I discovered to shock & horror that Gmail wouldn't send any more mails today! Apparently I exceeded my 'daily sending quota'.
Background: This morning I sent out an email to all 270 Skyrove Hotspot Providers. I had all the email addresses in a CSV file and used a Macro to put them onto one line, in the format "x@x.com", "y@y.com","z@z.com" etc.
It seems Gmail couldn't handle the fact that there were inverted commas around the email addresses, so I received 270 'Mail Delivery Subsystem' replies... I removed all inverted commas so the emails now read: x@x.com, y@y.com, z@z.com and sent the email.
Everything went through fine. Then, as I was trying to reply to an email in my inbox, it simply wouldn't send. No message either. So I tried composing a new message. This time it said "You have reached a limit for sending mail"
Clicking on Learn More tells me that "Gmail has a number of sending limits in place to prevent abuse of our system, and to help fight spam. Common causes include: 1. Sending a message to more than 500 recipients... 2. Sending a large number of undeliverable messages. We suggest verifying your contacts' email addresses."
Considering it was a parse error on Gmail's part (I'm sure some programmers will cause it a parse 'feature') I'm pretty riled up about it right now.
Furthermore, we've moved over to 'Gmail for your domain' so there's no other way I can send emails from my Skyrove account...
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
VCs! Watch out for them hemorrhoids!
I'm really proud to say that last week Skyrove won the Technology Top 100 award for the 'Most Promising Emerging Enterprise'!
In addition, we were also chosen to go to Berlin in October this year to present to investors at the European Venture Market. (Email me if you'd like to meet up!)
Click here to read the recent ITWeb article on the TT100 Awards.
I was still feeling proud and pompous the next day when Tai Schierenberg, a former surgeon who's now in Venture Capital, told me of a saying in the VC community that states: "Awards are like hemorrhoids, sooner or later every asshole gets one"
I thought it pretty funny but thought that VCs might just be jealous for not getting enough credit.
So I did a Google search for 'Entrepreneur Award' which returned 11,900,000 results and then for 'Venture Capital Award' which returned 21,100,000 results, almost twice as many.
At least now we know who gets the most awards...
In addition, we were also chosen to go to Berlin in October this year to present to investors at the European Venture Market. (Email me if you'd like to meet up!)
Click here to read the recent ITWeb article on the TT100 Awards.
I was still feeling proud and pompous the next day when Tai Schierenberg, a former surgeon who's now in Venture Capital, told me of a saying in the VC community that states: "Awards are like hemorrhoids, sooner or later every asshole gets one"
I thought it pretty funny but thought that VCs might just be jealous for not getting enough credit.
So I did a Google search for 'Entrepreneur Award' which returned 11,900,000 results and then for 'Venture Capital Award' which returned 21,100,000 results, almost twice as many.
At least now we know who gets the most awards...
Sunday, August 20, 2006
Software Development Explained
I believe one of the reasons why Skyrove has been succesful on a small budget and with a small team is that we use our own products, i.e. we scratch our own itch!
There is no miscommunication between what the customer wants, what we think he wants and what he actually needs.
37Signals is another good example of a small company that builds software for itself. They are extremely stubborn about adding new features and reject most feature requests straight off the bat. They know that Basecamp (their project collaboration software) is good enough for them and therefore it is good enough for most others as well.
If you are in software development, I'd highly recommend adding their blog to your RSS reader (www.37signals.com/svn)
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
A Positive Way to Reduce Crime and Unemployment
This is an Open Letter to Ms Patty Stonesifer, President of the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation
Dear Ms Stonesifer,
I have a novel idea for how we can dramatically reduce crime worldwide by using technology in rehabilitation and would like to run it by you.
There are 3 reasons I'm contacting you in particular:
1. I admire the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's work in Africa
2. You were voted by Time to be one of the 25 most influential people in America (wow!)
3. Most importantly, your background in interactive media!
Here in South Africa, crime gets blamed on the lack of policing, the justice system, poverty, the legacy of Apartheid and the effects of HIV on our society, all of which are valid reasons.
Another large factor is that we have insufficient correctional services. We have a philosophy of rehabilitation, rather than punishment, but the reality is that our jails are overburdened and most all of the criminals are repeat offenders. There simply is no rehabilitation taking place. Inmates join gangs that function inside and outside of the prisons and the only skills they learn are of the criminal variety.
What if we created a social computer 'game' that's targeted at inmates?
What I have in mind is something akin to training simulations like those seen in 'The Matrix'. Now, we don't quite have that technology yet, but we have seen fantastic simulations in the form of games such as Oblivion and the World of Warcraft.
When an inmate arrives at prison, he could be locked up with a computer as his only cellmate. His only way to interact with the world is through the 'game'. He does not get a chance to react with any other inmates, who could contribute to reinforcing criminal behaviour. (A very anti-social kind of behaviour is needed to survive in the prison system, as opposed to the outside world)
In the beginning stages of the game, which will be similar to any online roleplaying game, the inmate would only interact with one real person: His online councillor. He can run around the virtual world and interact with virtual characters, but it's a restricted virtual world.
