthing marvel of springtime. CA gets some beautiful weather, but too many people only get to see it through their closed office windows, and closed car windows, and closed home windows. Never could understand that. Cheers! | ||
Kookie Member Username: Kookie Post Number: 94 Registered: 01-2004 Posted From: 164.67.233.216 |
Dtwphoenix....Google is opening an office in Ann Arbor http://www.mlive.com/mbusiness review/stories/index.ssf?/mbus inessreview/se/stories/2005060 9_google.html _________ Its a little off topic, but if the affirmitive action amendment passes, U-M will be a private school within 5 years. Republican's don't want to support it and the university has too much tied into their support of diversity. | ||
Sharmaal Member Username: Sharmaal Post Number: 458 Registered: 09-2004 Posted From: 69.14.76.187 |
Are 200,000 sq. feet available in one locaiton in the CBD? | ||
Mbr Member Username: Mbr Post Number: 8 Registered: 03-2005 Posted From: 69.246.43.231 |
That would not be difficult to find in the CBD. | ||
Fnemecek Member Username: Fnemecek Post Number: 1347 Registered: 12-2004 Posted From: 69.219.103.157 |
All of which explains why the University has launched a huuuuggge capital campaign to build up their endowment. | ||
The_aram Member Username: The_aram Post Number: 4557 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 141.213.175.233 |
There was an excellent article in the Michigan Daily this week about the pros and cons for Michigan becoming a private University. The gist I get is this: While this new campaign, the Michigan Difference campaign I guess they call it, is going to increase the endowment fund quite a bit, there's no way it's going to be large enough to make the University able to sustain cutting itself off completely from the state. While there are definite pros to go private, it's not feasible. I'll find the article and link it up. | ||
Dialh4hipster Member Username: Dialh4hipster Post Number: 1209 Registered: 11-2004 Posted From: 68.61.187.234 |
Britney Spears does not live in California. | ||
Dabirch Member Username: Dabirch Post Number: 1229 Registered: 06-2004 Posted From: 208.44.117.10 |
No it was not. The browser was invented in Champaign -- the Internet had already existed for some number of years at that point. | ||
Fnemecek Member Username: Fnemecek Post Number: 1364 Registered: 12-2004 Posted From: 70.230.12.71 |
Okay - she splits her time between a couple of places. Ruining multiple states, I guess. But last time I checked she owned a home in Southern California. Darned if I can remember where. | ||
Jerome81 Member Username: Jerome81 Post Number: 861 Registered: 11-2003 Posted From: 64.142.86.133 |
Fuck California, it is a nice place to visit for short durations but I can never live there again. The classism is so great I am ready to puke just thinking about it. And yes...I'll not only enjoy but savor the wintertime for the wonderful rebirthing marvel of springtime. CA gets some beautiful weather, but too many people only get to see it through their closed office windows, and closed car windows, and closed home windows. Never could understand that. ------------------ I couldn't agree much more. I maybe wouldn't say "F it". Don't know about the classism either. But I just plain have NEVER felt at home here. Been here pretty much 6 years. I don't know if its the lack of seasons (I honest to god wish it would just be cloudy or rain sometimes....months of sunshine really DOES get old). I miss the snow. Maybe its just cause I grew up in the north (Idaho, Michigan, Indiana). I don't know. It just never seems people stop to really appreciate it sometimes. People don't BBQ in the summer, because its summer all the time. Something about it. But I'm tryin to get out too. The cost of living isn't much fun either. I left for about a year to spend time in Chicago and Detroit and felt much more at home in both places. I will probably miss it if I do leave (lots of friends here), but all in all, I just have never been able to see myself living my life in California. | ||
Gannon Member Username: Gannon Post Number: 5272 Registered: 12-2003 Posted From: 70.236.198.22 |
Jerome81, Through my work and a series of fortuitous personal relations, I was able to peek into how some of the 'other half' truly lives in a relatively short period of time... …from being 'seen' in haughty Beverly Hills restaurants with a gorgeous type-A woman whose family came from Mendocino who was always using the words 'trust fund' liberally in casual conversation and talking about rubbing elbows with Michael Milken and Lauderic Cook during the workday at her cool quarter million a year job (before Worldcom took that famous dump) after years of power-full lobbying for the petroleum industry in Sacramento and a brother CEO'ing up in Silicon Valley during the glory days of the technology boomtown… …to a ridge high above LA in a famous horror movie director's simple but exquisite ranch home… …to a San Simeon-like mansion on Seventeen Mile Drive in Pebble Beach owned by a fellow whose family name adorns at least a bank, one skyscraper and a mall in San Francisco... …to the desperate illegal aliens waiting at the local Home Depot for whatever meager, dirty work came their way and the others who were hired to work in people's homes caring for their meager, dirty lawns and children (since both parents worked and had two hour commutes each way to their offices)... …even up to including how my Midwestern grade/high school friends were treated by their neighbors as they dared cater to their OWN lawn and children instead of hiring darker skinned help (with mom staying at home, how COULD she!)...LA is a twisted place from another planet. A big bowel of sand just awaiting the inevitable great shake out. Any place you can walk from abject total poverty to some of the richest people on the earth (hiding behind walls) is sickening to me. It is a miracle that the place hasn't yet erupted in revolution...a testimony to sheoplehood everywhere that proper behavior will get you nowhere but frustratingly pacified. Sixty-five mile per hour speed limits throughout that complex parking lot they call a freeway system...oh, I could go on and on. Only way philosophers and those with recognizable souls can exist there is through deep denial of that which is actively killing them...you sense it but cannot finger it or describe it fully...but INSTANTLY notice when you leave how that oppression lifting makes you feel. Escape while you still can, my friend. The cost of living is merely the distraction that forces you to work hard enough to merely tolerate everything you vaguely notice but do not comprehend. And they consider it normal living. Heh. Ultimately never worth the price. Run, man, run away. If you can still sense it, there still hope for you. |
