The reason the government can't censor poeple is that we can't just "go to a different governement" if we are unhappy with its service.
Yes, we can (I did). Unfortunately, the cost and pains of "going to a different government" are extremely high, and so people rarely consider it, but hopefully it will become much easier in a reasonable future and governments will begin to compete with each other for people... That would be so amazing!!!!
Dynamo from ATG rocks - you can ask them for a download for 30-day evaluation, you are going to love it.
Also, check out Intalio. I guess it's not released yet, but once it is, it might be just the best thing possible - it's open source, and friend of mine who works there says that they are going to simply blow competitors away (though obviously he is biased).
It is reasonable to expect an avalanche of "MS Security Sucks" posts in this thread, since the statement is true. However, why is this the case? Because they try to have everything scriptable, which is a GREAT thing. And while I don't immediately see why it is useful in Outlook, which I've never used, I readily acknowledge its immense usefulness in MS Office - in particular, in Excel.
I work on forecasting and optimization, and while the actual products are developed in the "normal" environment (Unix/C/C++/Oracle), whenever there is a need for a fast and dirty prototype/proof of concept/visualization/thinking aid, no tool known to me is even close to Excel - the combination of its spreadsheet capabilities plus macro recording plus all standard UI objects plus COMPLETE scriptability are a TOTAL killer.
Maybe I am just ignorant and some other tools provide same functionality AND fine security (please, let me know if that's the case), but until I see them, I maintain that poor security in this case is just a flip side of an honest attempt to have great features and not a pure evil.
I am not 100% sure, but it seems to me Google had some trouble (or anticipated it) with their cache (which is, by the way, a great thing, since even when the site you've found is not down, Google is still much faster 80% of the time), so they "repackaged" the feature - it is now called "show matches" and highlights the keywords you're looking for. This enhancement is marginally useful, but as long as it keeps them from legal trouble, I'm fine with it.
So artists rights mean nothing? As long as they can't stop you its ok to steal? I don't think so.
I personally don't have many moral values (and hence moral problems). If you don't think it's OK - don't do it, I am not forcing you. And please, don't begin to preach - I've heard all these arguments before.
If you want to discuss moral issues, talk to Katz. I see a purely technical problem here - we have RIAA, lawsuits, etc. and I try to figure out how to best circumvent all that stuff to get what I want.
OK, so they will probably crush Napster, the company will go down, end of case. I do sympathise with the developers there, but other than that I don't care much about its future, because of the original flaw in the design - centralized db. Once you have that, "they" have someone to sue, "they" have IP addresses to block, and so on. "They" will always win in such situation.
But there is something beautiful around the corner - gnutella and its open source clones. Yes, I know none of them work as well as napster, but it's just a matter of time and figuring out how to cache headers efficiently. Once the development is de-centralized and GPL-ed and file distribution is also de-centralized - what can "they" do?!
Sue everyone? They might, but it is much, much harder than suing just one company, especially taking into account that the end-users don't reap any direct financial benefits, unlike Napster.
While on the subject - what are the best open-source gnutella clones?
While I don't know if I agree with the site or not, it is definitely an entertaining read about the hypothetical possibilities of the current research - they are basically saying how we're all going to be happy in the future due in part to nanotechnology, and how Huxley was very very wrong. Check it out - here and here. Enjoy.
Moscow Inst. of Physics and Technology (MIPT) is pretty much the Russian analogue of MIT and have done pretty cool April 1 pranks in the past. I don't remember too many, but the few I do remember are pretty cool:
- The amount of coordination required was amazing, but they did it! On the night of March 31 they added a new station "PhysTech" to the Moscow subway map. It was done extremely well, with exactly the same fonts, colors, and style. The task was enormous - each subway train has 8 or more cars with 3 or more maps per car ( and there are a LOT of trains), plus maps on train stations, etc., but this was done so well that the next day tons of Muscovites started calling the newspapers and radio stations and asking about this new stop. Moreover, at some later point a pocket-size map was produced by some publisher and it had this station...
- Also on the night of March 31 (though very long ago) they went to a nearby railroad and covered one (!) of the rails with coal. Now imagine a train operator in his train seeing only one rail in front of him.... Obviously, he panics, tries to stop the train, etc.