Along the way he learns skills. Early on, his aptitude could be determined: trading, driving, programming, farming etc, in a similar way to any Role Playing Game. Depending on his aptitude, the inmate is stimulated to develop these skills further. Either to use them when re-entering the 'real' world, or even to start a life selling goods on eBay for example. (no, not 'fencing'!)
He'll need to complete certain tasks and show improvement in behaviour to go 'up a level' and gain access to a wider world, and have interactions with more real people, inside and outside prison.
Some would argue that this 'virtual' world wouldn't really rehabilitate him to re-enter the 'real' world. But that's nonsense, many people these days in the 'real' world spend more time online than offline!
As the inmate learns new skills and shows improvement in behaviour, he's eventually given full online access, outside of the game, but still closely monitored. When the time is ripe, he may re-enter the real world. Very likely continuing to trade online, but also possibly with some high-tech skills such as tech support, programming, web marketing or online trading to name but a few. In South Africa, there is a dire lack of these skills while at the same time we have gross unemployment.
Some would say that such a plan is simply too expensive. But the fact is that it will save us millions if not billions in the long run. Prisoners will spend less time in prison. It will have a dramatic impact on crime, and as we know, crime has a dramatic impact on foreign investment and our economy.
Instead of having 20 inmates in a small room, we can now afford a reasonably comfortable environment for inmates. The idea is not that they have a 'fun' time while in prison, but that we see positive behaviour modification and skills learning.
There's a massive incentive for governments and companies to sponsor this because of medium and long-term benefits: reduced crime & less unemployment that leads to a stronger economy. But there may also be short-term incentive for marketing and software companies to market their products through this 'closed' internet game. Once back in the real world, the prisoner will need a computer, software tools etc.
A games developer, such as Microsoft, could develop such a 'game' through its gaming division in cooperation with correctional services and academics. The games developer can derive ongoing profits from, what is literally, a captive audience.
I realise that this might not be the Gates Foundation's cup of tea, but I do hope that you could perhaps introduce the concept to the right people or that you know the right person to champion such a project.
If we could 'banish' all the world's criminals to a virtual world where they stand a good chance of being rehabilitated, instead of the degenerate and inhumane micro-societies we currently create, it might just be the greatest achievement of the century.
Best Regards,
Henk Kleynhans
CEO - Skyrove Ltd.
p.s. I'm a constant 'idea generator'. Whenver I have a new idea that I feel could make a difference to the world, given the right champions, I share these openly.
Dear Ms Stonesifer,
I have a novel idea for how we can dramatically reduce crime worldwide by using technology in rehabilitation and would like to run it by you.
There are 3 reasons I'm contacting you in particular:
1. I admire the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's work in Africa
2. You were voted by Time to be one of the 25 most influential people in America (wow!)
3. Most importantly, your background in interactive media!
Here in South Africa, crime gets blamed on the lack of policing, the justice system, poverty, the legacy of Apartheid and the effects of HIV on our society, all of which are valid reasons.
Another large factor is that we have insufficient correctional services. We have a philosophy of rehabilitation, rather than punishment, but the reality is that our jails are overburdened and most all of the criminals are repeat offenders. There simply is no rehabilitation taking place. Inmates join gangs that function inside and outside of the prisons and the only skills they learn are of the criminal variety.
What if we created a social computer 'game' that's targeted at inmates?
What I have in mind is something akin to training simulations like those seen in 'The Matrix'. Now, we don't quite have that technology yet, but we have seen fantastic simulations in the form of games such as Oblivion and the World of Warcraft.
When an inmate arrives at prison, he could be locked up with a computer as his only cellmate. His only way to interact with the world is through the 'game'. He does not get a chance to react with any other inmates, who could contribute to reinforcing criminal behaviour. (A very anti-social kind of behaviour is needed to survive in the prison system, as opposed to the outside world)
In the beginning stages of the game, which will be similar to any online roleplaying game, the inmate would only interact with one real person: His online councillor. He can run around the virtual world and interact with virtual characters, but it's a restricted virtual world.
Along the way he learns skills. Early on, his aptitude could be determined: trading, driving, programming, farming etc, in a similar way to any Role Playing Game. Depending on his aptitude, the inmate is stimulated to develop these skills further. Either to use them when re-entering the 'real' world, or even to start a life selling goods on eBay for example. (no, not 'fencing'!)
He'll need to complete certain tasks and show improvement in behaviour to go 'up a level' and gain access to a wider world, and have interactions with more real people, inside and outside prison.
Some would argue that this 'virtual' world wouldn't really rehabilitate him to re-enter the 'real' world. But that's nonsense, many people these days in the 'real' world spend more time online than offline!
As the inmate learns new skills and shows improvement in behaviour, he's eventually given full online access, outside of the game, but still closely monitored. When the time is ripe, he may re-enter the real world. Very likely continuing to trade online, but also possibly with some high-tech skills such as tech support, programming, web marketing or online trading to name but a few. In South Africa, there is a dire lack of these skills while at the same time we have gross unemployment.
