Jim Clark, Netscape Founder, 1995 Interview

In this video segment, Jim Clark, founder of MyCFO, Netscape & Healtheon, talks about the history of computer miniaturization and increased information processing power, and the difference between Silicon Valley and European entrepreneurs. This is a segment from the full unscripted interview.

Jim Clark 1995 Interview
Interview date: May 2, 1995
Interviewer: John McLaughlin, Historian and President of the Santa Clara Valley Historical Association

Interviewer's question:
"Could you make some comments on the history of mankind?"

Transcript (partial):
"I think every period in history has its unique features, but I think right now with the
computing technology and the telecommunications technology changing so rapidly, I
mean, in my lifetime I can look, not even my whole life, half my life, 25 years ago,
computers were big, monstrous things. They were just starting to become—the minicomputer age was
born about 25 years ago, and the microcomputer age 10 years ago, so we're seeing this
incredible momentum toward miniaturization and increased communications power,
information processing power, so there's a revolution underway of sorts. A lot of
people refer to it as the Information Revolution, or whatever, but it's hard to imagine
the compression in time over which this is happening and the improvement in computing power. This 3,000, factor of 3,000 computing power in just, in terms of
price and performance, those two factors improving by a factor of 3,000 to 10,000 in
15 years, is just astonishing. What else improves at that rate? What else gets better and
at the same time cheaper? It's one of these phenomenon that gets a little bit hard to
understand relative to other things, like automobiles. They always get more
expensive. They rarely get cheaper. They get better. So it's a phenomenal industry to
be involved in."

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