Google your feelings Luke …
Read moreOT: Watching "The empire strikes back" and wondering if Vader meant this …
Changing commenting
Quick note: Spammers are attempting to abuse the system, so I am implementing some measures to reduce this.
Month: December 2010
OT: faux-curity gone horribly awry
Call this, “shooting the messenger”. Call this, pointing out glaring flaws. Call this … well … for what it is … disgusting. It begs the question whether or not this is the US, or the USSR. Don’t anger the government by pointing out the flaws in one of their systems. There’s a series of ironic … Read moreOT: faux-curity gone horribly awry
Wondering out loud here … bear with me
After the last post on Atrato, I am thinking that VC money might be better invested in proven real businesses. Those that have survived a number of years, though hardship and through growth. There is less risk there.
Ok, the VC model is fundamentally built upon taking a risk on a company. As the spate of failures in (many) markets shows, rewards are far and few between, while risks aren’t seemingly ameliorated by what the VCs do. Georges van Hoegaerden, founder of The Venture Company, has blogged extensively on this.
I highly recommend the linked post. There are some real jewels in there:
Defunct innovation arbitrage
Technology does not create markets, it facilitates marketplaces. Technology is merely a distribution mechanism and a piece of the puzzle that enables the electronic facilitation of (in most cases already) existing macro-economic behavior. So, the reason why Venture Capitalists cannot generate significant returns is because their investment thesis centers around the development of technology, and fewer innovations rely solely on technology to become successful.
Yes … technological success does not guarantee business success. Investing in technology and seeing the technology meet specific goals doesn’t guarantee that the technology will make money for business.
One might think, yes, but technological success is a pre-requisite to business success. You can’t have a successful business without a technology that works.
Makes sense, right?
Too bad its wrong.
… and Atrato goes under
Who, you might ask, is Atrato? A few years ago, they were pushing some sealed units that did “self healing”. That is, you never had to replace hard disks. They had some nice features, some venture money. What they never really got was traction. The concept was interesting, but as with all sealed and extremely … Read more… and Atrato goes under
Saying "no"
Sometimes the sales process delves into the ridiculous. This is when the value proposition has failed, and the customer starts asking for bill of materials. Imagine if you will, apart from the ingredients listed on a package of food, you asked the vendor of said food to describe the exact amounts, the source of each … Read moreSaying "no"
Advantages of Michigan USA for HPC (and data centers)
itssssss freaking cccccoooolllddddd Open the doors, let the outdoor air in. Our heater is running in the lab (large warehouse-like space). Can’t wait to start running the 5 ton AC unit next year. Right now, we have natural AC. Seriously … nice area for many reasons (low costs all around), and with some cleverness in … Read moreAdvantages of Michigan USA for HPC (and data centers)
should give everyone pause, and force a serious consideration of the risks of cloud and hosting
See this article. Yes, this deals with a hosting data center, but notice that some of the companies swept up in the sting’s removal of machines, had “cloud” projects of varying types. This gets to risk of hosting or projecting important aspects into the cloud. I am not saying “don’t do it.” On the contrary, … Read moreshould give everyone pause, and force a serious consideration of the risks of cloud and hosting
I wish cloning were legal in Michigan … and wish it worked …
To code or not to code … that is the question. Seriously … my time is a zero sum game. I can’t run as many threads on my CPU as I wish … its hard to code and debug and sell and service all at once. Gonna have to get some hiring going. Or some … Read moreI wish cloning were legal in Michigan … and wish it worked …
How to deliver an application to end users which depends upon things they don't have
This is the question I have for dust. Almost ready for initial release. Fixed most everything, and the one thing we are “punting” on is actually less being punted and more being worked around until we can get a better solution in place. The spec’s for it will be on the site too soon. Ok … Read moreHow to deliver an application to end users which depends upon things they don't have