Some would say that such a plan is simply too expensive. But the fact is that it will save us millions if not billions in the long run. Prisoners will spend less time in prison. It will have a dramatic impact on crime, and as we know, crime has a dramatic impact on foreign investment and our economy.
Instead of having 20 inmates in a small room, we can now afford a reasonably comfortable environment for inmates. The idea is not that they have a 'fun' time while in prison, but that we see positive behaviour modification and skills learning.
There's a massive incentive for governments and companies to sponsor this because of medium and long-term benefits: reduced crime & less unemployment that leads to a stronger economy. But there may also be short-term incentive for marketing and software companies to market their products through this 'closed' internet game. Once back in the real world, the prisoner will need a computer, software tools etc.
A games developer, such as Microsoft, could develop such a 'game' through its gaming division in cooperation with correctional services and academics. The games developer can derive ongoing profits from, what is literally, a captive audience.
I realise that this might not be the Gates Foundation's cup of tea, but I do hope that you could perhaps introduce the concept to the right people or that you know the right person to champion such a project.
If we could 'banish' all the world's criminals to a virtual world where they stand a good chance of being rehabilitated, instead of the degenerate and inhumane micro-societies we currently create, it might just be the greatest achievement of the century.
Best Regards,
Henk Kleynhans
CEO - Skyrove Ltd.
p.s. I'm a constant 'idea generator'. Whenver I have a new idea that I feel could make a difference to the world, given the right champions, I share these openly.
Thursday, August 03, 2006
Dances with VCs
I received notice today from a VC we recently signed a term sheet with that they have chosen not to invest in our company. I'd like to share with you some of the things I've learnt in the process, some of the traps I fell into and what I'd do differently next time.
The gist of the 'Dear John' letter we received:
"1. Maturity of company: [The VC]'s current Fund2 requires an established team and business. Skyrove would for the foreseeable future require a more hands on approach which deviates from this model.
2. Relative size of local market. It is uncertain whether revenue generated by Skyrove in the SA market would be sufficient to achieve [The VC]'s long-term revenue goals.
3. Barrier to entry: It is too uncertain how easy and attractive it will become for competitors to replicate Skyrove's technology and business model.
4. Other trends: It is uncertain what the impact of municipalities providing free data connective (such as San Francisco and Philadelphia) will be on Skyrove and its competitors' revenue."
Although reasons 2,3 and 4 are mostly hogwash they made up to lengthen a short letter, I completely understand their first reason. They launched a new and dramatically different fund halfway through our negotiations, about 4 months ago. The principal on the Skyrove deal resigned 2 weeks ago and things have generally been in turmoil.
A marriage at this stage may well have been to the detriment of both us and them.
Things I'll do differently next time:
1. I will not again accept an offer that gives majority board control to the VC when they're buying a minority share. When it comes to our product, we know our market better. We know free municipal Wi-Fi is much less of a threat to us than free water is to bottled water. We know our product can be replicated, but we're pretty innovative and will work hard to stay ahead of copycats.
2. I will not again accept an offer of more money than I need. We were offered twice as much as we asked for, for almost twice as many shares, in 4 conditional tranches over 2 years. They were effectively getting stock options, rather than outright buying stock.
3. I will not take VC funding before being cash-flow positive. This sounds counter-intuitive to some as you might argue that you need VC funding to get there! However, being cash-strapped has made us extremely focused on making Skyrove the best product for 90% of the market, even though we were only able to implement 10% of the features we first envisioned. When we started talks with the VC 6 months ago, we had zero revenue and zero clients. Now we have hundreds of customers signing up every month and revenues that are growing exponentially. Because of a lack of cash, we've become smarter and learnt more about all aspects of running a business. We've had to build partnerships to get our product out there. If we had cash, we probably would have struggled to manage newly founded 'divisions' headed up by overpaid 'vice presidents' appointed by the board, who could outvote the founders.
4. I will phone the founders of other companies in the VC's portfolio and I will listen to them BEFORE any serious negotiations with theVC.
5. I will more rigorously interview the VC at the first presentation. I will ask them how well their portfolio companies are performing and for more detail on how they intend to influence the running of our business.
6. I will not accept a vague term sheet that asks me to pay for Due Diligence costs in the event that I do not accept their offer. Trust me, the time you'll spend on negotiating a deal with a VC is much more expensive to your company than their costs of doing Due Diligence. In our case, the VC cut us loose, so we weren't liable for any costs. However, I was fearful that they could toss a red herring, forcing us to either accept new terms or to pay a large fine.
Yes, I've read this advice before from the likes of Brad Feld and Rick Segal, but it's a very different story when you're being wooed by VCs, have partners adding pressure and feel that it's up to you to make the deal work.
All in all, it's been a fantastic experience and we've come out of it a stronger company. We're still open to VC funding ($5 routers anyone?), but for now, I simply feel relieved that I can continue focusing on what's most important to me: building the best darn Wi-Fi service on the planet!
The gist of the 'Dear John' letter we received:
"1. Maturity of company: [The VC]'s current Fund2 requires an established team and business. Skyrove would for the foreseeable future require a more hands on approach which deviates from this model.