Sega and Nintendo between them have contributed far more the gainful use of computer technology than Yahoo ever has
This doesn't automatically make them right.
Yahoo do a big dull web directory and cash in on the net bubble.
You've probably not been on the site for at least a couple of years. Yahoo is definitely one of the most useful places on the 'Net, the "dull web directory" part is probably less than 5% of what they do now. Want examples? Easy (off the top of my head, I believe they do much more): - maps and directions - auctions, shopping, etc. (duh) - games - chat, clubs, e-mail - calendar, address book, free webspace - bill pay - movie showtimes - stock quotes ... and much much more. I agree, many (most) of this things got started by someone else and are available at other places, but Yahoo has great UI, it's really fast, and all these things are interconnected in one place. In fact, when I need to find something I only use two sites - Google for keyword search and Yahoo for everything else. By the way, Yahoo is one of the few big Internet companies that actually makes money. These guys ARE good, they are not just some random iwannamakemoneyfast.com.
I was not at all surprised to see St.Pb. State win, and yet another team from the same city come fourth. The reason is that those people get professional coaching literally from the age of 10 or 11.
Math contests are extremely popular in this city, and in the 4th-5th-6th grade students who get the best results in those are attracted to attend the so-called "math circles" where, once or twice every week they solve non-standard math problems for a couple of hours, listen to the lectures on various scientific topics as well as problem-solving techniques. After that they go to specialized high-schools (#239, #30, a couple of others) where they get the absolutely best possible education in math, physics, programming, etc. Actually, teaching of other subjects is also pretty good. I've known quite a few people who got educated in that system, and they are very good.
As for this year's team - I know one guy, Kolya Durov (he's the short gloomy guy on the right on the picture). He's absolutely amazing, one of the finest products of the system. I graded some of his work at the Russian Math Olympiad and coached him for the International Math Olympiad'96 - not that he needed any coaching, he was already absolutely unbelieavable. He was only 13 (maybe 14, I'm not 100% sure) then, and won a gold medal at the IMO; he went there for the next two years and won gold as well. He also went to the Int'l Computing (or whatever it's called) Olympiad several times and got great results there as well (unfortunately, I don't remember what).
Moscow, where I am from, and some other places in the former Soviet Union have similar systems (e.g. my high school, #57 - anyone here?), but, realistically, nothing close. US can't even dream of something like that, though I begin to see some similar math circles here in the Bay Area - let's hope they will eventually give results.
When I read your original post, I thought it was some sort of a joke/parody and so said nothing. But now it looks like you're being serious, so let me explain something to you.
First of all, I completely agree with you that we are the working class - in fact, when my college friends ask me how I like my work I usually tell them that it's pretty much like working at a big factory, except that I use a mouse and a keyboard instead of a hammer or whatever. But there is nothing wrong with it!!!
If tomorrow, all the managers, CEO's and stockholders dropped off the face of the planet, the world would function just fine.
Do you really believe this? What about low-level managers (like an owner of a small restaurant who employs 4 people)? What is the dividing line? If I work here for 2-3 years I'll become a manager myself - does it mean that I will immediately jump from one class to another. And hey, by the way, a manager two levels above me also writes codes himself sometimes - which class does he belong to? (he also spends a lot of time checking/sending e-mail, flying to various companies and living at expensive hotels)
In fact, as Open Source/Free Software has shown, it arguably would function much better than ever before. Not because there would be a lack of organization, far from it. But because there wouldn't be any coercive organization.
Dude, it is stupid to talk about coercion in software development, at least among the more able developers - if I were "coerced" to do something I would quit my job tomorrow and find another one one day after that.
Don't give me this Ayn Rand ridiculousness about the ruling class holding the world together. Revolutionary Spain, Open Source, worker cooperatives, all these things show that coercive organization is destructive, and surely not worthy of a reward, especially the kind of obscene awards that CEO's give themselves.
If what you're saying is true, why don't we see the enthusiastic workers happily building cars and buring the evil GM - after all, according to you they would build better cars.
Is the skill to coercively organize people so wonderful that it is worth 419x more than the skill to produce something?
Yes!!!! It is _easy_ to write code, but I don't think I would be able (not yet, anyway - maybe in a few years) to manage 25 arrogant pricks (read "software developers") and at the same time find out what my customers want, and that's why I am not getting paid that much.
