$26
My dad came to this country with something like $26 in his pocket; $26 and a scholarship to UMASS. I didn't know about that until I was around 14, our family went to another family's house for dinner and it came up in after dinner conversation. I was honestly floored - all of the sudden everything in life made sense to me, I was given the drive that I needed to go anywhere and do anything in life. My dad took essentially nothing and raised a family out of it; we all helped, but one man's ability to do that is what I truly define as successful. We weren't rich, but he (along with the help of my mom) made sure that we could live in comfort as a family. My dad is what sparked my drive; he's the reason that if I get a product to review on Friday, and the review has to go up on Monday, I bust my ass all weekend to make sure it gets done. He instilled in me a true understanding of what hard work is really about, and that's a major cornerstone of who I am today.
My mom gave me an understanding of how to do something with myself and an understanding of ethics. She showed me what truly caring about something really meant, about what being selfless meant and gave me the foundation that allowed me to develop my own perspectives on the world. She didn't teach me right from wrong, she taught me how to figure out what's right and what's wrong. And I'll never forget that which she's taught me to this day. It wasn't until college that I really understood what she had done for me; she dropped out of college to take care of me, to raise me. She gave up her dreams of being a doctor, to live her new dream of having a son. She cared for me more than anyone ever could, and seeing and understanding that also helped shaped who I am today.
I started AnandTech almost exactly 8 years ago: April 26, 1997. I was a freshman in high school, 14 at the time, and completely into this stuff. I started AnandTech not as a business, but as something that I thought would be cool to do. I started it humble, and to this day I will never forget my beginnings. There's no room for big egos in writing, I hate reading it and I'm sure you all do too.
I started the website with nothing, it was a free site on Geocities and I had no hardware other than the scraps of my system. But I worked hard these past 8 years, AnandTech grew from nothing to where it is today - with over 6 million monthly unique readers. I've had one basic principle when it comes to how to deal with those readers, and it goes something like this:
Regardless of how many people come to the site, I look at it as each person coming to me with their money in hand, wanting to know what to purchase. Let's say the average hardware upgrade costs $150, that's 6 million people x $150. I don't have to let you know that that's an absolutely ridiculous amount of money. To trade the trust that you all are placing in me and my staff for any amount of anything, is just unfathomable. While I'm sure there are folks that do it, I am not one of them.
At the same time, if we didn't value your trust so highly, we'd be gone in an instant. AnandTech readers make their buying decisions based, in part, on our articles. If we gave some bad advice that resulted in a poor purchase, do you think we're going to keep those readers for long? Nope, common sense right?
Next let's talk about this myth of articles and exclusivity. To a journalist, an exclusive on an article is a huge deal, because it means that you'll get all the attention about this one topic. Yet another reason why I hate journalists, they are far too short sighted. One thing I learned very early on (and you'll notice this in the work I do) is that being first to break a story gives you a large influx of short term traffic, but does nothing for you long term. You can have all the exclusives in the world, but if your content is crap then they mean nothing. At the same time, you can be 3 weeks late to review something, but if it's the most thorough review out there, that review's overall impact on reader perception of you and your site is much greater than having an exclusive. Now if you can get a review out first and make it as thorough as possible, then you're sitting pretty.
The next part of the myth of an exclusive is this idea that manufacturers have any desire to give one site an exclusive over another - that simply doesn't happen. Any of the "exclusive" articles we've done over the past 8 years have been made possible through going through third parties. I reviewed the K6-III about 3 months before AMD even shipped the review samples, did AMD work out a sweetheart deal with me? Of course not, I went around the manufacturer. It's what I did for the SLI preview from last year, it's what we do to get company roadmaps. We avoid dealing with the manufacturer at all costs, unless we need to talk to their engineers.
It's true that manufacturers try to bully a lot of sites out there, generally speaking the smaller you are, the more the manufacturer tries to influence you. I fought very hard to build AnandTech to where it is today, and it is at the point where manufacturers do not even *dare* try to even hint at trying to influence anything. All of the major manufacturers have done their own independent audits of AnandTech, they know how large we are and the type of influence we have - do you think they'd risk a story about how they are trying to strong arm the media into reviewing products a certain way?
