[Linux] do members of flux ever get together and form spin-offs?
Nicholas Saraniti
linux@flux.org
Mon, 26 Mar 2007 08:34:41 -0400
I'm sort of a "lurker" on this list..... I'm relatively competent at a
shell prompt... But I'm no sysadmin, and I have picked up a lot of great
tips from this list that have saved me a lot of time... And opensource
software plays a large role in my business (we use a custom designed
intranet/reporting application interfaced with many databases written in
PHP)...
That being said, and I'm not bragging, but over the last 10 years I have
taken a business with a single location and $500,000 in gross revenue to
three locations with gross revenues over $50,000,000 in 2006. I have
learned a LOT during this time frame... And while my business is not
computer oriented (specialty pharmacy), a large part of our growth has
come from the ability to mine clean data quickly, efficiently, and
seamlessly.... (And we have used open source to accomplish this)
I'm not one to give formal talks and or presentations, and I have never
been to a FLUX meeting before, but if a group of you would like to get
together over scotch/beer/wine somewhere I would be more than happy to
answer anyone's questions, and explain what our largest hurdles have
been (especially in startups) - what our mistakes have been and how we
have learned from them. I can also let you know what needs to be done,
in what order, as far as starting a business...making it successful...
and most importantly making it SALABLE at the highest potential value...
nv wrote:
>
> You have some very good points although I wouldn't give CS grads as
> much credit..
>
> As a CS grad, it took me a while to realize that my first response to
> a fellow geek's idea would often be to analyze it and find flaws. That
> is what my engineering/cs education trained me to do and that is often
> what my peers did too. Making a business requires you to explore the
> potential beyond the stated idea and sometimes just jump in and do the
> grease work..
>
> We all know of friends and family who have reasonably successful
> businesses. They are normal folks (sometimes not) and more often than
> not they are not the smartest people in the room nor the most
> educated. They know their limitations and sometimes just jumping in,
> taking the effort and sticking it out is all it takes.
>
> I once had the CEO of my company berate me for discussing too many
> engineering details (and some limitations) with one of our sales guys.
> Sales guys, he felt, needed to think beyond the problems. Sadly, its
> true and as an engineer, its quite clear that sometimes I don't.
>
> The other problem is that geeks often look at the bits and bolts of a
> problem and not its utility or value add. (You call it "tunnel
> vision", I call it "geek vision") "Do it in Perl dude!", or "Perl
> sucks, how can you not use Python?". You do need the appropriate tool
> for the job, but its so meaningless if the product has no value. (Err,
> what use is auto insurance to a caveman?) But sadly, most geeks do not
> see the bigger picture.
>
> And finally, if you see a problem that needs a solution, its hard for
> us geeky religious zealots to accept the possibility that the correct
> solution need not be open source nor linux based. (Sacrilege! How
> dare you, this is flux@ Off with his head :)
>
> So about that streaming bittorrent idea? Is this really a solved
> problem? I wouldn't mind exploring it more. Got any pointers?
>
> Regards,
> nv
>
>
> Steven Benmosh wrote:
>> I have suggested a number of projects to a number of groups. The
>> responses I got ranged from 'why would you want to do that', to 'the
>> right way is to start a project, code a prototype and have people
>> join the team' to 'why not do it in perl?' ...
>>
>> An example: I thought that distributed peer to peer video/audio
>> streaming (as opposed to d/l) is a worthwhile project (I still do). I
>> thought it can easily be accomplished by slight modifications of the
>> bit-torrent scheme, specifically by changing the file slicing and the
>> priorities algorithm so that the pieces are d/l in a
>> semi-chronological order instead of least common piece first.
>>
>> I proposed and got the following: why do that? bit-torrent is not
>> efficient for streaming (well, Duh!?), why don't you write a
>> prototype? You can get inexpensive coders to work for you in Estonia
>> (true, that one is not from a Linux guy), etc.
>>
>> Needless to say, there are a handful of companies now doing something
>> similar for a living. The Eurovision was broadcast in one such
>> application. Companies are getting millions in VC money (neokast
>> anyone?) for developing such products and services. But these are not
>> open source projects. And as a non-programmer, I am blocked from
>> writing my own code.
>>
>> The point is, Linux/OSS people have a tendency to march to their own
>> drummer, and with tunnel vision, are hampering the possibility of
>> creating software that is outside their own personal interest ("I am
>> a perl monger, and I want to take all the bugs from this web page
>> auto update script!"). At least this is my opinion/experience. And in
>> the meantime, the proprietary model people are getting the money and
>> the goods.
>>
>> Z.
>>
>>
>> On 3/25/07, *Terry Richards* <sn00per1@bellsouth.net
>> <mailto:sn00per1@bellsouth.net>> wrote:
>>
>> Steven Benmosh wrote:
>>
>> > 1. On the camera, I did not bother. I upload to the mac and ftp
>> to the
>> > ubuntu box.
>>
>>
>> well thnx anyway, i was motivated to re-double my efforts getting my
>> argus 1512 hooked up but there are only drivers for the 1500,
>> 1510 qmd
>> 1600. i think i read somewhere that it is not so simple to get this
>> particular on to interact without the store bought drivers which
>> are for
>> M$ and Mac and i am not gonna pay $35 for the software to run a $20
>> camera...no dice. but hey! i did get digikam up and running :-) i'm
>> always up for something new.
>>
>> >
>> > 2. On Linux, the key is that to succeed in business you need some
>> > skills outside the technical realm, and it is easier to find those
>> > outside the geekworld.
>>
>>
>> a little background: i under no way consider myself to be a
>> goldfish-eating college dropout<a geek>. yes industrial
>> phychology and
>> finance but as someone recently pointed out it is easier to teach
>> a CS
>> person business than it is to teach a business person tech stuff
>>
>> >
>> > 3. Kwan, I get the feeling that you work alone. From what I
>> have seen,
>> > you are a first rate technical guy, so I am not surprised you
>> are not
>> > starving. But to make a team work, you need team members to
>> agree on
>> > things, otherwise the whole is less than the sum of its
>> parts. Most
>> > people are not as technically savvy as you are and need to
>> decide on
>> > markets to explore and ways to attract customers to products and
>> > services that can be gotten from others just as well. For
>> those, you
>> > need skills like marketing, being nice, dressing nice, talking
>> nice, etc.
>> >
>> > I have tried to get people to work on projects that I think
>> could sell
>> > and/or benefit the world. I could never find anyone to agree to
>> a set
>> > of goals and execute on a plan.
>> >
>> did you try to accept what your peers suggested or did they just not
>> want to do what you wanted to do? one of the things i like about open
>> source is that what drives it is what works best. i realize i
>> have not
>> given it much time but i am disappointed that the first few responces
>> were strawmen arguments or non-sequlars or what ever you call
>> them. if
>> the stated goal is to "do something" with "linux" and make it "open"
>> then something should happen, shouldn't it? if you have an idea
>> then out
>> with it but all the negative vibes is not good for anyone. everyone
>> knows of some "market" that they can exploit. customers come out
>> of the
>> woodworks at times and services can always be gotten for less,
>> look at
>> MCI. there isn't any business that can't be "taken" by lower
>> costs/prioces and well....you can't beat free; except by "value
>> added"
>>
>> my $2.00<adjusted for inflation>
>>
>> /|\
>>
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>>
>>
>
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Commcare Pharmacy
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