[Ilugc] Entrepreneurship based on Open Source Model
- From: girish1729@xxxxxxxxx (Girish Venkatachalam)
- Date: Sat Sep 9 15:36:11 2006
On Sat, Sep 09, 2006 at 02:31:29PM +0530, Vishnu Vijayaraghavan wrote:
Is it really so. But, what about MySQL, IBM etc.... They have both
Premium edition and community edition.
Well, I think Postgres is several times better than MySQL. For small
sizes I hear MySQL outperforms Postgres but Postgres is really free.
And stable and scales well,blah blah. I am no DB guy, others shud
comment.
IBM? I wonder. I hear IBM does a lot of open source particularly Linux
work. How much do they give back? What do they sponsor? I really don't
know. I do know that FreeBSD does get commercial support from companies
that use it. For NetBSD too. I heard that Theo got pissed off with
Iraqi invasion and hence he lost a huge funding opportunity from US DoD.
But so far as my exp goes, OpenBSD is the sexiest thing since sliced
bread.
OpenBSD is a bad example. Since they have certain silly ideologies like
Debian. Doesn't work too well in the real world. As a result ppl exploit
these ppl and kick them in the chest. U see what Ubuntu has done. Or
what companies that use OpenBSD software like OpenSSH have done. They
clearly mention in the home page that not a single company has repaid a
cent towards development.
Welcome to the real world. This is how things work. If that is so in
cash rich US, forget such a thing happening in India.
I still believe that with a lil bit of cleverness and ingenuity you can
avoid these problems. It is not just enough to be a good hacker. You
have to be a good businessman, entrepreneur and have a lil bit of
enterprising skills.
I heard an Indian Standford prof. say during the dot com days that we
Indians have a great deal of networking, entrepreneurial and
enterprising skills in our blood. I also have reason to believe that.
However what we lack badly is team skills. We fall apart in no time.
This has been the problem since time immemorial. We neither trust each
other nor do we behave in a manner worthy of trust. So finding the right
partner is not easy in the Indian context.
I don't actually understand the question since
open source means available to all ppl at all parts of the world. So
if I understand correctly you are talking about such a thing working
in the Indian society/culture.
Yes in the Indian society and how indian market sees open source
How Indian market sees open source? Indian market sees nothing. Its eyes
are blindfolded. Just kidding. :-)
I am more or less convinced that the only model that will work in the
Indian context is a hardware/software combo. Nobody will pay for
software. Tally is the only counter example. I think even open source
kills this. Only if you sell a cheap piece of hardware with your
superior software you can think of making money in the Indian market.
Others, plz plz correct me if I am wrong.
Our society still considers entrepreneurship as
taboo. And being a developing nation we have 100s of small small
things to take care. You can never take anything for granted.
Exactly
Largely for software and hardware dev there is no problem. However
buying a Soekris box or a Digium card is not something like I go to
Circuitcity or Walmart.
Provided you procure the hardware you can do the rest pretty well since
you have plenty of mailing lists and other info on the Internet to help
you out.
I am yet to figure out a hardware mailing list. I am sure there are
many. Chennai does seem to have very good hardware experts too.
That is well said. Even the same thought was going in on my mind.
Actually it is much deeper than what I can possibly express. Management
is an art, not a science. You can't say, follow these 10 commandments
and you succeed.
Fundamentally a leader needs a spirit of sacrifice. It is very
important. And strong business ethics. Mind you, biz ethics, not some
stupid ideology like I will not lie or steal or cheat. :-)
You should be loyal and kind and understanding towards your employees.
We see two extremes bet Blore and Chennai. Blore lets employees do
anything. And Chennai is too conservative.
And you should somehow solve the team work problem I mentioned above. It
is nearly impossible to make two smart ppl work in the same team in
India. I have seen that together they pull you down. Or waste time
fighting with each other.
Another thing I forgot to mention. The ppl who call the shots should be
top class. A grade. If you get B grade ppl to do the job, then they
reject smart ppl in the interview stage itself and you won't even know
that they are eating into your viscera.
So I guess if you get a team of 5 or 6 world class ppl who work
cohesively as a team, your job is done.
Wait, I just noticed you mentioned the word "from scratch". I personally
dont like it. Do you mean reinventing the wheel? If you try that, then
other ppl will overtake you and you will be left in the lurch.
"from scratch" here does not refer to the open source softwares. It
refers to my start-up ie. how to proceed.
Takes a long time. Setting up your own shop is very very difficult.
Needs lot of patience, endurance, guts, determination etc.
Fundamentally you should love what you do.
Otherwise you cannot survive. Period.
It is not moonshine and roses.
regards,
Girish
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