"But what about the advertisers?" you say, well, I took care of that problem long ago. AnandTech as a company doesn't have a single sales person on staff, years ago I set things up so that we wouldn't have to deal with advertisers and to truly build a separation between editorial and advertising. The results of this are numerous, but the two major ones are:
1) I like my editors to be autonomous, they receive a little direction from me and help if they need it, otherwise they are on their own to do and review anything you ask for and they see as important to the areas of coverage. They are never told what to review or how to review it; honestly, if this weren't the case, you all would see right through it.
2) I rarely know about what ads are going live on the site unless I either see them while browsing the site, or in my CEO role someone from the sales side brings one up to discuss. Honestly I'm far too busy to even bother with that sort of stuff; you guys follow the blog, there's no time for me to be running around working on ad stuff. I've got people to handle that, they do their job and we do ours.
Advertisers will sometimes ask for preferential treatment, if they ask our sales folks directly - they are turned down on the spot. Sometimes they will go around them and talk directly to an editor, if they do, the editor makes it *very* clear that we don't work this way - case closed. I've got tons of emails of this kind of stuff, and as I mentioned before, by now about 99% of the manufacturers don't even try this sort of crap. They know where it's going to get them and that I take it very personally. The remaining 1% are folks that haven't dealt with us before, they'll learn soon enough. Do others have this separation? Most don't. Does that mean anything? I can't speak for them, but I can speak for us and this policy works for us. Do you have to be an advertiser to get a review? Of course not, anyone who reads this blog should know that if you all want to see us review something, we'll do it - all you have to do is ask :)
"But what about the free hardware?"
Manufacturers also know that we have no problems buying hardware, if they refuse to send us something, we'll just go out and buy it. I've had manufacturers refuse to send us products for a full year, but did you all notice? Nope...we just went out and bought everything. That's another philosophy of mine: you come here to read about technology, not about some soap opera and crap that goes on behind the scenes - so I keep things like that off the site. When there are problems with manufacturer relations, I don't post about them here, I deal with them maturely and in a way that doesn't affect the outcome of reviews. Manufacturers also know this, they can say whatever they want to me, about me, etc... but it still has no impact on our reviews. If company X calls me stupid, does it make sense for me to hurt *all of you* by giving an unfair/incorrect review of their product? A lot of these issues are just plain common sense :)
AnandTech is a business - we do make money, but regardless of how large we get and what our revenues are, it's still run like a family. And this family has morals, I can't speak for how other people were raised but this is how I was raised and it's how I run my family.
My dad came to this country with something like $26 in his pocket; $26 and a scholarship to UMASS. I didn't know about that until I was around 14, our family went to another family's house for dinner and it came up in after dinner conversation. I was honestly floored - all of the sudden everything in life made sense to me, I was given the drive that I needed to go anywhere and do anything in life. My dad took essentially nothing and raised a family out of it; we all helped, but one man's ability to do that is what I truly define as successful. We weren't rich, but he (along with the help of my mom) made sure that we could live in comfort as a family. My dad is what sparked my drive; he's the reason that if I get a product to review on Friday, and the review has to go up on Monday, I bust my ass all weekend to make sure it gets done. He instilled in me a true understanding of what hard work is really about, and that's a major cornerstone of who I am today.
My mom gave me an understanding of how to do something with myself and an understanding of ethics. She showed me what truly caring about something really meant, about what being selfless meant and gave me the foundation that allowed me to develop my own perspectives on the world. She didn't teach me right from wrong, she taught me how to figure out what's right and what's wrong. And I'll never forget that which she's taught me to this day. It wasn't until college that I really understood what she had done for me; she dropped out of college to take care of me, to raise me. She gave up her dreams of being a doctor, to live her new dream of having a son. She cared for me more than anyone ever could, and seeing and understanding that also helped shaped who I am today.
I started AnandTech almost exactly 8 years ago: April 26, 1997. I was a freshman in high school, 14 at the time, and completely into this stuff. I started AnandTech not as a business, but as something that I thought would be cool to do. I started it humble, and to this day I will never forget my beginnings. There's no room for big egos in writing, I hate reading it and I'm sure you all do too.
