Going public means they are going to maximize the value of the company. Sometimes that means issuing dividends, but alot of companies do not, instead they use profits to grow their company.
Besides a number of companies are not out there to squeeze every last dollar out of a product as soon as possible. Just because alot of other companies do it, does not mean everyone does it.
Well, I am going to be watching these guys because I have a patent on shuffling card games on a computer. You play that game once, but if I see a card is not in the same order in the next game I am going to sue!
I disagree with his statement about a business plan, he concentrates on the one thing most people write then for, getting venture capital or a bank loan. While it is true that a VC or a bank would require this there is a very good reason to write one. It is focus yourself on what your are trying to accomplish.
What is your product, who are your customers, how do you do business, what are your expectations. Do decide to write customized software for dentist offices or are you just desperately doing anything for cash? How are your customers going to know who you are and what you do if you are not willing to define what you do to yourself!
Also starting your own business does require alot of focus, you have alot of things to do and you have to be timely about accomplishing them. Paying employees, the bills, contacting customers, while you are very scattered in what you working on, you cannot hop from one to the other just because you cannot focus one thing. The IRS will have your butt in a sling you don't do payroll properly, your customers will have your butt in a sling if you don't deliver what you promise, the list goes on and on.
The other thing about small business is he ignores that you don't have to do everything yourself. There are alot of companies that cater to small business to do the time consuming but boring things that have to get done, like payroll. Always look around for help in this area because for $50/month(or whatever) is cheaper than you spending 8 or 10 hours a month trying to figure all the forms and making sure that they all get done in time.
Nonsense yourself. Photoshop is MARKETED TO PROFESSIONALS, there is a difference! Like 20 years computers were MARKETED TO PROFESSIONALS! Now everyone and their grandma has a computer that wants one.
It is not like Photoshop needs a special team of trained professionals to actually use the damn thing. Browse the internet for examples!
You should be able to, infact you probably could. However the guy who was cybersquatting had no tangible or intangible relationship with anything tolkien he just snagged and said MINE!
Think about your target market for a cooking robot. It is going to be a bunch of single men who don't want to cook and don't have any idea of what to buy. Suppose they forget to buy enough hot dogs one day. I think that is what the result would be...
"Bob, I made you a nice refreshing tobasco, relish and ketchup sandwich... I even through a little soy sauce on there to make it something special!"
I would have to disagree with the statement that engineers would be a prime target before secretaries. Engineers are less likely to have software that will run on multiple systems (like custome chip design software), than a secretary running pretty generic out-of-box software that is more likely to be available on multiple platforms (word processing, excel spreadsheet, etc...).
When you have a contract and one party has created it unilaterally (either another party accepts it or it doesn't) then they can get into alot of trouble. You see when you create a contract that is ambiguous there is room for interpretation. Depending whom you are you can interpret it to mean what you think it means. You go to court to argue over a contract, a judge is likely to give preference to the party who did not write the contract.
The party that wrote the contract was in a better position to clarify issues within the contract. If someone makes a reasonable assumption about they think that the contract says.
Who do you think writes the specifications? The business unit?
Hell you cannot even get most american programmers to write good specifications, you are not going to find people in other departments that are technical enough to understand the technology, god forbid write a specification. I can just picture it now...
Call Center Software: Get customer data from mainframe delivered to my desk. Font colors should be in Magenta, because the database runs faster that way. PHB
Why can't Indians start their own software companies, write their own software and compete the heck out of us?
OK, I will bite.
Indian software companies will have problems attempting to compete in the american market because simply don't understand how american business works. Let me give you an example, would say gather up a team of dozen american programmers and lets say, develop a financial package for Japan? or China? Hell what about India?
The fact that you have technical skill is not a replacement for understanding what needs to get accomplished. To many technical people decide that I have skills I can design something that will work for anybody, however they don't bother with the question, does anybody want it. Want a great example, look at all the abandon, half-completed open source projects that are out there. If they were truly wanted people would be busting their ass to get it done, like LINUX, SAMBA or APACHE.
This is not to put down programmers in other countries but you have to make something that fits into the market you selling for. Not just write something and expect that because it is a coding master piece that everyone wants it.
I went to China earlier last month. I turned the TV on one morning and there, on their version of the sports network, was a game of Warcraft III. There was commentary (Couldn't understand though) on the game going on, so I guess it is considered seriously by some people, especially high school kids.