2. Relative size of local market. It is uncertain whether revenue generated by Skyrove in the SA market would be sufficient to achieve [The VC]'s long-term revenue goals.
3. Barrier to entry: It is too uncertain how easy and attractive it will become for competitors to replicate Skyrove's technology and business model.
4. Other trends: It is uncertain what the impact of municipalities providing free data connective (such as San Francisco and Philadelphia) will be on Skyrove and its competitors' revenue."
Although reasons 2,3 and 4 are mostly hogwash they made up to lengthen a short letter, I completely understand their first reason. They launched a new and dramatically different fund halfway through our negotiations, about 4 months ago. The principal on the Skyrove deal resigned 2 weeks ago and things have generally been in turmoil.
A marriage at this stage may well have been to the detriment of both us and them.
Things I'll do differently next time:
1. I will not again accept an offer that gives majority board control to the VC when they're buying a minority share. When it comes to our product, we know our market better. We know free municipal Wi-Fi is much less of a threat to us than free water is to bottled water. We know our product can be replicated, but we're pretty innovative and will work hard to stay ahead of copycats.
2. I will not again accept an offer of more money than I need. We were offered twice as much as we asked for, for almost twice as many shares, in 4 conditional tranches over 2 years. They were effectively getting stock options, rather than outright buying stock.
3. I will not take VC funding before being cash-flow positive. This sounds counter-intuitive to some as you might argue that you need VC funding to get there! However, being cash-strapped has made us extremely focused on making Skyrove the best product for 90% of the market, even though we were only able to implement 10% of the features we first envisioned. When we started talks with the VC 6 months ago, we had zero revenue and zero clients. Now we have hundreds of customers signing up every month and revenues that are growing exponentially. Because of a lack of cash, we've become smarter and learnt more about all aspects of running a business. We've had to build partnerships to get our product out there. If we had cash, we probably would have struggled to manage newly founded 'divisions' headed up by overpaid 'vice presidents' appointed by the board, who could outvote the founders.
4. I will phone the founders of other companies in the VC's portfolio and I will listen to them BEFORE any serious negotiations with theVC.
5. I will more rigorously interview the VC at the first presentation. I will ask them how well their portfolio companies are performing and for more detail on how they intend to influence the running of our business.
6. I will not accept a vague term sheet that asks me to pay for Due Diligence costs in the event that I do not accept their offer. Trust me, the time you'll spend on negotiating a deal with a VC is much more expensive to your company than their costs of doing Due Diligence. In our case, the VC cut us loose, so we weren't liable for any costs. However, I was fearful that they could toss a red herring, forcing us to either accept new terms or to pay a large fine.
Yes, I've read this advice before from the likes of Brad Feld and Rick Segal, but it's a very different story when you're being wooed by VCs, have partners adding pressure and feel that it's up to you to make the deal work.
All in all, it's been a fantastic experience and we've come out of it a stronger company. We're still open to VC funding ($5 routers anyone?), but for now, I simply feel relieved that I can continue focusing on what's most important to me: building the best darn Wi-Fi service on the planet!
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
The 5 Magic Rules of Systems Development
I recently read about an ISP engineer who accidently deleted 700GB worth of customer emails. He got confused between a window session to the live server and one to the development server. Now, we've made exactly the same mistake a while back. As a result we came up with a short list of inalienable rules of systems development:
#1: The smallest change can make the biggest difference
Ever heard the chaos theory metaphor about a butterfly flapping its wings in Tokyo, causing it to rain in New York? It must have been a programmer who came up with that, because nowhere else are such effects more apparent than in the wild west of systems development. I've seen entire distributed systems go down because an SQL query got split onto multiple lines using "\" characters. Distributed systems integrate software from multiple vendors running on various platforms. They don't all use the same coding conventions. Live by this mantra and the rest of the rules follow naturally.
#2: Don't dive without a buddy
Never make changes to the LIVE server without testing, consultation and oversight by another team member. Take time to do 'checks' with your teammate before you commit any changes. Explain to him exactly what it is you're planning to do, in what order, what files will be changed, where they've been backed up and how you can reverse the action in case of failure etc. 9 out of 10 times everything goes fine. Prepare for the 10th time.
#3: Thou shalt not boondoggle!
Leave a software developer alone without clear timelines and deliverables and he will come up with a brilliant solution to a problem that doesn't exist. Have a clear development plan that everyone on your development team agrees to. Do not recode everything to make it 'more like Web 2.0' while there are security holes in your system, that you know about!
#4: The Power of 'One'
Do not work on many problems at once. Inevitably, one feature will seem more important today than the one you started working on yesterday. Tomorrow the same thing happens. All of a sudden, you're working on 10 features at once, and you're expected to finish all of them by the end of the month. You don't get to test all of them thoroughly before you upload to the live server on a Friday afternoon, and start getting frantic phonecalls from clients on Sunday. You now have to fix it, but first you need to find the cause. You have 5000 lines of code to filter through and you can't 'see' the problem.
Code 'one' thing, test 'one' thing, implement 'one' thing.