I started the website with nothing, it was a free site on Geocities and I had no hardware other than the scraps of my system. But I worked hard these past 8 years, AnandTech grew from nothing to where it is today - with over 6 million monthly unique readers. I've had one basic principle when it comes to how to deal with those readers, and it goes something like this:
Regardless of how many people come to the site, I look at it as each person coming to me with their money in hand, wanting to know what to purchase. Let's say the average hardware upgrade costs $150, that's 6 million people x $150. I don't have to let you know that that's an absolutely ridiculous amount of money. To trade the trust that you all are placing in me and my staff for any amount of anything, is just unfathomable. While I'm sure there are folks that do it, I am not one of them.
At the same time, if we didn't value your trust so highly, we'd be gone in an instant. AnandTech readers make their buying decisions based, in part, on our articles. If we gave some bad advice that resulted in a poor purchase, do you think we're going to keep those readers for long? Nope, common sense right?
Next let's talk about this myth of articles and exclusivity. To a journalist, an exclusive on an article is a huge deal, because it means that you'll get all the attention about this one topic. Yet another reason why I hate journalists, they are far too short sighted. One thing I learned very early on (and you'll notice this in the work I do) is that being first to break a story gives you a large influx of short term traffic, but does nothing for you long term. You can have all the exclusives in the world, but if your content is crap then they mean nothing. At the same time, you can be 3 weeks late to review something, but if it's the most thorough review out there, that review's overall impact on reader perception of you and your site is much greater than having an exclusive. Now if you can get a review out first and make it as thorough as possible, then you're sitting pretty.
The next part of the myth of an exclusive is this idea that manufacturers have any desire to give one site an exclusive over another - that simply doesn't happen. Any of the "exclusive" articles we've done over the past 8 years have been made possible through going through third parties. I reviewed the K6-III about 3 months before AMD even shipped the review samples, did AMD work out a sweetheart deal with me? Of course not, I went around the manufacturer. It's what I did for the SLI preview from last year, it's what we do to get company roadmaps. We avoid dealing with the manufacturer at all costs, unless we need to talk to their engineers.
It's true that manufacturers try to bully a lot of sites out there, generally speaking the smaller you are, the more the manufacturer tries to influence you. I fought very hard to build AnandTech to where it is today, and it is at the point where manufacturers do not even *dare* try to even hint at trying to influence anything. All of the major manufacturers have done their own independent audits of AnandTech, they know how large we are and the type of influence we have - do you think they'd risk a story about how they are trying to strong arm the media into reviewing products a certain way?
"But what about the advertisers?" you say, well, I took care of that problem long ago. AnandTech as a company doesn't have a single sales person on staff, years ago I set things up so that we wouldn't have to deal with advertisers and to truly build a separation between editorial and advertising. The results of this are numerous, but the two major ones are:
1) I like my editors to be autonomous, they receive a little direction from me and help if they need it, otherwise they are on their own to do and review anything you ask for and they see as important to the areas of coverage. They are never told what to review or how to review it; honestly, if this weren't the case, you all would see right through it.
2) I rarely know about what ads are going live on the site unless I either see them while browsing the site, or in my CEO role someone from the sales side brings one up to discuss. Honestly I'm far too busy to even bother with that sort of stuff; you guys follow the blog, there's no time for me to be running around working on ad stuff. I've got people to handle that, they do their job and we do ours.
Advertisers will sometimes ask for preferential treatment, if they ask our sales folks directly - they are turned down on the spot. Sometimes they will go around them and talk directly to an editor, if they do, the editor makes it *very* clear that we don't work this way - case closed. I've got tons of emails of this kind of stuff, and as I mentioned before, by now about 99% of the manufacturers don't even try this sort of crap. They know where it's going to get them and that I take it very personally. The remaining 1% are folks that haven't dealt with us before, they'll learn soon enough. Do others have this separation? Most don't. Does that mean anything? I can't speak for them, but I can speak for us and this policy works for us. Do you have to be an advertiser to get a review? Of course not, anyone who reads this blog should know that if you all want to see us review something, we'll do it - all you have to do is ask :)
"But what about the free hardware?"