And to all those workers out there who actually think this guy makes sense, take a look at this section of his website: I am a former Vice President of Alpha Base Systems, Inc, former Vice President of Air-Shields Information Systems (now Hill-Rom Netlynx), and former Chief Technology Officer of EduPoint.com. I am currently President of a small consulting company called Silicon Engine, Inc. Of course he's going to defend the right of the ruling class to rule, because he's trying so desperately to enter into it.
You're funny. Have you EVER worked for a REAL software company?
OK, I just had this thought after reading this post, seemed both interesting and funny.
As we all know, many anabolic steroids are prohibited for use to the professional athletes. The reason behind it is that they are harmful for your body in the long run, but boost your short-term performance, so if they were allowed, some atheletes would use them => they would get better results => every athlete would have to use them to stay competitive => everyone would be worse off in the long run.
Now, let's use the same framework for software development. Coffee boosts your performance in the short run, but harms it in the long run. In the today's cutthroat competitive environment many programmers drink lots of it to perform better. Therefore, to compete with them (on both intra-company and inter-company levels) everyone needs to drink coffee or consume other harmful stimulants (like Red Bull - my drug of choice). So... everyone loses in the long run, and therefore professional programmers should not be allowed to consume them.
Just imagine doping control for companies going public (i.e. you need to pee in a bottle and submit this bottle to the SEC before you're allowed to go public:)
The article mentions the issue of legalization of drugs a couple of times, but doesn't go too far. If you're interested, read this article by The Economist magazine. Instead of just saying "war on drugs is bad," they actually present hard data and prove this point with great precision and accuracy. I got hooked up on The Economist after reading the article:)
OK, I am not going to write a comprehensive "how to start your own company" guide here, but I'll give some random pieces of advice (based on my own experience - a company I started with a couple of friends got funded a month ago after six months of work).
1. Choose a name that nobody else would think of using (something like Red Hat is a perfect example) - we got a pretty generic URL, but then it turned out that it was also trademarked (by someone else), so we still have stupid legal problems, which divert our time from the meaningful stuff.
2. When you go to VCs, don't think that they are stupid and can be blinded by bullshit and buzzwords (first-mover advantage, scalable model, etc.) - many (maybe most) of them have very technical backgrounds, started companies themselves, and can speak your language. However, it also helps to speak theirs - read a couple of issues of something like Forbes ASAP, Fast Company, etc. - I generally don't read them, but it helps to tune your mind to the right wavelenght before presentations:)
2a. Don't think that you are the smartest. If you have this idea, chances are that someone else also did. Moreover, chances are that some of the VCs already funded a similar company, so, obviously, avoid those ones - they will just steal the good ideas from your model for those companies (and they ARE allowed to do that, because they do not sign the NDAs)
2b. Don't give up - we went to A LOT OF VCs before finally getting funded.
2c. And if you are young, they WILL rip you off (in terms of equity they take vs. money they give). Life's a bitch. But if you're successful, it's not going to matter:)
3. Try to use all possible connections you have, even the weirdest ones. If you have some friends/professors/former bosses/etc. who are very well-known, or just merely very successful, try to get them as advisors - if they are nice they will agree (it's zero marginal cost to them), and you might benefit a lot by just mentioning them as an advisors. Try to get many people fast, even half-committed - it is much nicer to say that you have 10 people (and, of course, give names) when you try to rasie money than to say "well, we two have this great idea". Remember, at the very early stages funding is closely related to the size of the company, e.g. # of people in it.
4. Have fun. Always remember that you have nothing to lose. I personally consider this whole start-up thing to be a game, in which I can only lose time (which is valuable, but I've still got a lot of it - like 50 years:), but can gain great experience, great contacts, have fun, and potentially retire soon (though I do realize that chances of the latter are pretty slim)
It's simple. I am actually here on a slightly different visa - refugee (don't ask me why, it's a long story). I can work anywhere I want, have no problems getting mortgage/car loan/even governmental scholarships, and I'm pretty sure I'll stay in this country for a long time. And I was supposed to get a green card a year after arriving here (people on a similar visa who came 3-4 years earlier did). However, I still haven't (it's been 3 years), and I get the same reply to all my inquiries "it's being processed."
