Hacker News Reader

Comment by clay_the_ripper | Hacker News Reader

Somewhat unrelated: we used to do a lot of business with supermicro. In a meeting one time I asked one of their guys why their billboards are so weird looking (anyone who’s driven down 880 past their building knows what I’m taking about). They have these billboards that have weird slogans and super amateur looking graphics that look like they were made in MS paint.

So I asked the guy about them cause I thought it was funny that such a big company had such cheap looking marketing. And he said: “yeah our CEO couldn’t believe how much money some agency was going to charge us to design a marketing campaign, so he just did it himself on his computer in like 2 days”

I thought that was hilarious. But good on the CEO for realizing no one really cares what a server billboard looks like, and decided to save the $2MM or whatever someone was going to charge him for design. Super funny.

View on HN

The best photo I could find: http://meritage-partners.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2016/05...

I love that old school Silicon Valley aesthetic.

That's funny, I had no idea they had billboards.

Are those the $1M Silicon Valley homes I hear about?

Those look like mobile/manufactured, so in the $400-600k range.

Well, around $200-300K, based on checking prices on Zillow for what sure appear to be spaces in that mobile home park (around Oakland Road in San Jose, ZIP code 95131). I don't think I've ever seen a mobile home listed for a half-million even in this area, although I've seen ones the mid-$300s. (Granted, this is still nuts, given that in Sacramento or Tampa, the other places I've idly priced homes, these would be under $100K.)

What's amazing to me is that people are willing to pay high prices for a manufactured home in Silicon Valley even though the likelihood of the mobile home park's land being sold to developers is higher than anywhere else.

This has already happened in a few places in the area. In Sunnyvale there are massive developments of million-dollar condos literally next door to mobile home parks. How much longer can those places survive?

One would think that the risk would make people less likely to buy. There aren't very many places in the area for people to move their homes to if the land they are sitting on gets sold.

Why is there such a disparity in quality of life for tech workers in SV? It seems like the housing crisis there will eventually stifle productivity (no one can afford to move there for entry level roles without giving up a ton). Are there some special dynamics that cause these types of scenarios except for the fact that a lot of people got rich quickly in one place?

Entry level roles are for fresh graduates. A converted living room is a step up from college and compatible with aggressive savings on a big-co wage. Entry level engineers willing to run smaller savings rates can even afford to live alone, though it can be a stretch.

density restrictions and human greed

i hope this is sarcasm...

Oh wow, that does give me mid-90s PC Magazine flashbacks.

There used to be a big billboard for Data Translation A/D converter cards on I-880 at San Jose city limits. I saw them right after moving to the Bay Area in 1990. It felt like driving through the entrance to paradise. :)

That reminds me of newspaper ads for someone selling beige box PCs.

Remember the old catalogs that were phone book sized of all of the mail order PC parts vendors? er, what's a phone book you ask? My first PC was built from one of these. It was a 486 after the Pentium line was introduced.

Computer Shopper was a strangely entertaining publication--the crude design, the suuuper homemade ads. Who needs a Hayes 9600 modem?

That would actually explain there website. Its awful in only the way a late 90's site can be, but they make great servers so you deal with it. I just wish they made it a bit easier to find everything.

I'm just impressed the CEO did something himself. I always feel I should be delegating more, but often DIY is easier than explaining what you want.

Their website is like that too. Everything just looks like it's from the 90s. But then again, if you're in particular industries like HPC, they make machines unlike any of their competition.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com