Manufacturers also know that we have no problems buying hardware, if they refuse to send us something, we'll just go out and buy it. I've had manufacturers refuse to send us products for a full year, but did you all notice? Nope...we just went out and bought everything. That's another philosophy of mine: you come here to read about technology, not about some soap opera and crap that goes on behind the scenes - so I keep things like that off the site. When there are problems with manufacturer relations, I don't post about them here, I deal with them maturely and in a way that doesn't affect the outcome of reviews. Manufacturers also know this, they can say whatever they want to me, about me, etc... but it still has no impact on our reviews. If company X calls me stupid, does it make sense for me to hurt *all of you* by giving an unfair/incorrect review of their product? A lot of these issues are just plain common sense :)
AnandTech is a business - we do make money, but regardless of how large we get and what our revenues are, it's still run like a family. And this family has morals, I can't speak for how other people were raised but this is how I was raised and it's how I run my family.
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smn198 - Thursday, April 7, 2005 - link
First of all, I am *very* glad that we don’t see screensaver or smiley advert-rubbish you seem to get everywhere these days.I think the testing methodology of the dual CPU articles was great. Especially as SMP is now being pushed on the main stream and no one has ever had to benchmark in this way before.
I am not sure how many people really are doing stuff which requires a lot of processing in the background so I decided to do a few very crude benchmarks using Half-Life 2 to make Scott happy ;) I wanted to find out if leaving what I would consider normal apps open at the same time as gaming had any effect. (http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=22595...
I ran it with all the apps open now that I happened to have. Sometimes I would have more sometimes less but I didn’t want to open any more because actually, although I do occasionally have more open, I don’t always have everything open at once.
Anyway, here is a list of what I have open now which I would normally close before a game:
IE with 3 windows,
Firefox with 2 tabs
Outlook
Word
iTunes
I also have the following things which I always or nearly always have running:
Zonealarm
AVG free
Spybot with SDHelper (helps IE) and TeaTimer (helps windows)
Steam
Test setup:
HOC_HL2Bench v. 1.3
800 x 600
Max detail
Bi-liniear filtering
X4 AA
HardwareOC Coast
85hz refresh
All application windows maximised:
51.0 FPS
All minimised:
51.5 FPS
Only always running apps:
53.1 FPS
Only steam and HOC_HL2Bench running:
53.5 FPS, 52.7 FPS (run twice)
I decided to turn down the settings to make it more CPU dependant.
Test setup:
HOC_HL2Bench v. 1.3
800 x 600
Min detail
Bi-liniear filtering
No AA
HardwareOC Coast
85hz refresh
All application windows maximised:
58.2 FPS
All minimised:
58.6 FPS
Only always running apps:
72.6
Only steam and HOC_HL2Bench running:
73.0 FPS, 72.9 FPS (run twice)
I’m not sure if dual core would help this. Not really sure what to make of these results but it appears that if I am CPU limited (at low graphics detail) then closing all my apps makes a huge difference to performance! Maybe that is because of limited RAM available? I was watching the HDD and it didn’t seem to be swapping.
Anand, I am sure you can do a much better job of interpreting this but I thought it was interesting so I thought I would share it.