#5: All the world's a stage
Sometimes everything works perfectly on the development server in your office. But the moment you upload to your Live server, everything breaks!
Follow the Power of 'One' and test changes on a staging server before you implement them live. If anything breaks, you can figure out why and prevent the same thing happening when you're ready to go live. Your staging server should approximate your LIVE server as closely as possible. The only difference should be the IP address! Before you upload changes to the live server, upload them once, and only once, to the staging server. Test as if it's live. If you can, have some of your clients use the staging server for a while, and see if they experience any problems.
Follow the rules above and it could just save your job or your startup business. Either way, it will make things a lot less stressful.
#1: The smallest change can make the biggest difference
Ever heard the chaos theory metaphor about a butterfly flapping its wings in Tokyo, causing it to rain in New York? It must have been a programmer who came up with that, because nowhere else are such effects more apparent than in the wild west of systems development. I've seen entire distributed systems go down because an SQL query got split onto multiple lines using "\" characters. Distributed systems integrate software from multiple vendors running on various platforms. They don't all use the same coding conventions. Live by this mantra and the rest of the rules follow naturally.
#2: Don't dive without a buddy
Never make changes to the LIVE server without testing, consultation and oversight by another team member. Take time to do 'checks' with your teammate before you commit any changes. Explain to him exactly what it is you're planning to do, in what order, what files will be changed, where they've been backed up and how you can reverse the action in case of failure etc. 9 out of 10 times everything goes fine. Prepare for the 10th time.
#3: Thou shalt not boondoggle!
Leave a software developer alone without clear timelines and deliverables and he will come up with a brilliant solution to a problem that doesn't exist. Have a clear development plan that everyone on your development team agrees to. Do not recode everything to make it 'more like Web 2.0' while there are security holes in your system, that you know about!
#4: The Power of 'One'
Do not work on many problems at once. Inevitably, one feature will seem more important today than the one you started working on yesterday. Tomorrow the same thing happens. All of a sudden, you're working on 10 features at once, and you're expected to finish all of them by the end of the month. You don't get to test all of them thoroughly before you upload to the live server on a Friday afternoon, and start getting frantic phonecalls from clients on Sunday. You now have to fix it, but first you need to find the cause. You have 5000 lines of code to filter through and you can't 'see' the problem.
Code 'one' thing, test 'one' thing, implement 'one' thing.
#5: All the world's a stage
Sometimes everything works perfectly on the development server in your office. But the moment you upload to your Live server, everything breaks!
Follow the Power of 'One' and test changes on a staging server before you implement them live. If anything breaks, you can figure out why and prevent the same thing happening when you're ready to go live. Your staging server should approximate your LIVE server as closely as possible. The only difference should be the IP address! Before you upload changes to the live server, upload them once, and only once, to the staging server. Test as if it's live. If you can, have some of your clients use the staging server for a while, and see if they experience any problems.
Follow the rules above and it could just save your job or your startup business. Either way, it will make things a lot less stressful.
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Never mind iTunes, here comes diggTune
I had a really great idea last night that I just couldn't keep to myself.
How about digg for songs? Instead of people submitting stories, artists and record companies could submit mp3 tunes to digg.com. mp3 posts would essentially look the same as other digg posts. Readers then click on a play button to listen to a streaming version of the song.
They then simply click on 'digg it' or 'bury song'.
They can then decide to download it. Songs could be free, or for a fee. digg.com could take a small commission on all songs sold.
Gone are the days where indie artists have to struggle to get their demo tapes to the 'right' people in the music industry. They can simply upload their music onto digg and, if they're good, become famous overnight!
Now, the problem was, how do I get this idea implemented? I am too busy with Skyrove and I really don't know how to sell 'just' an idea. Perhaps I could approach some patent attorneys and spend a lot of money to do something that I think should be in the public domain, implemented in a way that works best.
So I came up with another idea. I registered diggtune.com and am auctioning it on eBay. (50% of proceeds will go to Non-Profit Organizations).
Of course I'm hoping that the folks at digg themselves will be the highest bidder, as I think they could best implement my idea and help more struggling musicians than anyone else. (Maybe I'm just an "addiggt", as in I'm "addiggted" to digg)
Then again, I've just told them about my idea for free! They don't really need diggtune.com and they could just do it themselves!
Either way, I hope you liked reading about my crazy idea.
How about digg for songs? Instead of people submitting stories, artists and record companies could submit mp3 tunes to digg.com. mp3 posts would essentially look the same as other digg posts. Readers then click on a play button to listen to a streaming version of the song.
They then simply click on 'digg it' or 'bury song'.
They can then decide to download it. Songs could be free, or for a fee. digg.com could take a small commission on all songs sold.
Gone are the days where indie artists have to struggle to get their demo tapes to the 'right' people in the music industry. They can simply upload their music onto digg and, if they're good, become famous overnight!
Now, the problem was, how do I get this idea implemented? I am too busy with Skyrove and I really don't know how to sell 'just' an idea. Perhaps I could approach some patent attorneys and spend a lot of money to do something that I think should be in the public domain, implemented in a way that works best.