Why do I care? Because I f^**ing can not leave this country before I get the green card. More exactly, I can leave, but won't be able to re-enter; their idea is that if you're a refugee you are supposed to be poor, miserable, etc., and why would you ever want to leave this beautiful country? Well, I want to travel! I can't even go to Mexico or Canada or Bahamas. I couldn't go skiing to the Alps with my old friends, couldn't go to Germany to drink beer, or anywhere else. It sucks big time. Please, or please, give me my green card!!! I will hack code, stuff envelopes, bring you sandwiches, whatever you want - just let me be free!!.....
(Disclaimer: OT to the main subj, but not OT to the thread) With all this obsession with Natalie Portman around here, let's ask her to read Slashdot for a little while (comments about her, more exactly) and then ask what she thinks; maybe she'll agree to opensource, or turn to stone or something:) Come on, Harvard people, she's there - find her and bring here!
First, do not listen to those who say that since you're inexperienced you should pay $200/trade to speak with investment advisers on the phone and place trades through them. Instead, spend a week and read some books ("A Random Walk Down Wall Street" by Burton Malkiel is great, believe me), after that you will have enough knownledge (but not experience, which comes only with time).
Now, as for choosing the best site. If you want to do day-trading, I do not know what to tell you; I've never done it extensively. For other purposes they are all pretty much the same, so I use Datek - it's $10 per trade, cheaper than other "brand-name" sites. I know some people don't like it, but I did not have any problems, and sometimes they give me trades for free (when it takes them >1 minute to execute). The drawback is that you can not trade options on Datek, but I guess you won't be trading them yet anyway.
>> If Oracle execs can go deep-water yacht-racing, I'm sure if this commercial Mir thing is actually successful, our beloved Larry (Ellison, Oracle CEO) will be one of the first ones to go there:)
Slashdot Mirror
The reason the government can't censor poeple is that we can't just "go to a different governement" if we are unhappy with its service.
Yes, we can (I did). Unfortunately, the cost and pains of "going to a different government" are extremely high, and so people rarely consider it, but hopefully it will become much easier in a reasonable future and governments will begin to compete with each other for people... That would be so amazing!!!!
Dynamo from ATG rocks - you can ask them for a download for 30-day evaluation, you are going to love it.
Also, check out Intalio. I guess it's not released yet, but once it is, it might be just the best thing possible - it's open source, and friend of mine who works there says that they are going to simply blow competitors away (though obviously he is biased).
It is reasonable to expect an avalanche of "MS Security Sucks" posts in this thread, since the statement is true. However, why is this the case? Because they try to have everything scriptable, which is a GREAT thing. And while I don't immediately see why it is useful in Outlook, which I've never used, I readily acknowledge its immense usefulness in MS Office - in particular, in Excel.
I work on forecasting and optimization, and while the actual products are developed in the "normal" environment (Unix/C/C++/Oracle), whenever there is a need for a fast and dirty prototype/proof of concept/visualization/thinking aid, no tool known to me is even close to Excel - the combination of its spreadsheet capabilities plus macro recording plus all standard UI objects plus COMPLETE scriptability are a TOTAL killer.
Maybe I am just ignorant and some other tools provide same functionality AND fine security (please, let me know if that's the case), but until I see them, I maintain that poor security in this case is just a flip side of an honest attempt to have great features and not a pure evil.
I am not 100% sure, but it seems to me Google had some trouble (or anticipated it) with their cache (which is, by the way, a great thing, since even when the site you've found is not down, Google is still much faster 80% of the time), so they "repackaged" the feature - it is now called "show matches" and highlights the keywords you're looking for. This enhancement is marginally useful, but as long as it keeps them from legal trouble, I'm fine with it.
So artists rights mean nothing? As long as they can't stop you its ok to steal? I don't think so.
I personally don't have many moral values (and hence moral problems). If you don't think it's OK - don't do it, I am not forcing you. And please, don't begin to preach - I've heard all these arguments before.
If you want to discuss moral issues, talk to Katz. I see a purely technical problem here - we have RIAA, lawsuits, etc. and I try to figure out how to best circumvent all that stuff to get what I want.
OK, so they will probably crush Napster, the company will go down, end of case. I do sympathise with the developers there, but other than that I don't care much about its future, because of the original flaw in the design - centralized db. Once you have that, "they" have someone to sue, "they" have IP addresses to block, and so on. "They" will always win in such situation.