Full process list - let me know if I have any nasties ;)
PID: 0 ( 0) [System]
PID: 8 ( 0) System
PID: 168 ( 8) \SystemRoot\System32\smss.exe
PID: 196 ( 168) CSRSS.EXE
PID: 216 ( 168) \??\D:\WINNT\system32\winlogon.exe
PID: 244 ( 216) D:\WINNT\system32\services.exe
PID: 256 ( 216) D:\WINNT\system32\lsass.exe
PID: 392 ( 244) D:\WINNT\system32\Ati2evxx.exe
PID: 472 ( 244) D:\WINNT\system32\svchost.exe
PID: 500 ( 244) D:\WINNT\system32\spoolsv.exe
PID: 544 ( 244) D:\PROGRA~1\Grisoft\AVGFRE~1\avgamsvr.exe
PID: 560 ( 244) D:\PROGRA~1\Grisoft\AVGFRE~1\avgupsvc.exe
PID: 588 ( 244) D:\Program Files\Cisco Systems\VPN Client\cvpnd.exe
PID: 620 ( 244) D:\WINNT\System32\svchost.exe
PID: 632 ( 244) D:\Program Files\Promise\FastTrak\FtrakSvc.exe
PID: 688 ( 244) D:\WINNT\system32\regsvc.exe
PID: 704 ( 244) D:\WINNT\system32\MSTask.exe
PID: 768 ( 244) D:\WINNT\system32\stisvc.exe
PID: 840 ( 244) D:\WINNT\System32\svchost.exe
PID: 884 ( 244) D:\WINNT\System32\WBEM\WinMgmt.exe
PID: 900 ( 244) D:\WINNT\system32\mspmspsv.exe
PID: 912 ( 244) D:\WINNT\system32\svchost.exe
PID: 928 ( 244) D:\WINNT\system32\inetsrv\inetinfo.exe
PID: 1024 ( 216) D:\WINNT\system32\Ati2evxx.exe
PID: 1056 (1052) D:\WINNT\Explorer.EXE
PID: 1060 (1056) D:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\WINWORD.EXE
PID: 1076 (1056) D:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\IEXPLORE.EXE
PID: 1108 (1056) D:\Program Files\ATI Multimedia\main\ATISched.EXE
PID: 1176 (1056) D:\WINNT\system32\ezSP_Px.exe
PID: 1304 (1900) D:\Program Files\HardwareOC BenchTools\HL2 Bench\hl2_bench.exe
PID: 1332 (1056) D:\WINNT\system32\AEIWLSTA.EXE
PID: 1412 (1864) d:\program files\valve\steam\steam.exe
PID: 1432 (1056) D:\Program Files\iTunes\iTunesHelper.exe
PID: 1484 ( 244) D:\Program Files\iPod\bin\iPodService.exe
PID: 1492 (1056) D:\Program Files\ATI Multimedia\main\ATIDtct.EXE
PID: 1668 (1056) D:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\IEXPLORE.EXE
PID: 1732 (1220) D:\Program Files\Grisoft\AVG Free\avgcc.exe
PID: 1740 ( 244) D:\WINNT\system32\ZoneLabs\vsmon.exe
PID: 1760 ( 240) D:\Program Files\Common Files\Real\Update_OB\realsched.exe
PID: 1824 (1056) D:\Program Files\Spybot - Search & Destroy\SpybotSD.exe
PID: 1864 (1304) D:\WINNT\system32\cmd.exe
PID: 1868 (1824) D:\Program Files\Spybot - Search & Destroy\TeaTimer.exe
PID: 1880 (1056) D:\Program Files\Zone Labs\ZoneAlarm\zlclient.exe
Rand - Thursday, April 7, 2005 - link
A quick question if you know the answer off the top of your head, otherwise feel free to ignore it... you mentioned FireFox having replaced IE as the primary browser of AT readers, I'm curious as to Safari and Opera's prevalence amongst your readership?My own browser of choice presently, and at least over the last few years has been Opera.
Doung - Thursday, April 7, 2005 - link
#41 gnumantsc: Google Adsense is a viable option, but Anand get as much as $20,000 from some advertisements. I am sure Google Adsense will not be able to recover that. Besides, when you consider the majority of the content on AnandTech - Google Adsense will display hardware related ads, which are cheaper (usually around $0.5 per click) the ads on other topics. I don't think AnandTech will be profitable that way.Rand - Thursday, April 7, 2005 - link
This discussion brings back some memories of AnandTech when it started... I vaguely recall when you first started on GeoCities looking at the K6 processors.It's interesting to reflect on how far things have come since then, at the time Tom Pabst was really the only person that was well known covering hardware on the internet.
I think I first started reading AT regularly shortly after you moved to the anandtech.com domain, you were heavily covering the overclockability of the early Mendocino core Celeron's at the time.... must have been around late 98'?
Much has changed since then of course, now your arguably the single most influential tech site on the internet all from the humble beginnings of a early teens early Geocities endeavors.
You've managed to thrive thus far through the usual upheavals of the various sites coming and waning in popularity. I wonder how many of the current reign of popular sites were created partially from the influence of AT?
I always found it rather humbling to contemplate how far you'd come by the time you were 18 or so, I was only recently entered college and working in your stereotypical small town computer store... you were casually commenting on discussions with Intel.
It's faintly amusing to think that my own early education and eventual career path was in some respect inspired by reading your articles through the years.
Always found it odd that I could be so influenced, at least in some respects by someone that was actually slightly younger then myself.