The biggest problem I had with it was the way the show was produced, which has limits based upon the game. Instead of being able to seeing a place of gameplay and highlights of action, they could only show one person's monitor. It made it hard to get a feel for what is going on in the game looking from their person's view. It is annoying because a person may flick back and forth to a couple of different places and it makes it hard to keep up. Not to mention it is irrating if you miss anything because the player is looking somewhere else.
If they wanted to do this the game for TV it need to have some sort of spectator mode, and then have several spectators in the game and clip and cut and paste the footage together into a real production where the action is brought to the forefront instead of a player determining what is being shown. TV is trying to show overall events and the excitement of the game, the player is trying to implement a strategy. They are very different.
Periodically I get hooked on caffiene, it is poor discipline on my part that I feel a need to develop a comfort habit. It takes me about two weeks to get through withdrawl and I am back to normal and I feel much better than when I ever started doing whatever.
My advice is take something that will reduce the symptoms that is not dangerous and only when you really need them. Eventually your body adapts to its new situation just don't create a new addictive situation!:) The question is can you hold out long enough for your body to make the adjustment. Just ask a smoker if he has tried to quit and how many times, it is not necessarially an easy thing to do.
Places like India are getting more expensive because they are getting way better at doing the jobs well
Uh, No!
India is getting more expensive because the talent pool is drying up and those programmers are starting to learn that they don't have to work for $4/hour any more. Quality, in this instance, has nothing to do with price.
There were alot of people who put alot of faith into financial analysts covering Enron. I am not saying that MS is the next Enron, but I would not be blindly saying that MS is in invincible giant with 60 Billion in the bank to last forever either.
Most big business does not invent the next great thing, small businesses. Big businesses are rarely known for creating the next big thing, they usually end up with it though because they buy those successful small businesses.
I don't think that all of his advice was bad, but alot of the mistakes that he made were obiviously very, very, stupid. He was able to get his hands on lots of money, however he never took the idea of getting a lawyer into serious consideration. He may have found his market identity but I don't think that this will keep him from continuing to make bone-head mistakes. His biggest advantage has been that he has not lost enough money to collapse the company.
Slashdot Mirror
Going public means they are going to maximize the value of the company. Sometimes that means issuing dividends, but alot of companies do not, instead they use profits to grow their company.
Besides a number of companies are not out there to squeeze every last dollar out of a product as soon as possible. Just because alot of other companies do it, does not mean everyone does it.
Well, I am going to be watching these guys because I have a patent on shuffling card games on a computer. You play that game once, but if I see a card is not in the same order in the next game I am going to sue!
It is looking very very small, microscopic even!
To this who wish to read his blog about these experiences, click here for more information.
I disagree with his statement about a business plan, he concentrates on the one thing most people write then for, getting venture capital or a bank loan. While it is true that a VC or a bank would require this there is a very good reason to write one. It is focus yourself on what your are trying to accomplish.
What is your product, who are your customers, how do you do business, what are your expectations. Do decide to write customized software for dentist offices or are you just desperately doing anything for cash? How are your customers going to know who you are and what you do if you are not willing to define what you do to yourself!
Also starting your own business does require alot of focus, you have alot of things to do and you have to be timely about accomplishing them. Paying employees, the bills, contacting customers, while you are very scattered in what you working on, you cannot hop from one to the other just because you cannot focus one thing. The IRS will have your butt in a sling you don't do payroll properly, your customers will have your butt in a sling if you don't deliver what you promise, the list goes on and on.
The other thing about small business is he ignores that you don't have to do everything yourself. There are alot of companies that cater to small business to do the time consuming but boring things that have to get done, like payroll. Always look around for help in this area because for $50/month(or whatever) is cheaper than you spending 8 or 10 hours a month trying to figure all the forms and making sure that they all get done in time.
Gives a whole new meaning to "Blue Screen of Death" does it?
Nonsense yourself. Photoshop is MARKETED TO PROFESSIONALS, there is a difference! Like 20 years computers were MARKETED TO PROFESSIONALS! Now everyone and their grandma has a computer that wants one.
It is not like Photoshop needs a special team of trained professionals to actually use the damn thing. Browse the internet for examples!
You should be able to, infact you probably could. However the guy who was cybersquatting had no tangible or intangible relationship with anything tolkien he just snagged and said MINE!
Nothing new here, the police Already use a color coded system!
Found this interesting article that this guy has been trying to promote, with difficulty, for free for earthquake areas like Iran.
Think about your target market for a cooking robot. It is going to be a bunch of single men who don't want to cook and don't have any idea of what to buy. Suppose they forget to buy enough hot dogs one day. I think that is what the result would be...