So I came up with another idea. I registered diggtune.com and am auctioning it on eBay. (50% of proceeds will go to Non-Profit Organizations).
Of course I'm hoping that the folks at digg themselves will be the highest bidder, as I think they could best implement my idea and help more struggling musicians than anyone else. (Maybe I'm just an "addiggt", as in I'm "addiggted" to digg)
Then again, I've just told them about my idea for free! They don't really need diggtune.com and they could just do it themselves!
Either way, I hope you liked reading about my crazy idea.
Friday, May 26, 2006
Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be coders
Don't let them write programs and hack them too much
Let them be doctors and lawyers and such!
Credit to John Newton for the title!
John brings up the old issue of people not encouraging their kids to go into the software industry.
I teach a few different IT courses at a private college. The real problem is not that kids don't want to study information technology, it's that they all want to become networking technicians!
When I ask my students about this it soon arises that they think becoming a networking specialist is a lot easier than becoming a programmer. It is definitely true that it's easier to study networking technologies than programming, and becoming an entry-level programmer probably takes a bit more hard work than becoming an entry-level networking technician. Being a CCIE level networking engineer is a different story though.
The real reasons why there aren't enough programmers being churned out from private colleges and universities are simple:
1. Private colleges don't encourage students to study programming. Programming teachers cost a lot more and seeing as class-sizes are already smaller, private colleges simply prefer to focus on networking basics.
2. Universities should start by teaching JavaScript, not Java! Studying Computer Science is dreadfully boring for the first 3 - 4 semesters. It's also extremely difficult for the uninitiated. Especially when you're writing code in Java or C++ and you can't "see" what's going wrong and can't decipher cryptic error messages. It would be better to use JavaScript to teach students about for loops, if-then-else logic, simple functions etc. Students will have a lot more fun creating a 'cool' website they can show to the world than they would creating a command line Java app.
It doesn't help that most university teaching staff see Javascript, PHP, Ruby on Rails etc. as somehow 'inferior' to Java or C++.
The problem is not just getting students to study Computer Science, it's getting them to graduate with a CS major. In my first year at varsity, there were about 400 students 'majoring' in Computer Science. By year 3 it was closer to 100.
Considering the current world of web 2.0, universities should be spending more time on web languages and technologies, and less on teaching students to write stand-alone applications!
digg this
Let them be doctors and lawyers and such!
Credit to John Newton for the title!
John brings up the old issue of people not encouraging their kids to go into the software industry.
I teach a few different IT courses at a private college. The real problem is not that kids don't want to study information technology, it's that they all want to become networking technicians!
When I ask my students about this it soon arises that they think becoming a networking specialist is a lot easier than becoming a programmer. It is definitely true that it's easier to study networking technologies than programming, and becoming an entry-level programmer probably takes a bit more hard work than becoming an entry-level networking technician. Being a CCIE level networking engineer is a different story though.
The real reasons why there aren't enough programmers being churned out from private colleges and universities are simple:
1. Private colleges don't encourage students to study programming. Programming teachers cost a lot more and seeing as class-sizes are already smaller, private colleges simply prefer to focus on networking basics.
2. Universities should start by teaching JavaScript, not Java! Studying Computer Science is dreadfully boring for the first 3 - 4 semesters. It's also extremely difficult for the uninitiated. Especially when you're writing code in Java or C++ and you can't "see" what's going wrong and can't decipher cryptic error messages. It would be better to use JavaScript to teach students about for loops, if-then-else logic, simple functions etc. Students will have a lot more fun creating a 'cool' website they can show to the world than they would creating a command line Java app.
It doesn't help that most university teaching staff see Javascript, PHP, Ruby on Rails etc. as somehow 'inferior' to Java or C++.
The problem is not just getting students to study Computer Science, it's getting them to graduate with a CS major. In my first year at varsity, there were about 400 students 'majoring' in Computer Science. By year 3 it was closer to 100.
Considering the current world of web 2.0, universities should be spending more time on web languages and technologies, and less on teaching students to write stand-alone applications!
digg this
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
My bet with Steve Jobs
I wrote in my last blogpost about how Apple has been doing just about everything right and are winning over PC addicts like myself.
One of the things that really irks me though, besides the price, is that you can't read anything on Apple's website because they are using a dark grey font against a black background. (http://www.apple.com/macbookpro)
Please write a comment below to tell me if you can read it!
Anyways, here's my correspondence with Steve Jobs on the matter (yes, I was surprized he replied to me, even though it was somewhat curt)
On Apr 24, 2006, at 4:09 PM, Henk Kleynhans wrote:
Dear Mr Jobs,
The text at http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/ is entirely illegible. Dark gray against a black background? What were you thinking???
If you fix the contrast on your webpage, I’d bet your sales will increase significantly!
If I’m right, I wouldn’t mind an all-expenses paid trip to Silicon Valley and a Macbook Pro.
If I’m wrong, well, you’ll have a place to stay with a young entrepreneur in Cape Town, South Africa. (I’ll even throw in a township tour)
I have a pretty darn irritating habit of being right quite often, but you’re still welcome in Cape Town in any case.