Doug - Thursday, April 7, 2005 - link
#42 Questar: Stop complaining. It's not like you can do any better. I am sure if you wrote these lengthy articles, people would find mistakes in your writing as well. Not very many articles in this world are 100% grammatically correct. Even if you did write an article that is 100% from an English standpoint, I am sure it will take you quite sometime and when you are running the world's most influential site, I don't really think it matters.As long you understand what the people are trying to convey, I could care less how they have written it. And before you defend The Inquirer, maybe it's time for you to look at their sentence structure and writing. Oops, I almost forgot - they don't have any.
If you don't like AnandTech, just get the hell away. Idiot.
WooDaddy - Thursday, April 7, 2005 - link
Anand,I just recently received an email from Kris responding to my request to update the RSS pricefeed. I just wanted to let you know Kris does a great job and the email was a big plus. I don't know if you guys have an employee recognition-type thing at AT but I'd like to throw that into the hat.
But on topic, I have to give you the biggest kudos ever. I am professional personal shopping consultant (seriously) and most of what I suggest is supported by the unbiased reviews that you and your editors provide. I remember when you were on geocities.
I really don't think that a simple thank you in a blog comment can be sufficient enough, but I hope it's a start. The work you've done is ABSOLUTELY phenominal (sp?) and always dead on. I can read inbetween the lines and see that your intent is sincerely not just to pass on information but to teach to help us become more understanding of the technology. I've never sensed any bit of ego in your articles which is what most people do when they feel they know more than others; instead its a more giving and (loving) parentlike attitude that says you are giving us the best information that you can give us and hope that we will take that information and live more satified lives/purchases with them. It's the same approach I use with my clients. It doesn't always pay the bills but the smiles (and repeat business) fuel my soul.
You are doing a fine job and from the point of view that you allows us to have, you seem to be a great human-being as well. So maybe I'm acting quite fanboyish but from time to time you need to hear sincere compliments. So hopefully this resonates (sp?) with the hearts of all of us ATers, but you are definately a bright shining light in the blog/review/news world that has not dimmed since it's inception and we appreciate ALL of the hard work you and your team does.
And BTW, I use to come down hard on Stephen Caston when he first jumped on board. I think he's been doing a WONDERFUL job and passed the test of dealing with us pompous ass photogs :)
Son of a N00b - Thursday, April 7, 2005 - link
I did not read the other comments, because if I did i would be spending way to much time here for my own good, there is just to much to learn from lol...Anyway, Anand, I find it vey interesting that you started this when you were 14. I myself am 16 now, and was thinking of starting a site like this about a year ago, of coure then I found yours, and realized I could never compete :() lol But, knowing what you like doing, all I got to say is great job, and keep it up. Thank you for your well thought out responces to people comments and being involved, it makes this site such a better place...I cannot wait to get home from work to read it, dreaming of the ultimate rig all the way home, you add to that enjoyment.
I cannot believe that people out there can question your intergirty when your dedication, and self-honor is displayed on this site everyday...
Anonymous - Thursday, April 7, 2005 - link
"With regards to ATI, yes they have definitely burned a lot of bridges with their customers as well as the media with their misinformation. We can't just stop reviewing their hardware, but we can definitely change how we deal with products we get from them. It's going to take a lot of work before ATI regains my trust when it comes to believing their release dates for products."And nVidia has NEVER fudged a release date? If I recall, avialability of the 6800U was just as scarce as the ATI X800 XT PE. So you singling out ATI?
Anonymous - Thursday, April 7, 2005 - link
Grrr, I'm afraid fanATIcs will always view Anand as an nVidia fanboi, no matter how good ATI gets. And fanATIcs will always wonder if Anand receives more "benefits" on the side from nVidia than from any other company.That is all.
Anshul - Thursday, April 7, 2005 - link
Hi Anand,I'd just like to say I've followed AT (and other hardware sites) since 1999 and having since built and tested an unnaturally high number of systems since then, I've come to regard AT as one of the best review sites out there.
I was quite shocked while following the Inquirer article today and the discussion around it. I've blogged about it, if you care to read:
http://yavin4.blogspot.com/2005/04/on-integrity-of...
All the best
Anshul