Charles Simonyi:
Microsoft Word Creator in Space - US $20M

PC World 8apr2007

Simonyi paid more than US $20 million  for a 13-day trip

I'm finding myself oddly fascinated by the news that Charles Simonyi, the former Microsoft software architect and current billionaire, is now the fifth civilian ever to be rocketed into space. (He's on his way to the International Space Station onboard a Soyuz spacecraft that took off from Kazakhstan on Saturday.)

It should go without saying that I wish him and the two cosmonauts he's traveling with a safe, productive, and exciting flight. It should also go without saying that I'm insanely jealous. (Technology journalists rarely get the chance to go into space, which may have something to do with the fact that we rarely get the chance to be billionaires.)

But this being PC World, I'm as interested in Simonyi's lengthy software career as I am in his spacefaring ways. Herewith, a few facts about him, mostly cribbed from the indispensable 1993 book Gates, by PC World's own Stephen Manes and co-author Paul Andrews....

• Simonyi, who was born in Budapest, rose to prominence at XEROX PARC during the period in the 1970s when that remarkable organization invented a remarkably high percentage of the things which the computer industry continues to milk to this day.

• While there, he personally wrote Bravo, the first what-you-see-is-what-you-get word processor. It ran on the Alto, a machine with a bitmapped display, a mouse, Ethernet, a laser printer, and other items that were almost unimaginably advanced in the mid-70s.

• In 1980, Simonyi visited Microsoft—then primarily a developer of programming languages—and blew away Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer with PARC's cool stuff and his own ideas for how Microsoft might dive into productivity software; in 1981, he became Microsoft's director of advanced product development.

• Simonyi went on to be one of the prime movers behind Microsoft Word, the Bravo-like 1983 application for the IBM PC that was originally going to be called Multi-Tool World.

• He also spearheaded the 1985 spreadsheet called Excel—first available for the Mac, and the successor to a famously unsuccessful Microsoft spreadsheet called Multiplan.

• In 1981, Simonyi received 1.5 percent of the stock of Microsoft, then a smallish private company. That might possibly explain how he wound up ab able to afford a trip to space in 2007.

• Simonyi left Microsoft in 2002 to found a company with the wonderful name of Intentional Software. It has an entertaining logo with a packwards E and an upside-down A.

• An amusing anecdote involves Simonyi not knowing how to turn off Clippy, the legendarily annoying Office Assistant in Microsoft Word—and wishing for a meta-Clippy to help him figure out how to do it.

• He's currently dating Martha Stewart.

• He's been admirably philanthropic, especially in regards to Seattle-area charities, giving far more back to the world than he's investing in his space trip (which reportedly cost him in the neighborhood of $25 million).

Simonyi's Charles in Space site is a flashy and ambitious guide to his big adventure. Check it out, even if, like me, you get a little more envious every time you learn more about the expedition....

source: 8apr2007

Senegal Food Stand Feeds Community
on a Few Dollars a Day

PHUONG TRAN / Voice of America News 9apr2007

Customer Mamadou Dieng eats for less than US $1 a day

Dakar — According to most poverty indicators, almost half the population of Sub-Saharan Africa is living on less than $1 a day. One Senegalese food stand owner shows how far a dollar goes in this part of the world. Her alumisnum-sided, cardboard-roofed sandwich and coffee stand in Dakar has become the community kitchen for hundreds of people, mostly men who come from far away to work in the city. For a little over one dollar, diners can afford breakfast, lunch, hot coffee, plus a helping of morning news. Phuong Tran has more from Dakar, Senegal.

Before the sun rises, Astou Diaw, 47, and her daughter, Yoni, ride a bus through Dakar's faintly-lit streets to get to her corner breakfast stand where she has sold bean filled baguettes and coffee for four years.

Before sandwiches, Diaw sold local juices, water and peanuts. But a breakfast stand seemed a better way to help support her family.

"I wanted to help out my husband and our seven kids," she said. "It is hard work and sometimes I cannot cover my costs. But even though it is really hard, I still am able to help out more than before."

A ten-minute bus ride later, Diaw arrives at her husband's metal shop, which is also the kitchen for her food stand.

Mother and daughter work quickly.

They heat a bucket of water, and stir beans over a fire that will go into her signature spicy lentil sandwich, a best selling 50 cent long baguette.

While Yoni washes glasses, Diaw fills a large silver bowl with the lentils. By seven thirty, she takes her seat for the morning rush.

Mamadou Diop comes in for the local drink, a heavily-sugared frothy local drink that tastes like a spicy mix of coffee and tea.

He is a security guard who leaves his house before sunrise every day to travel 30 kilometers to Dakar.

"I come when I have the money. Sometimes, when I do not have money, I will still come by and she will sell me on credit," he said. "Here I can eat good home cooked food. Women like her help us out a lot. We do not have much money. At Astou's stand, for less than 50 cents, you can be full."

A group of men debate the recent presidential elections in Senegal.

Four hours and dozens of customers later, Diaw counts her change. She is short of the six dollars needed to cover her expenses on bread, butter, coffee and beans.

"Mondays are the hardest because most people do not have money yet to pay at the beginning of the work week," she said. "Maybe tomorrow will be better."

Folding her apron, Diaw takes a lentil sandwich with mayonnaise. Leaving her daughter to work the lunch shift, Diaw leaves and waits for the bus to go home.

Despite her cash problem on most Mondays, Diaw was able to make $2,000 last year from her food stand.

This is in a country where about half the population is unemployed, and for those who work, their average annual salary is about $700.

source: 9apr2007

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