But there is something beautiful around the corner - gnutella and its open source clones. Yes, I know none of them work as well as napster, but it's just a matter of time and figuring out how to cache headers efficiently. Once the development is de-centralized and GPL-ed and file distribution is also de-centralized - what can "they" do?!
Sue everyone? They might, but it is much, much harder than suing just one company, especially taking into account that the end-users don't reap any direct financial benefits, unlike Napster.
While on the subject - what are the best open-source gnutella clones?
However, instead of referring to it as Mustang mobile, AMD is now calling the mobile chip Corvette.
They should've called it Mustang Convertible or something... Anyway, isn't such obvious usage of other companies' trademarks prohibited?
While I don't know if I agree with the site or not, it is definitely an entertaining read about the hypothetical possibilities of the current research - they are basically saying how we're all going to be happy in the future due in part to nanotechnology, and how Huxley was very very wrong. Check it out - here and here. Enjoy.
Moscow Inst. of Physics and Technology (MIPT) is pretty much the Russian analogue of MIT and have done pretty cool April 1 pranks in the past. I don't remember too many, but the few I do remember are pretty cool:
:)
- The amount of coordination required was amazing, but they did it! On the night of March 31 they added a new station "PhysTech" to the Moscow subway map. It was done extremely well, with exactly the same fonts, colors, and style. The task was enormous - each subway train has 8 or more cars with 3 or more maps per car ( and there are a LOT of trains), plus maps on train stations, etc., but this was done so well that the next day tons of Muscovites started calling the newspapers and radio stations and asking about this new stop. Moreover, at some later point a pocket-size map was produced by some publisher and it had this station...
- Also on the night of March 31 (though very long ago) they went to a nearby railroad and covered one (!) of the rails with coal. Now imagine a train operator in his train seeing only one rail in front of him.... Obviously, he panics, tries to stop the train, etc.
Pretty extreme - MIT doesn't even come close
I'll add more if I remember more....
Sega and Nintendo between them have contributed far more the gainful use of computer technology than Yahoo ever has
... and much much more. I agree, many (most) of this things got started by someone else and are available at other places, but Yahoo has great UI, it's really fast, and all these things are interconnected in one place. In fact, when I need to find something I only use two sites - Google for keyword search and Yahoo for everything else. By the way, Yahoo is one of the few big Internet companies that actually makes money. These guys ARE good, they are not just some random iwannamakemoneyfast.com.
This doesn't automatically make them right.
Yahoo do a big dull web directory and cash in on the net bubble.
You've probably not been on the site for at least a couple of years. Yahoo is definitely one of the most useful places on the 'Net, the "dull web directory" part is probably less than 5% of what they do now. Want examples? Easy (off the top of my head, I believe they do much more):
- maps and directions
- auctions, shopping, etc. (duh)
- games
- chat, clubs, e-mail
- calendar, address book, free webspace
- bill pay
- movie showtimes
- stock quotes
I was not at all surprised to see St.Pb. State win, and yet another team from the same city come fourth. The reason is that those people get professional coaching literally from the age of 10 or 11.
Math contests are extremely popular in this city, and in the 4th-5th-6th grade students who get the best results in those are attracted to attend the so-called "math circles" where, once or twice every week they solve non-standard math problems for a couple of hours, listen to the lectures on various scientific topics as well as problem-solving techniques. After that they go to specialized high-schools (#239, #30, a couple of others) where they get the absolutely best possible education in math, physics, programming, etc. Actually, teaching of other subjects is also pretty good. I've known quite a few people who got educated in that system, and they are very good.
As for this year's team - I know one guy, Kolya Durov (he's the short gloomy guy on the right on the picture). He's absolutely amazing, one of the finest products of the system. I graded some of his work at the Russian Math Olympiad and coached him for the International Math Olympiad'96 - not that he needed any coaching, he was already absolutely unbelieavable. He was only 13 (maybe 14, I'm not 100% sure) then, and won a gold medal at the IMO; he went there for the next two years and won gold as well. He also went to the Int'l Computing (or whatever it's called) Olympiad several times and got great results there as well (unfortunately, I don't remember what).