Best Regards,
Henk Kleynhans – CEO
Skyrove (Pty) Ltd
Tel: +27 (21) 4488843
Fax: +27 (86) 6204077
henk@skyrove.com
blog: www.yeahfi.com
p.s. See my blog post on How to convert a Hardcore PC user into a Mac Fanatic: http://www.yeahfi.com/2006/04/how-to-convert-hardcore-pc-user-into.html
________________________________________
From: Steve Jobs [mailto:sjobs@apple.com]
Sent: 25 April 2006 03:52 AM
To: Henk Kleynhans
Subject: Re: calligraphy & what went wrong with macbook pro
Importance: High
I think its fine.
Best,
Steve
________________________________________
From: Henk Kleynhans [mailto:henk@skyrove.com]
Sent: 25 April 2006 11:06 AM
To: 'Steve Jobs'
Subject: RE: calligraphy & what went wrong with macbook pro
Importance: High
Dear Steve,
Thank you for your prompt reply.
I’ve now browsed the site www.apple.com/macbookpro from a few different machines in our office. It does look fine on LCD screens, but really horrid on normal CRTs.
As I posted on my blog, I think Apple is doing everything right. But it really is truly impossible to read the text on your website.
I have a tremendous amount of respect for you, so I don’t mean to sound cocky, but my wager stands!
You’ll save many people from the fate of Windoze if they were able to read the text on your website.
Best regards,
Henk Kleynhans
Skyrove (Pty) Ltd
Tel: +27 (21) 4488843
Fax: +27 (86) 6204077
henk@skyrove.com
blog: www.yeahfi.com
One of the things that really irks me though, besides the price, is that you can't read anything on Apple's website because they are using a dark grey font against a black background. (http://www.apple.com/macbookpro)
Please write a comment below to tell me if you can read it!
Anyways, here's my correspondence with Steve Jobs on the matter (yes, I was surprized he replied to me, even though it was somewhat curt)
On Apr 24, 2006, at 4:09 PM, Henk Kleynhans wrote:
Dear Mr Jobs,
The text at http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/ is entirely illegible. Dark gray against a black background? What were you thinking???
If you fix the contrast on your webpage, I’d bet your sales will increase significantly!
If I’m right, I wouldn’t mind an all-expenses paid trip to Silicon Valley and a Macbook Pro.
If I’m wrong, well, you’ll have a place to stay with a young entrepreneur in Cape Town, South Africa. (I’ll even throw in a township tour)
I have a pretty darn irritating habit of being right quite often, but you’re still welcome in Cape Town in any case.
Best Regards,
Henk Kleynhans – CEO
Skyrove (Pty) Ltd
Tel: +27 (21) 4488843
Fax: +27 (86) 6204077
henk@skyrove.com
blog: www.yeahfi.com
p.s. See my blog post on How to convert a Hardcore PC user into a Mac Fanatic: http://www.yeahfi.com/2006/04/how-to-convert-hardcore-pc-user-into.html
________________________________________
From: Steve Jobs [mailto:sjobs@apple.com]
Sent: 25 April 2006 03:52 AM
To: Henk Kleynhans
Subject: Re: calligraphy & what went wrong with macbook pro
Importance: High
I think its fine.
Best,
Steve
________________________________________
From: Henk Kleynhans [mailto:henk@skyrove.com]
Sent: 25 April 2006 11:06 AM
To: 'Steve Jobs'
Subject: RE: calligraphy & what went wrong with macbook pro
Importance: High
Dear Steve,
Thank you for your prompt reply.
I’ve now browsed the site www.apple.com/macbookpro from a few different machines in our office. It does look fine on LCD screens, but really horrid on normal CRTs.
As I posted on my blog, I think Apple is doing everything right. But it really is truly impossible to read the text on your website.
I have a tremendous amount of respect for you, so I don’t mean to sound cocky, but my wager stands!
You’ll save many people from the fate of Windoze if they were able to read the text on your website.
Best regards,
Henk Kleynhans
Skyrove (Pty) Ltd
Tel: +27 (21) 4488843
Fax: +27 (86) 6204077
henk@skyrove.com
blog: www.yeahfi.com
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
How to convert a hardcore PC user into a Mac fanatic
Today, I've been finally and completely won over by Macintosh! My next laptop will be the Macbook Pro with Intel Core Duo processor.
And if I've been won over by Mac, I predict everyone else will be won over too. (official prediction, write this down: I predict that 50% of all new laptop sales in 2010 will be by Apple. I'll eat my hat if it isn't)
I've grown up with PCs, I like taking them apart, tweaking them, upgrading them and doing things with them that no one really should.
Macs aren't too common in South Africa, but some schools had sponsored Macintoshes, and my Dad, a technophobic schoolteacher, even had one and knew how to use it!
But back then, buying a Mac locally would cost the same as it would to buy a ticket to the States, spend 2 weeks at Disneyworld, buy a Mac overseas and bring it back here!