"Bob, I made you a nice refreshing tobasco, relish and ketchup sandwich... I even through a little soy sauce on there to make it something special!"
It ain't gonna work like you think it would!
I would have to disagree with the statement that engineers would be a prime target before secretaries. Engineers are less likely to have software that will run on multiple systems (like custome chip design software), than a secretary running pretty generic out-of-box software that is more likely to be available on multiple platforms (word processing, excel spreadsheet, etc...).
Right now, the rocket is over there and you have a ticket to sit in the same aisle as Pauly Shore and Rosie O'Donnell...
Stop making up state names!
The party that wrote the contract was in a better position to clarify issues within the contract. If someone makes a reasonable assumption about they think that the contract says.
Who do you think writes the specifications? The business unit?
Hell you cannot even get most american programmers to write good specifications, you are not going to find people in other departments that are technical enough to understand the technology, god forbid write a specification. I can just picture it now...
Call Center Software: Get customer data from mainframe delivered to my desk. Font colors should be in Magenta, because the database runs faster that way. PHB
Why can't Indians start their own software companies, write their own software and compete the heck out of us?
OK, I will bite.
Indian software companies will have problems attempting to compete in the american market because simply don't understand how american business works. Let me give you an example, would say gather up a team of dozen american programmers and lets say, develop a financial package for Japan? or China? Hell what about India?
The fact that you have technical skill is not a replacement for understanding what needs to get accomplished. To many technical people decide that I have skills I can design something that will work for anybody, however they don't bother with the question, does anybody want it. Want a great example, look at all the abandon, half-completed open source projects that are out there. If they were truly wanted people would be busting their ass to get it done, like LINUX, SAMBA or APACHE.
This is not to put down programmers in other countries but you have to make something that fits into the market you selling for. Not just write something and expect that because it is a coding master piece that everyone wants it.
I went to China earlier last month. I turned the TV on one morning and there, on their version of the sports network, was a game of Warcraft III. There was commentary (Couldn't understand though) on the game going on, so I guess it is considered seriously by some people, especially high school kids.
The biggest problem I had with it was the way the show was produced, which has limits based upon the game. Instead of being able to seeing a place of gameplay and highlights of action, they could only show one person's monitor. It made it hard to get a feel for what is going on in the game looking from their person's view. It is annoying because a person may flick back and forth to a couple of different places and it makes it hard to keep up. Not to mention it is irrating if you miss anything because the player is looking somewhere else.
If they wanted to do this the game for TV it need to have some sort of spectator mode, and then have several spectators in the game and clip and cut and paste the footage together into a real production where the action is brought to the forefront instead of a player determining what is being shown. TV is trying to show overall events and the excitement of the game, the player is trying to implement a strategy. They are very different.
Hey look he was on the fire crew. How else was he going to put the fires out? :P
Ibuprofen, lots of it! :)
Periodically I get hooked on caffiene, it is poor discipline on my part that I feel a need to develop a comfort habit. It takes me about two weeks to get through withdrawl and I am back to normal and I feel much better than when I ever started doing whatever.
My advice is take something that will reduce the symptoms that is not dangerous and only when you really need them. Eventually your body adapts to its new situation just don't create a new addictive situation! :) The question is can you hold out long enough for your body to make the adjustment. Just ask a smoker if he has tried to quit and how many times, it is not necessarially an easy thing to do.
Good Luck
Places like India are getting more expensive because they are getting way better at doing the jobs well
Uh, No!
India is getting more expensive because the talent pool is drying up and those programmers are starting to learn that they don't have to work for $4/hour any more. Quality, in this instance, has nothing to do with price.
There were alot of people who put alot of faith into financial analysts covering Enron. I am not saying that MS is the next Enron, but I would not be blindly saying that MS is in invincible giant with 60 Billion in the bank to last forever either.
Most big business does not invent the next great thing, small businesses. Big businesses are rarely known for creating the next big thing, they usually end up with it though because they buy those successful small businesses.
I don't think that all of his advice was bad, but alot of the mistakes that he made were obiviously very, very, stupid. He was able to get his hands on lots of money, however he never took the idea of getting a lawyer into serious consideration. He may have found his market identity but I don't think that this will keep him from continuing to make bone-head mistakes. His biggest advantage has been that he has not lost enough money to collapse the company.
They could name it "Ass-Crack". Noone will argue over them stealing the name of THAT game.