Moscow, where I am from, and some other places in the former Soviet Union have similar systems (e.g. my high school, #57 - anyone here?), but, realistically, nothing close. US can't even dream of something like that, though I begin to see some similar math circles here in the Bay Area - let's hope they will eventually give results.
When I read your original post, I thought it was some sort of a joke/parody and so said nothing. But now it looks like you're being serious, so let me explain something to you.
First of all, I completely agree with you that we are the working class - in fact, when my college friends ask me how I like my work I usually tell them that it's pretty much like working at a big factory, except that I use a mouse and a keyboard instead of a hammer or whatever. But there is nothing wrong with it!!!
If tomorrow, all the managers, CEO's and stockholders dropped off the face of the planet, the world would function just fine.
Do you really believe this? What about low-level managers (like an owner of a small restaurant who employs 4 people)? What is the dividing line? If I work here for 2-3 years I'll become a manager myself - does it mean that I will immediately jump from one class to another. And hey, by the way, a manager two levels above me also writes codes himself sometimes - which class does he belong to? (he also spends a lot of time checking/sending e-mail, flying to various companies and living at expensive hotels)
In fact, as Open Source/Free Software has shown, it arguably would function much better than ever before. Not because there would be a lack of organization, far from it. But because there wouldn't be any coercive organization.
Dude, it is stupid to talk about coercion in software development, at least among the more able developers - if I were "coerced" to do something I would quit my job tomorrow and find another one one day after that.
Don't give me this Ayn Rand ridiculousness about the ruling class holding the world together. Revolutionary Spain, Open Source, worker cooperatives, all these things show that coercive organization is destructive, and surely not worthy of a reward, especially the kind of obscene awards that CEO's give themselves.
If what you're saying is true, why don't we see the enthusiastic workers happily building cars and buring the evil GM - after all, according to you they would build better cars.
Is the skill to coercively organize people so wonderful that it is worth 419x more than the skill to produce something?
Yes!!!! It is _easy_ to write code, but I don't think I would be able (not yet, anyway - maybe in a few years) to manage 25 arrogant pricks (read "software developers") and at the same time find out what my customers want, and that's why I am not getting paid that much.
And to all those workers out there who actually think this guy makes sense, take a look at this section of his website: I am a former Vice President of Alpha Base Systems, Inc, former Vice President of Air-Shields Information Systems (now Hill-Rom Netlynx), and former Chief Technology Officer of EduPoint.com. I am currently President of a small consulting company called Silicon Engine, Inc. Of course he's going to defend the right of the ruling class to rule, because he's trying so desperately to enter into it.
You're funny. Have you EVER worked for a REAL software company?
I will never die.
Empirical evidence, I think, speaks for itself. 20 years in the running and no sign of 'death' yet.
Do you know if I can get these papers anywhere?
Dude, awesome points!!!
Hawking doesn't belong there. IMHO. Newton does. Also Poincare, Gauss, maybe couple others. Not Hawking (at least not yet).
See subj.
OK, I just had this thought after reading this post, seemed both interesting and funny.
:)
As we all know, many anabolic steroids are prohibited for use to the professional athletes. The reason behind it is that they are harmful for your body in the long run, but boost your short-term performance, so if they were allowed, some atheletes would use them => they would get better results => every athlete would have to use them to stay competitive => everyone would be worse off in the long run.
Now, let's use the same framework for software development. Coffee boosts your performance in the short run, but harms it in the long run. In the today's cutthroat competitive environment many programmers drink lots of it to perform better. Therefore, to compete with them (on both intra-company and inter-company levels) everyone needs to drink coffee or consume other harmful stimulants (like Red Bull - my drug of choice). So... everyone loses in the long run, and therefore professional programmers should not be allowed to consume them.
Just imagine doping control for companies going public (i.e. you need to pee in a bottle and submit this bottle to the SEC before you're allowed to go public
The article mentions the issue of legalization of drugs a couple of times, but doesn't go too far. If you're interested, read this article by The Economist magazine. Instead of just saying "war on drugs is bad," they actually present hard data and prove this point with great precision and accuracy. I got hooked up on The Economist after reading the article :)
OK, I am not going to write a comprehensive "how to start your own company" guide here, but I'll give some random pieces of advice (based on my own experience - a company I started with a couple of friends got funded a month ago after six months of work).