The cost just didn't make sense. Furthermore, Macs were underpowered. No matter how many disciples have told you that Macs were optimized for Photoshop and Video Editing, a high end PC could always do the job faster than a high-end Mac. And it could do a whole lot more, especially if you wanted to play the odd PC game.
The first time I started looking at Macs with some degree of tolerance was when Mac OS X came out. The fact that it was based on UNIX and could run UNIX applications, including giving you the "Power of the Command Line" through Terminal, was intriguing, to say the least...
However, it was still underpowered, and forever would be, or so it seemed.
Until Apple went and did a very smart thing: They put Intel Inside!
All of a sudden I say to myself: I'll consider a Mac! It now has a great Operating System running on a great processor. It's still expensive, but I'll think about it.
Then a few days ago, Rick Segal (VC Guru extraordinare and Mac evangelist) posted a link to a video that combines the audio of a futuristic Windows Vista presentation and the video of Mac OS X. It shows how Mac OS X does everything today what Windows will be doing for the "first time ever" in a year or so to come.
Today Apple went and did the one truly extraordinarily smart thing in all their history: They delivered Boot Camp. (not without reason, some thought it might be an April Fool's joke)
Boot Camp allows you to run both OS X and Windows XP in a dual boot configuration on a Mac. I might never even need Windows XP once I'm fully converted to Mac, but just knowing that I can boot my Mac into Windows if I really need to, makes all the difference!
I am converted. My next laptop will be a Macbook Pro. There's only one little problem: I don't have any money!
The only stupid thing Apple still does is charge 42% more for a Macbook Pro in South Africa than it does in the USA. It's better than before, but you could still take a holiday to the UK and buy it over there for the same price as buying it locally. Hopefully Apple will continue the trend of wisening up.
{
The abbreviated version: (in case you're writing an essay for a marketing class, or your name is Malcolm Gladwell and you're tracking the Tipping Point)
1. In Mac OS X, Apple built a great operating system based on UNIX
2. They put Intel Inside!
3. With a cute little movie they showed that they were miles ahead in productivity and functionality
4. Macs are now based on a widely supported and powerful hardware architecture and operating system, that even gives you the flexibility and comfort of running Windows programs
5. Today they announced you can now dual boot into Windows XP using a Mac
}
And if I've been won over by Mac, I predict everyone else will be won over too. (official prediction, write this down: I predict that 50% of all new laptop sales in 2010 will be by Apple. I'll eat my hat if it isn't)
I've grown up with PCs, I like taking them apart, tweaking them, upgrading them and doing things with them that no one really should.
Macs aren't too common in South Africa, but some schools had sponsored Macintoshes, and my Dad, a technophobic schoolteacher, even had one and knew how to use it!
But back then, buying a Mac locally would cost the same as it would to buy a ticket to the States, spend 2 weeks at Disneyworld, buy a Mac overseas and bring it back here!
The cost just didn't make sense. Furthermore, Macs were underpowered. No matter how many disciples have told you that Macs were optimized for Photoshop and Video Editing, a high end PC could always do the job faster than a high-end Mac. And it could do a whole lot more, especially if you wanted to play the odd PC game.
The first time I started looking at Macs with some degree of tolerance was when Mac OS X came out. The fact that it was based on UNIX and could run UNIX applications, including giving you the "Power of the Command Line" through Terminal, was intriguing, to say the least...
However, it was still underpowered, and forever would be, or so it seemed.
Until Apple went and did a very smart thing: They put Intel Inside!
All of a sudden I say to myself: I'll consider a Mac! It now has a great Operating System running on a great processor. It's still expensive, but I'll think about it.
Then a few days ago, Rick Segal (VC Guru extraordinare and Mac evangelist) posted a link to a video that combines the audio of a futuristic Windows Vista presentation and the video of Mac OS X. It shows how Mac OS X does everything today what Windows will be doing for the "first time ever" in a year or so to come.
Today Apple went and did the one truly extraordinarily smart thing in all their history: They delivered Boot Camp. (not without reason, some thought it might be an April Fool's joke)
Boot Camp allows you to run both OS X and Windows XP in a dual boot configuration on a Mac. I might never even need Windows XP once I'm fully converted to Mac, but just knowing that I can boot my Mac into Windows if I really need to, makes all the difference!
I am converted. My next laptop will be a Macbook Pro. There's only one little problem: I don't have any money!
The only stupid thing Apple still does is charge 42% more for a Macbook Pro in South Africa than it does in the USA. It's better than before, but you could still take a holiday to the UK and buy it over there for the same price as buying it locally. Hopefully Apple will continue the trend of wisening up.
{
The abbreviated version: (in case you're writing an essay for a marketing class, or your name is Malcolm Gladwell and you're tracking the Tipping Point)
1. In Mac OS X, Apple built a great operating system based on UNIX
2. They put Intel Inside!
3. With a cute little movie they showed that they were miles ahead in productivity and functionality
4. Macs are now based on a widely supported and powerful hardware architecture and operating system, that even gives you the flexibility and comfort of running Windows programs
5. Today they announced you can now dual boot into Windows XP using a Mac
}
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