:)
:)
:), but can gain great experience, great contacts, have fun, and potentially retire soon (though I do realize that chances of the latter are pretty slim)
1. Choose a name that nobody else would think of using (something like Red Hat is a perfect example) - we got a pretty generic URL, but then it turned out that it was also trademarked (by someone else), so we still have stupid legal problems, which divert our time from the meaningful stuff.
2. When you go to VCs, don't think that they are stupid and can be blinded by bullshit and buzzwords (first-mover advantage, scalable model, etc.) - many (maybe most) of them have very technical backgrounds, started companies themselves, and can speak your language. However, it also helps to speak theirs - read a couple of issues of something like Forbes ASAP, Fast Company, etc. - I generally don't read them, but it helps to tune your mind to the right wavelenght before presentations
2a. Don't think that you are the smartest. If you have this idea, chances are that someone else also did. Moreover, chances are that some of the VCs already funded a similar company, so, obviously, avoid those ones - they will just steal the good ideas from your model for those companies (and they ARE allowed to do that, because they do not sign the NDAs)
2b. Don't give up - we went to A LOT OF VCs before finally getting funded.
2c. And if you are young, they WILL rip you off (in terms of equity they take vs. money they give). Life's a bitch. But if you're successful, it's not going to matter
3. Try to use all possible connections you have, even the weirdest ones. If you have some friends/professors/former bosses/etc. who are very well-known, or just merely very successful, try to get them as advisors - if they are nice they will agree (it's zero marginal cost to them), and you might benefit a lot by just mentioning them as an advisors. Try to get many people fast, even half-committed - it is much nicer to say that you have 10 people (and, of course, give names) when you try to rasie money than to say "well, we two have this great idea". Remember, at the very early stages funding is closely related to the size of the company, e.g. # of people in it.
4. Have fun. Always remember that you have nothing to lose. I personally consider this whole start-up thing to be a game, in which I can only lose time (which is valuable, but I've still got a lot of it - like 50 years
Good luck!!!
It's simple. I am actually here on a slightly different visa - refugee (don't ask me why, it's a long story). I can work anywhere I want, have no problems getting mortgage/car loan/even governmental scholarships, and I'm pretty sure I'll stay in this country for a long time. And I was supposed to get a green card a year after arriving here (people on a similar visa who came 3-4 years earlier did). However, I still haven't (it's been 3 years), and I get the same reply to all my inquiries "it's being processed."
Why do I care? Because I f^**ing can not leave this country before I get the green card. More exactly, I can leave, but won't be able to re-enter; their idea is that if you're a refugee you are supposed to be poor, miserable, etc., and why would you ever want to leave this beautiful country? Well, I want to travel! I can't even go to Mexico or Canada or Bahamas. I couldn't go skiing to the Alps with my old friends, couldn't go to Germany to drink beer, or anywhere else. It sucks big time. Please, or please, give me my green card!!! I will hack code, stuff envelopes, bring you sandwiches, whatever you want - just let me be free!!.....
(Disclaimer: OT to the main subj, but not OT to the thread) With all this obsession with Natalie Portman around here, let's ask her to read Slashdot for a little while (comments about her, more exactly) and then ask what she thinks; maybe she'll agree to opensource, or turn to stone or something :) Come on, Harvard people, she's there - find her and bring here!
First, do not listen to those who say that since you're inexperienced you should pay $200/trade to speak with investment advisers on the phone and place trades through them. Instead, spend a week and read some books ("A Random Walk Down Wall Street" by Burton Malkiel is great, believe me), after that you will have enough knownledge (but not experience, which comes only with time).
Now, as for choosing the best site. If you want to do day-trading, I do not know what to tell you; I've never done it extensively. For other purposes they are all pretty much the same, so I use Datek - it's $10 per trade, cheaper than other "brand-name" sites. I know some people don't like it, but I did not have any problems, and sometimes they give me trades for free (when it takes them >1 minute to execute). The drawback is that you can not trade options on Datek, but I guess you won't be trading them yet anyway.
Good luck!
-m
Just read the book - Illuminatus
>> If Oracle execs can go deep-water yacht-racing, I'm sure if this commercial Mir thing is actually successful, our beloved Larry (Ellison, Oracle CEO) will be one of the first ones to go there:)